{Beauty Tuesday} Happy Holidays! Part 1

With the holiday season beginning this Thanksgiving, you'll be partying like it's 1999 for the next month and a half. Though there are perks to being a wallflower, it sure wouldn't hurt to turn a few heads. Here's the first installment in a delightful series of Holiday Beauty Tuesdays. Enjoy!

{STRYKER}

It's totally cool to stir up the pot with a little drama. But please, put the claws away and make three new friends instead. That will be one choice you can't regret.

Keep skin even and clear (abstain from blush for today), rub a light layer of balm into lips, and dab a flesh-toned eyeshadow primer on upper lids. Highlight the inner corner with a vanilla-hued shimmer and accentuate the crease with dark taupe shadow. Use black liquid eyeliner to line upper lids, starting with a thin line at the inner corners and thickening the line as you move toward the outer corner, then winging the tip out past your eyelid toward the tip of your ear. Follow with two generous coats of mascara. On the lips, begin with a coat of brown-red lipstick, blot, reapply the same shade, blot again, spot a brighter red shade in the center of lips, blot once more, then add a light layer of violet lipstick on the top.

{ONCE IN A BLUE MOON}

An evening event - especially if you're bringing a date - calls for a pair of smoldering eyes. Shady blue hues liven up a classic smoky eye; just don't wear a denim shirt for the actual affair. 

Begin with a slightly shimmery eyeshadow primer. Once the primer has set, apply a seafoam green to the entire lid just past the crease. Smudge the same shade onto the lower lash line. Apply a navy-hued shadow to the outer corner, blend into the crease, and wing out no further than the tip of your eyebrow. Highlight underneath the eyebrow and in the inner corner of the eye with a green- or yellow-tinted white shade, fill in the water line with a soft black pencil liner, and finish with mascara. 

 

{HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENING}

For a low-key family dinner, all you need is a little glow to keep Granny from questioning your life decisions. 
 Use a highlighter or white shimmer eyeshadow all over the eyelid, along the bridge of the nose, above cheekbones, and mixed with a dab of petroleum jelly on lips. Dust a small amount of bronzer below cheekbones and along the jaw to show off your bone structure, and cover your complexion with a light layer of translucent powder. Finish the look with a modest stripe of black or brown pencil eyeliner and one coat of mascara.

 

{PINK LADY}

Adding a vibrant wash of sheer pink lets you be the life of the party without distracting too terribly much from your riveting conversations. 

Begin with a matte eyeshadow primer. Allow primer to set, then dust a lavender powder over the entire lid, ending just below the brow bone. Blend bright fuchsia into the crease and onto the lower lash line, dark violet on the outer corners, and baby pink into inner corners. Dampen the tip of an angled eyeliner brush, dip it into the fuchsia shade, and line upper and lower lashes. Top it off with mascara and a pinkish-peach lip gloss and you're good to go.

Now, if you're in my position, the bottomless array of mouthwatering delicacies looming ahead is an absolutely inevitable temptation. While I'll always be enlisted to assist in the cooking, I'll never be in charge of the entire menu and evil dishes are forever lurking, spying on my hips with gluttonous greed. My only defense is a little something we civil folks like to call self control. That is indeed a rough skill for me to maintain, but if I can do it, you most certainly can join me. So, let's work as a team here and lay down some guidelines.

1. Be grateful. Okay, this doesn't have a whole lot to do with how much you eat. But as you partake, spare a moment to reflect on the immense blessing it is to have what is set before you. So often we forget to truly give thanks on Thanksgiving - vow to yourself to go above and beyond this year!

2. Start with the basics. Small portions of many different dishes fill up your plate unbelievably fast. Make room for a generous helping of green salad and/or steamed vegetables, a palm-sized slab of white meat turkey, 1 tablespoon gravy,1/4 cup mashed potatoes, 2 tablespoons of stuffing, one roll, 2 teaspoons of cranberry jelly and butter, 1/4 cup candied yams or sweet potatoes, and, of course, a dollop of that weird Jell-O stocked full of carrots and celery and walnuts and probably bits of the kitchen sink, too.

3. Munch slooooowlyyyyy. Forget all the statistics and research that say this is a good habit. They're just going to make you feel guilty. The truth is that this act makes it so much easier to pace yourself and stop when you are full than when you're just shoveling the table down your throat. By taking it slow, you'll avoid feeling like a porker and instead keep your head above water. Remember to save room for dessert!

4. Take a breather. It's not only important to come up for air when dawdling under the mistletoe; one should always give his belly a plentiful rest between supper and dessert. Allow your body to start metabolizing before immediately overloading it with more treats.

5. Have courage to make the hard choices. I don't know about your family, but my relatives do not ever settle on just one pumpkin pie for dessert. Cookies. Apple pie. Ice cream. Cherry pie. Cupcakes. French silk pie. Diabetes. Banana cream pie. Et cetera. If you have a successful one-track mind, pick one item and glob on the whipped cream. If you prefer to mix and match your future hospital visits, serve yourself pieces of different tidbits so small they would make you look like one of those horrible food prudes if they were served individually. Seriously, nobody can relax around a person whose most capacious indulgence is a teaspoon of hummus. Again, eat your dessert with patience and let your tummy fill up on its own time.

6. Sleep! Really, it's okay! Whether the turkey makes you drowsy or not, getting a good night's sleep after a big meal lets your body recharge and replenish. You don't have to make any promises to me, but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that it's in your best interest to exercise the following day. One of my classmate's family traditions is to run a 5K the next morning! I'll just kick it off with a couple crunches. Or so.

Happy Thanksgiving!