What do a very important date, night-out, or any special occasion you attend have in common? You, looking fabulous. Your outfit is surely the most important element of your appearance, but the right makeup provides the perfect final touch for a flawless look.

The main difference between daytime and evening makeup is in the amount and makeup style you opt for. While for a day makeup bright and neutral colors are more appropriate, an evening makeup is perfect opportunity for an edgy and shimmering look and experimenting with new makeup styles and products.

Bold look doesn’t mean inappropriate look

Your makeup should match your clothes and the overall look, but it is equally important for it to be adjusted to the occasion you’re attending. For example, if you’re going to a formal ceremony or gala-dinner, it would be wise to put on a classic and diminish makeup, but, on the other hand, if you’re going to a new, hype club, it should sparkle and dazzle.

Also, your makeup should follow a season: in summer, for example, lighter and colorful makeup is more preferably than winter’s dramatic and dark style.

Choose between eyes and lips

Think about what is your best feature – is it your eyes or your lips? Your makeup style should be guided by your answer.

The rule is simple: play on the eyes-card or the lip-card, never both. Otherwise, you could look like a clown or, even worse, like Madonna from the ‘80s. If you’re going for dramatic eyes, the rest of your makeup should be toned down and, similarly, if you want bold lips, go easy with eyes and cheeks.

How to achieve glamorous evening makeup?

Contrary to the general opinion that only professional makeup artists can create the perfect evening makeup, following these steps, you can quite easily do it yourself.

Fresh start

Remove traces of your day makeup (if you had it) and clean your face with a makeup remover and/or a tonic.

Don’t forget to moisturize your lips.

Set a base.

Apply a light-coloured and light-textured concealer or foundation underneath your eyes, along the dark circles and pat it all over the eye zone, starting from the brows all the way to the nose.

Continue applying foundation as usual – wherever it’s needed to hide imperfections of your skin.

Your face foundation should be similar to the shade of your tan, so it wouldn’t look different from your neck and bust area, especially if you’re wearing low-cut outfit.

Define the face

For a glowing effect, apply a bit of highlighter to cheekbones, Cupid’s bow and the brow bone.

You can also brighten up your face with a bronzer, just sweep it across your cheekbones, the jaws and the brow bone.

Add a blusher to each cheek and blend it in well.

Define the eyes.

Create the base for the eye makeup by sweeping a light (beige, nude or ivory) matte eyeshadow from lashes to eyebrows.

Apply a darker shade of eyeshadow on your lids and then gently blend it into the skin. It shouldn’t pass the brow bone or the end of eyebrows.

If you want to accent your eyes, apply a matching shimmery eyeshadows across your lids. The darker shade should follow the eyelid.

Define your eyes with a black or dark grey eye pencil (for a softer or a smokey eye look) or an eyeliner (for more dramatic, cat-eye look).

Apply two coats of mascara to the lashes. You can also consider applying false eyelashes, if you like the look.

Define the lips.

Apply the same shadow you’ve used for creating an eye makeup base on the “V” above your upper lip to make it look fuller (this is particularly effective for those with a thin upper lip).

For longer lasting of a lipstick, apply a bit of foundation on your lips.

Choose a lip liner that is a shade or two darker than your natural lips and apply it along your lip line. Makeup expert, Napoleon Perdis, creator of the famous cosmetic brand Napoleon Perdis, recommends applying a lip liner one more time, after putting on a lipstick, in order to prevent color leaking.

If you’ve already highlighted your eyes, just tap on some lip gloss in some light shade.

If you choose to highlight your lips, pick a bold color for the lipstick and apply it slowly and precisely. Smack your lips together and you’re done.