I don’t know about you guys, but I struggle with looking festive for holidays. Like I see people with festive outfits, makeup and nails that go with the theme for a certain holiday and I’m like “That person seems fun, I should try that” and then when I do, I feel like a total try-hard and wind up changing my mind. I’m so torn! If you struggle with this like I do then this post is for you.

What I have concluded in the last few batches of holidays that have passed is that I can be festive, but it has to be subtle. For example at christmas I can do a little extra sparkle and maybe wear some green or red, but if I start painting trees on my my nails or wearing candy cane earrings then I feel stupid and have to reel it in.

So this week I figured I would share some Fourth of July makeup and nail ideas that are festive and on theme, but still fall into my comfort zone.

Hopefully some of you share this comfort zone with me . . .I’m sure some of you do. I can’t be that weird . . .can I?

A red lip for the Fourth of July is pretty obvious because ya know red, white and blue. Duh. But I decided to make it a little more fun and festive by pulling out an old trick and highlighting my cupids bow in bright metallic gold. I did this a million years ago in the early days of my blog, but I won’t even link you to it, my photography was terrible back then. The products I used here were Stila “Beso” and Illamasqua Liquid Metal in “Solstice” but you can use any red lipstick you like and then dab a gold pigment or eyeshadow onto the cupids bow and get a similar effect.

For the nails I’m thinking of having them fade from the darkest dark blue (Essie after school boy blazer) on my thumbs all the way down to a light periwinkle (OPI You’re such a budapest) on my pinky. That way it fits the whole blue idea but it’s not exactly blue and white nails to go with my red lips, ya know what I mean? It’s all about striking a balance. Of course you could do any combination of these colors. Eurso Euro would probably look really great on it’s own without being too over the top “I wore blue to be festive” and I think “Pacific Blue” and “Secret Peri-wink-le” would make a really fun combination for a gradient effect. Just ideas though.

So that’s what I’m thinking as far as Fourth of July makeup and nails are concerned. I’ll probably pair the lip with a simple winged eyeliner or something along those lines.

And if you go through the same struggle that I do with trying to be festive, let me know and tell me how you deal! 🙂