At this moment I should probably be getting ready to go to a holiday party, but instead I’m sitting at my desk blogging about makeup for holiday parties. No matter what I do right now it’s sort of procrastinating, but I’m feeling sassy so it’s a good time to get some writing done.

The party I’m going to (which will be long over by the time this post is published) is one of those christmas sweater parties, so I tried to go to the mall today and get an ugly christmas sweater. Well first I went to target and they were sold out, then I tried to go to the mall and it was SO packed that we couldn’t find a spot to park. After one and a half laps around the parking lot we decided we don’t care that much and went to Chipotle instead. Best decision I made all week. But seriously though, I really thought with all the online shopping that people do, malls wouldn’t be as bad this time of year as they used to be. I guess I was wrong. It’s called Amazon people, get with it!

With holiday parties comes holiday party makeup, and while it’s easy to sit here and prescribe red lips all around, I thought this year it would be fun to take a look at some alternative, but still fun and festive lip ideas.

#1 Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick in Bauhau5

If you haven’t tried the studded kiss lipsticks, then whatchu doing with yourself? But seriously though, I really like them. They remind me of the MAC Retro Matt Formula except some of them have glitter in them. This color in particular is my current favorite lipstick, period. Not just for holiday parties. It goes really really well with a nice shimmery bronze eye, which makes it excellent for holiday looks without being all “Look at me it’s friggin CHRISTMAS on my FACE” you know what I mean? It’s really vibrant and healthy looking, and I’m pretty sure it will look good on a ton of different skin tones. It’s matte so it wears for a pretty long time, and it’s also one of those that wears off really evenly so you don’t get crazy clown lips which is always good.

YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in “Fuchsia Desinvolte” With L’oreal “Amber Rush” as a Highlight

The YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush is kinda pricey and is totally a treat-yo-self type of purchase, but if you are looking to treat yourself then I love this stuff and I say go for it. I waited until the Sephora friends and family sale to scoop mine up so I felt a little less bad about the price. It’s so smooth and bright and juicy looking on the lips! To make it more festive looking I topped it with L’oreal infallible eyeshadow in Amber rush on the cupids bow. It’s a nice rose gold shade so it blends in well with the fuchsia color while still making it look a bit festive and special, you smell me? I think I might wear this tonight, but I have no idea what I’m wearing yet so that could change.

OCC Lip Tar In Black Metal Dahlia Over Palladio Herbal Lipliner in Black Berry

If you’re feeling festive and vampy then this one’s for you. The OCC Lip Tar in black metal dahlia is gorg on it’s own but I feel like it needs a liner to be wearable. You can make it opaque without a liner but then you have to have a lot of product on the lips and it can get a little messy and if you’re at a party drinking dranks and eating snack then that’s bad news. The palladio lip liner isn’t super awesome quality, but under a lip tar it get’s the job done and it’s super cheap so I’m not mad at it. I think it adds some nice depth to this look too. I filled in most of the lip except the middle with liner and then applied black metal dahlia over the entire thing with a brush. This is definitely on the edgier side, but with that level of metallic glitter goodness, nobody can accuse you of not being festive, thats for sure. I thought this deserved a macro shot to show it’s beauty so here ya go . . .

So go forth, have fun with your holiday party makeup, be safe . . .and if the mall is too crowded just go eat Mexican food. <3