THE MAKEUP? KEEP IT SUBTLE

Glitter can be a dangerous tool around the holidays, when partygoers commit a multitude of makeup sins, making eyes and lips so sparkly they look like tinsel on the Christmas tree.

The best holiday hair and makeup shouldn’t compete with the brilliance of a dress or jewels -- much less the party decorations. To let the metallic clothes shine for this shoot, model Natalia G’s hair was styled into a sleek chignon. Makeup was applied with a light touch, with the focus on dramatic eyes and clean, dewy skin.

To achieve the sophisticated, swept-up do, hairstylist Jeremy Clarke started with a few sprays of Catwalk Root Boost by TIGI at the crown of the head, to create a bump of volume on top. He then followed with a mist of Superstar Queen for a Day Thickening Spray by Bed Head to “give body and hold without looking like the hair is full of product,” he said. Clarke brushed the hair back, using a vented brush so that the slickness on top wouldn’t be too severe, and swept it into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck, securing it with an elastic band. He wrapped pieces of the model’s hair around the ponytail, creating a clean chignon, and secured loose hairs with bobby pins. The finishing touch? A dab of Bed Head’s After-Party hair cream to get rid of flyaways.

For the dewy face, makeup artist Sonia Lee prepped Natalia’s face with La Mer moisturizing face and eye cream and Bobbi Brown concealer and foundation. Lee created shine on the face that the camera would pick up with a thin layer of Vaseline. In real life, Vaseline would be too shiny. So she advises using an illuminating lotion from MAC or Stila to achieve a more subtle glow.

She gave the eyes a dramatic look with a few false lashes coated with black mascara from MAC, and created a heavy lid with L’Oreal HIP Intensity pigment in Forgiving Brown. For a neutral lip with a hint of color and a lot of shine, she applied a few coats of MAC Viva Glam lip gloss.

The overall look is luminous but still classic and understated.