Christmas Masquerade Step by Step and Products Used.

1. Cleanse, tone and moisturise the skin. For this I used Kaeso Beauty products.
2. Apply primer to the skin with a synthetic brush. I used Smashbox Photo Finish Primer.
3. With a white eyeliner pencil, draw the shape of the mask as a guideline. This can be changed and perfected as you go along.
4. To make the mask look more realistic, apply eye make-up to the area inside the eye holes of the mask so that it looks like the mask is being worn on top of a made up face. I applied Urban Decay’s potion eye primer in Eden then used shadow’s from Urban Decay’s Naked Palette, then finished off with Illamasqua’s Precision Gel Liner in Bback and powdered down with a Mac matte black. I then applied Maybelline’s Colossal Lash Mascara with a disposable wand.
5. Using a large sized flat brush and clown white face paint (I chose Snazaroo), paint the shape of the mask onto the face. This will create a stronger base for your glitter to sit on top of.
6. Using a smaller brush, paint over the top half of the mask with a different colour (I chose Snazaroo’s Metalic Gold) and fade the colour out as you get towards the central line of the mask.
7. With a synthetic brush, apply cosmetic grade glitter to the mask. I used Stargazers glitter shakers in Gold, Hologram and Silver from top to bottom. This will create more of a Christmas feel to the overall look.
8. With a medium sized, flat synthetic brush, apply foundation to the skin around the mask. I used a Real Techniques bush with Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in shade 4.5, then used shade 15 to create a contoured effect. I then buffed the foundation with Real Techniques Buffing Brush and applied Estee Lauder’s Lucidity Pressed Powder in Light/Medium with a large natural fiber brush.
9. Following the foundation application, apply blusher slightly below the apples of the cheeks with a medium sized, soft natural fiber brush. I used Mac’s Blusher in Blush Baby.
10. With a small angled brush, outline the mask with black eyeshadow then use a pale brown colour on a soft fluffy blending brush to blend the black out. This will create the illusion of a shadow around the mask and make it look like it is lifted slightly off the face.
11. In small sections, apply a cosmetic grade adhesive to the outline of the mask with a fine cheap brush and place small diamantes or gems to add detail. Your brush will probably be ruined and in need of throwing away after use due to the build-up of adhesive. I applied black gems with Snappy G prosthetic adhesive, which I patch tested on my model’s skin previous to creating this look.
12. Apply some false lashes to the eyes. I used some cheap lashes that were bought from eBay with a latex based adhesive that had also been patch tested on my model previous to the demo. Using tweezers helps to position the eyelashes in the correct place.
13. Finally to finish off the look, apply a lipstick with a suitable synthetic brush. I used Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick in Black Cherry 477. I then set the whole look with Urban Decay’s ‘All Nighter’ setting spray.

Michelle Jo-an Hodson is the makeup artist who carried out this tutorial