It’s the party season – time to put your game face on and get on out their and meet rich, hot boys who won’t freak out should you steal a chip from their plate or moan that you only ever want to watch back to back episodes of Real Housewives of Vancouver.

While I can’t help you with the latter, I can show you how to create an easy ‘Red Hot Party Look’ thanks to Red Square who were kind enough to give me a gift card to help me put it together. And it gets better – I’ve got a R1000 gift card to give away too, but we’ll get to that in a bit. First we’re going to talk make-up.

Below is the Red Hot Party look I was given by Red Square to provide inspirasie for my own take on it. Naturally, I chose to tone it down a little ‘cos, while super graphic liner can look amazing when you’re in your twenties, I’m in my thirties now and busy pretending to be a grown up.

As you can see, this look is all about glowy skin, statement eyes and nude mouth so these are the boys I ended up popping in my Red Square shopping basket.

Clinique Even Better Makeup SPF 15 in Cream Chamois (04), R375.
Yardley Radiant Glo Illuminator, R99.
Clarins Blush Prodige Illuminating Cheek Colour in Soft Peach, R360.
Revlon ColorStay ShadowLinks eye shadow in Sand, R50.
GOSH Intense eyeliner pen in Blue, R93,75.
GOSH Velvet Touch eyeliner in Fashionista, R99.
Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Colour Lash Enhancing mascara in Black, R210.
Clinique Superbalm Moisturising Gloss in Grapefruit, R245.

Ready to get swatchy?

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To kick things off, I applied the foundation using a sponge and then used concealer under my eyes and on the odd spot. Next, I used my fingers to dab the highlighter to my cheek bones, moving upward towards my brow bone, essentially creating what make-up artists call a ‘C-shape’.

Top tip: If you’re an old crone like me, don’t get highlighter or shimmer products too close to the corners of your eyes or anywhere near where you have enlarged pores as this’ll only make them more visible.

As far as blusher goes, you’ll see the model used a peach shade but didn’t hit up the apples of her cheeks. She used her colour just below them, almost like a contouring powder. To recreate the look, I sucked in my cheeks and then swept the blush into the hollow. I then blended it upwards just a little ‘cos I do prefer to wear my colour a little higher up. That’s just how I roll, okay?

Now, lets talk about eyes – they’re the hero here. To create a similar look but without making a detour into crazy town, I started off with a wash of Revlon’s champagne-coloured shadow over my entire eyelid. Next, I slicked the GOSH blue eyeliner pen across my top lash line and flicked it out a little, starting with a thin line and then building more on top of that to create the appropriate ‘thickness’. I then used the GOSH eye pencil to line my waterline but kept it subtle. A very dark inner rim liner can enhance the look of dark under eye circles. To finish, all I had to do was add a few slicks of Arden’s mascara.

Top tip: If you want subtle-looking, smoky liner, apply it before your shadow. When you layer the shadow onto it afterwards you can blend and blur it a bit. Doing it this way is incredibly forgiving – you can totally get away with a line that’s initially a bit wonky. If, however, if you’re wanting to create a graphic line or are using a colour you want to pop, always apply it after your shadow and use a liquid liner that’ll pack a pigment punch as opposed to a pencil.

Finishing up the look was easy – all I had to do was apply a slick of Clinique’s gloss. It wasn’t as pigmented as I’d hoped it to be – I wanted a subtle peach sheen – but it still looked great. When you’ve got eyes that be a poppin’ you can totally get away with a super neutral mouth. But I didn’t have to tell you that, right? We all know that playing up one feature at a time is like the oldest ‘top make-up tip’ in the book.

Ready for the big reveal?

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I also took a piccie with flash as that’s the best way to see what your shimmer’s up to, not to mention how you’ll look in your party pics.

So, what do you girls think? I really liked it and almost wished I had a party to go to, although I was quite happy to veg on the couch with a wasabi popcorn and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. (How good is the CGI in that movie? Did anyone else cry in the end when Caesar and the blonde dude part ways?)

Otherwise, here are some things you should know: I have many, many favourite mascaras and Arden’s Beautiful Colour Lash Enhancing mascara is one of them. I love that it does a good job of volumising without sparing definition. GOSH’s Intense eyeliner pen is fabulously pigmented and seriously stays put. It ain’t going to run on you in da club. Clinique’s Superbalm Moisturising Gloss really does feel fabulously hydrating and is just the right amount of ‘sticky’.

Right! Now let’s get to the part you’ve all been waiting for. Who wants to win that R1000 Red Square gift card?

To enter, visit Red Square’s website and sign up for their newsletter then drop me a tweet telling me which Red Square product is your party look hero. Just be sure to use the hashtag #RedHotPartyLook and feel free to add a mooi selfie for extra awesome.

To give you an example: ‘Hey @lipglossgirl! My @RedSquareBeauty #RedHotPartyLook always features Lancome’s Hypnose mascara’.

Easy peasy, right? And if you’re not on twitter, you can also enter by dropping me a mail on glossycomps@gmail.com using the subject ‘Red Hot Party Look’. Just don’t forget to sign up to that newsletter.

This competition closes at 12pm on Wednesday the 3rd of December and the winner will be drawn using a random number generator.

Good luck girls!

Leigh