Get the Girl’s Gathering Look

1. Prime eyelids with a dusting of translucent powder to absorb any oil. Use fingers to smudge on a gold, creamy shadow pen, like No7 Stay Perfect Shade and Define in Xmas Gold, from the lash line to socket, and also use it to thinly rim the lower waterline to create a really wide-eyed look.

2. Use a brown or black kohl pencil first along upper lash lines to trace an even eyeliner shape, and smudge out mistakes with a damp cotton bud.

3. Then, trace over your outline with a bright, jewel-hued liquid liner, such as No7 Stay Perfect Liquid Eyeliner in Sky High, slowly guiding the liner across the lid as close to the root of the lashes as possible.

4. Curl your lashes to keep the eyes open and lifted. Then, with a good volumising mascara, like No7 Midnight Lash Mascara, zig-zag the wand across the base of lashes in an upwards direction, gently using the tip of your wand to paint the inner corner and smaller lashes – every single lash needs full attention.

5. Dramatic eyeliner demands groomed and defined brows. Use light, feathery strokes and a sharpened brow pencil to shade in and thicken up the brows, elongating ever so slightly at the ends towards the temple. Set in shape with a brow gel or tame with a little hairspray applied with fingers.

Hair

1. There’s a fine line between carefree curls looking cool versus looking crunchy, so getting the hair texture shiny, yet able to hold shape, is imperative.

2. While some shine products just sit on the hair and weight curls down, naturally occurring oils like macadamia and jojoba, found in Wella SP Luxe Oil, €31.50, contain the same type of lipids that the scalp produces and so meld into strands and allow hair to hang and separate without weight. Work half a pump through damp mid-lengths to ends.

3. Then, wrap different sized sections of hair around a curling wand to get a haphazard curling effect. Very lightly waft a salt spray, like Wella Professionals Ocean Spritz Dry, €10.50, all over the head, and then gently blast the coated curls with a blow-dryer on low speed and low heat to give a gentle, windswept look.

4. Tease curls with the end of a tail-comb and pin around temples, letting the volume sit around the shoulders for the most face-flattering shape. Spritz with Wella Stay Styled Finishing Spray, €14.40, to maintain the movement without making the curl drop.

Pro tip: As wacky as this sounds, washing your hair with sparkling water is the best way to strip it of colour-altering mineral deposits like copper (which are in relatively high concentrations in Irish water). The little bubbles burrow into the hair shaft and really clear out all the grime and build-up.

This article originally appeared in IMAGE’s December 2014 issue, make sure to check out the January issue, which is on shelves now.

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