I love a good party, especially because it’s a wonderful opportunity to do glamorous, party makeup. Should you be heading out for a festive new year’s eve swaré, I offer up seven beauty tips to help you crank up the glamour.

1. Focus

To avoid looking like an 80’s beauty don’t, choose a focal point to dramatize – eyes, lips, or even cheeks.

2. Start with a good foundation

Dramatic makeup looks best when you even out your complexion with a good foundation or tinted moisturizer. It’s never a good thing when smoky eyes or red lipstick have to compete with blotchy skin. I recommend Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation. It makes skin look flawless without looking all made up.

3. Bold Lips

If you decide to go with bold lips, keep eye makeup simple with just a sweep of mascara and perhaps a little liquid liner for a clean line or a little cat eye action.

Red is always a classic, show-stopping color, like the new Simply Red from the Estee Lauder Ultimate Red holiday collection. Also consider a vivid pink, like one from the Shu Uemura Pink Collection, for a fun alternative.

Click for tips on how to help lip color last, even on a long night of partying.

4. Dramatic Eyes

If you decide to go with smoldering, smoky eyes, you can make life easier if you go with a coordinated set with colors chosen specifically for a smoky eye look, like one of the Urban Decay Smoke Out Kits or the Estee Lauder Eye Shadow Quad in Black Smoke (click to see reviews, pics and swatches on my new beauty blog Hello Beauty).

To keep smoky eyes from looking dirty, keep some eye makeup remover on hand to clean up any shadow that falls below the eyes. Be sure to use concealer under the eyes if you have the slightest bit of darkness there. A smoky eye will call attention to that, so give under eye circles the boot.

5. Sparkle

Parties are the perfect time to sparkle. Apply a sparkly powder on cheekbones, neck, décolleté, shoulders, and even in your hair. Estee Lauder’s new Opulent Shimmer Powder is an ideal choice.

Glitter liners are also great for parties. They look especially dazzling when applied just along the lower lash line. I highly recommend Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner if you want a serious dose of glitter.

6. Luminous Skin

If you’re revealing a bit of skin with a lovely party dress, your skin will look even better if it looks luminous. Makeup artists use this trick all the time for the runway and photo shoots. Sparkly powders are one way to do this. Another is to bust out a lotion or balm that tricks the eye and makes skin look ultra smooth. These are especially good on legs and arms. Benefit Body so Fine is a velvety balm that’s a longtime fave of many a makeup artist.

7. Sleek Hair

Hair looks best when it’s sleek and shiny, since that’s how it looks when it’s at its healthiest. But hair gets dull as we age so most of us could use a shine boost. Serums are great but they can weigh down hair. Living Proof No Frizz has a revolutionary formula that tames frizz and adds shine without flattening hair. I’m also a big fan of L’Oreal Perfect Shimmer Shine Illuminating Mist. It makes my hair ultra shiny and isn’t as likely to flatten hair, because it goes on in a very fine mist.

Happy 2010!

Image by torkristensen / CC BY 2.0