Why limit its use only to the holiday season? Here’s how to incorporate glitter into your day-by-day make-up.
The beauty of parties is that they allow us to be daring, both with outfits and with make-up. Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone is the best way to experience and discover new things that we would normally be suspicious of or even horrified of.
Glitter is everywhere lately – nails, hair, lipstick, and as makeup in general – so it’s not exactly a trend that we can completely ignore, but maybe it’s worth dedicating a few minutes to understand how we can manage it. If glitter in manicures is by now the order of the day all year round, in hair the use is naturally more moderate and limited to certain moments and occasions of use, but what about make-up? In make-up, there are acute phases in which glitter peaks in popularity – precisely in times of parties or thanks to the # vampireskin that went viral on TikTok – and other moments in which they don’t exactly fall out of favor, but they are not the first cosmetic we look for in the morning when we put on make-up.
Especially if when it comes to make-up you belong to the less is more team, you may have found yourself thinking often and willingly that glitter is cute, yes, but on others, and in any case always in small doses. And the vampire skin does indeed have a crazy effect, but maybe it’s not the time to use it to go shopping. Your position is more than understandable: poorly managed glitter risks being chaotic and not exactly elegant. Yet there are those who manage to incorporate them into everyday makeup, thus giving it that extra bit of glow so as to make it bright enough without shouting to the world that you went straight to school or work after partying all night.
Yet it is enough to take a look on TikTok and after a few scrolls, here is the answer to the question: yes, glitter can be used every day. The secret is to choose the color well, possibly neutral, and moderate the amount used. Seeing is believing.
Are you convinced now and want to give it a chance? To start off on the right foot, we asked for advice from Daniele Batella, Global Make-up Artist of ASTRA Make-up, who revealed all the tips & tricks of glitter make-up.
GLITTER: HOW TO CHOOSE THEM
If you are at the very first approach or you are still in the initial phase of knowing glitter, the important thing is to find the right one for you. “There are two types of glitter. One is in the form of loose powder that we find inside small jars and the second is in the form of a wafer, inside a transparent gel or something that acts as a binder. The big difference is that those in loose powder necessarily require a greasy, or oily base in general, and a glitter primer to make them adhere to the eyelid, while those in pods are ready to use ”, explains Batella.
Having overcome the problem of choice, it is also necessary to understand how to make them last over time and avoid their fallout.“The duration depends on the granulometry of the glitter because we can find them both in the form of fine powders, where the glitter appears as a pearlescence inside an eyeshadow, up to having slightly bigger glitter, the so-called chunky glitter, flakes which give a scenic effect that is applied on top of a color. When they are pressed it is very easy to make them last and two methods can be used. The first is to pick up the glitter to apply them with the fingertip, pressing them on the eyelid; the alternative is to use a cat’s tongue brush. However, never a blending brush, because it would be difficult both to pick them up and to position them. Free glitter is the slightly more complicated one to manage, because it always requires a base, basically a primer. Then there are those who use gloss or glue for false eyelashes, but they are somewhat extreme methods and success is not guaranteed”. (But you are free to try).
GLITTER: WHERE TO APPLY THEM
”The eye is obviously the first place we think of putting glitter and here the result is surprising, because glitter has a multidimensional effect and gives the impression that a great job has been done with different colors, when in fact it is just the different reflections of the light that strikes them”, explains the make-up artist. “In the eye area, however, we can identify several points. The first is the eyelid, the most popular for party looks, but for those who want to use it every day, they can put it in the inner corner of the eye, choosing it in a soft or transparent shade, it can easily replace the highlighter or, if applied with an angled brush, can be used as a luminous eyeliner. In this way we go to contrast the look, whether we put it on the lower or upper lashes”, suggests Batella.
“A glitter lip is also very beautiful, created with creamy lipstick on which we can dab glitter in the center of the lip: maybe it’s not a suitable trick for going to dinner, but it’s perfect for an after-evening. This type of makeup is great for having a plumping effect ”.
” The last way we can use glitter is as a highlighter or as a top coat over a highlighter, but in this case, we need to think carefully about what result we want to achieve. In this case, the best ones are the slightly transparent holographic ones, but they certainly aren’t for every day”.
GLITTER: HOW TO MATCH THEM
”In this period we are seeing a trend which is to combine it with smokey-eye, and specifically the silver glitter which, combined with black, gives a wonderful 60s effect. The black of the eye is always very sensual, but the glow of the glitter lightens it without taking anything away from the beauty and sensuality”, says the MUA.
“ If, on the other hand, we want to use it inside the eye or on the lower lash line, I suggest a champagne-colored glitter or very light gold, which are very illuminating. For the lips, on the other hand, I always suggest a ton-sur-ton that emphasizes the volume of the lips”.
HOW TO REMOVE GLITTER
If you’ve already had experience with various types of glitter in the past, and not just with make-up, you’ll surely have experienced the difficulty of being able to remove it well. No joke, glitter is almost worse than confetti and you risk finding it in unexpected places even months after you think you’ve managed to remove everything.
”To remove every last bit of glitter I can only say two things. The first is that in this case, double cleansing is really essential because the oily cleanser also helps to dissolve any primer we used previously to make them adhere. However, start removing make-up only from the area where the glitter is, for example by massaging only the eyes and avoiding spreading them on the rest of the face, thus making small movements: you can try with disks soaked in a biphasic gel that you place on the eyes for a few seconds so that the product works. Then follow up with an oily, foaming cleanser. Now dry well and even if you’ve been careful it’s very likely there’s still some glitter,” says Batella.
But now there is the real secret of make-up artists. “Take a piece of duct tape and unload it a bit on the back of your hand and then dab where you see the glitter, so it’s gently picked up from your face.”
