CODE Beautiful's Office Christmas Party Rules
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying, that the annual office Christmas party has become a phenomenon in its own right. The only time it’s socially acceptable to do your make-up at your desk, get drunk with your boss and pull a fake sickie, the office Christmas party often gets a bad rep, with its connotations of cheap booze and embarrassing antics. Well, we can’t promise that our CODE Christmas party rulebook will keep you on the straight and narrow, but we can promise that if you follow our party beauty guide, you’ll certainly look good at this year’s Christmas do. So, here are our top five rules for making sure your Christmas party antics are memorable for all the right reasons. We promise there’s no mention of mistletoe or photocopiers.
Preparation is key to longevity
Want your make-up to last all night? Want your skin to glow, regardless of how many gins you’ve been sampling? Want to look fresh and radiant in the morning? Then a pre-party skincare regime is essential. Exfoliate gently, but regularly, using a glycolic acid-based product, in the fortnight running up to the party. Every other night use a hyaluronic acid-infused sheet mask, followed by a serum, before your moisturizer. On the night, follow your moisturizer with a primer that encourages longevity. Finally, don't forget to drink tons of water!
Perfect your complexion before anything else
We can guarantee there’ll be plenty of photos taken at your Christmas ‘do - and you won’t necessarily be in charge of choosing the Instagram filter – so make sure that your skin is on point for each shot and your complexion has just the right amount of coverage to blur out wrinkles, spots and discolouration. When choosing a foundation for your nighttime look, look for moisturizing ingredients, a demi-matte or matte finish and blemish-blurring pigments, which will keep you selfie-ready all night long.
It’s all about easy tweaks, rather than a fresh new face of make up
You don’t want to have to start from scratch with your make-up if you’re going straight from the office to your Christmas do. Likewise you don’t want to start using fiddly products that will keep your colleagues waiting (and gossiping). The answer? Keep products in your desk drawer that will transform your look from day to night, hassle-free. CODE FFL Forget Fake Lashes, used together with CODE VLM Volumising Lengthening Mascara, will seriously upgrade your lashes from office-appropriate to party-ready, without all the glue and faff of falsies. Apply FFL to naked lashes, and the lash-fattening formula will add length and volume to your natural lashes. Once dry, coat with VLM, to add depth of colour, and amp up the volume and length even further.
Make an impact with a statement lip
An easy way to make a make-up statement is with a bold red lip: it’s the make-up equivalent of pulling on a stunning LBD. High-shine is this season’s way to do a red lip and a burgundy shade of red will really keep it looking fresh and modern. Prepare lips before applying colour, by boosting fullness, and adding definition and volume to your pout, with CODE LIP Lip Intense Plumper.
Keep it classy
Yes, a hint of sparkle is a lovely festive addition to your make-up bag (let’s face it, when else can adults get away with glitter?) but a sparkly nail colour or hint of glitter eyeliner will suffice. We love Smith & Cult’s Shattered Souls Nail Lacquer – a combo of large and small golden particles – that will grab attention for all the right reasons.