For most people, the holiday season is a month-long Ferris wheel that cycles between moments of high and low energy – from party to exhaustion; overbooked calendar to comatose on the couch; expertly executed glam to pyjamas and Netflix. In preparation, we’ve compiled an edit of the best beauty products to see you through both sides of the spectrum, a toolkit that allows you to easily transition from party mode to the day after.
For make-up lovers, the launch of Chanel’s limited-edition holiday collection is a noteworthy event of the season, especially since the brand unveiled its Cometes Collective in 2022. Composed of three make-up artists – Ammy Drammeh, Cécile Paravina and Valentina Li – the collective has breathed new life into Chanel beauty with a radical approach to colour. This season, French make-up artist Cécile Paravina took charge of the holiday collection with a rich range of blues inspired by a starry night sky. The Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow palette in Nuit Astrale (£60) features a glimmering purple-silver shade, medium matte blue-grey, elegant lavender and aqua-blue highlighter. Cosmique, a matte blue-grey nail polish (£27), complements the shades.
Where Chanel took inspiration from the sky for its holiday make-up collection, Byredo looked to the sea. Designed by Lucia Pica, Byredo’s make-up partner and another master of colour, the collection features a range of shades inspired by ‘the shifting light and contrast of the Nordic Sea’. The most innovative of these designs, pictured below, is the Liquid Lipstick Vinyl in Sea Whisper (£45), a transparent shade glimmering with subtle silver pearls that wears elegantly alone or adds a glittering touch to any of your lipstick shades.
Night Out, Morning After by Byredo
For an extra touch of glitter, try Dior’s Forever Glow Maximizer in the limited-edition shade 001 Abracadabra (£38, dior.com). The most sparkle-filled edition of the brand’s beloved liquid highlighters, the formula is infused with iris extract to hydrate skin. To wear, daub the applicator in a crescent shape from the uppermost part of the cheekbone along the hairline, then blend with your fingers. It can also be applied to the bow of your lip for added plumpness or worn as a gloss on eyelids for extra shine.
Finish your party prep with a spritz of All Night Until First Light by Discothèque (£120), a fragrance inspired by Ibiza’s Amnesia club, which opened in 1976 and is credited with popularising house music. A warm, citrus scent, it features heart notes of saffron and magnolia, blended with warm cashmere and juicy grapefruit and rum.
When the sun actually does rise, and you have cold city streets, not glimmering Ibiza sand dunes, to face – fear not. First, give your skin some much-needed hydration with a product like Omorovicza’s Daily Dew (£110), which is formulated with the brand’s patented Healing Concentrate (a high-powered distillation of Budapest’s mineral-rich waters) to deliver a boost of moisture, while also blurring pores and creating a dewy glow – in short, quickly reversing the effects of a night that was high on revelry and low on sleep.
All Night Until First Light by Discoteque
A swipe of Macrene Actives High Performance Eye Cream (£105) gives an additional plumping and brightening boost to the delicate under-eye area, with a blend of 38 plant extracts, hyaluronic acid and peptides, formulated by New York dermatologist to the stars Dr Macrene. While a glaze of Guerlain’s new Abeille Royale Bee Lab Shot (£51, guerlain.com) on top will deliver a concentrated blend of 20 percent vitamin Cg for a radiant glow and Norwegian black bee honey to support the skin’s natural repair process.
To feel as good as you’ve managed to make yourself look, try taking the NRC + Resveratrol supplement from Australian wellness brand SWIISH (£49.95), which is formulated with a potent dose of vitamin B3, known to reduce tiredness, fatigue and support alcohol metabolism.
