Simple Last Minute Beauty Tricks for Parties and Holidays

Last minute beauty tricks can be simple by design, yet effective when you need a quick turnaround or a fix to appear at the party or holiday celebration looking like a queen.

Truth is even Kate Hudson has had a breakout at exactly the wrong moment. But whether you’re heading out for a job interview or a big night on the town, the last thing you need is an unpleasant surprise in the mirror.

Out team went to the makeup artists and hairstylists who get the biggest celebrities ready for their close-ups. And we asked for advice on how to deal with some of the most common beauty predicaments using the last minute beauty tips they have under their sleeves.

We’ve heard some fun stories and jotted down some incredibly easy-to-do things when we need them the most. In addition, I’ve added my own tested and proven recipes to look gorgeous during the day or for any party or celebration. I’ve been using them for years. These quick and effective turnarounds are in my skin reference book where I have been collecting the recipes for my skin.

Skin Breakouts

When Brooke Shields and Catherine Zeta-Jones have a big appearance coming up, they turn to New York City makeup artist Kimara Ahnert. Why? Becasue Kimara has some incredibly “magic” ways to turn your looks around.

Do you want to know what her favorite and so simple last minute beauty trick to banish blemishes is? Here it is for your own use when you need it.

Place an ice pack over the pimple for a few minutes, then squeeze a little bit of eye drop solution over the zit to reduce redness. Let the solution dry for a few minutes before dabbing on concealer. Follow with a light layer of translucent powder to set the concealer and even out the skin.

Hollywood makeup artist Jerrod Blandino, whose products Scarlett Johansson is a fan of, adds this caveat.

“Do not pick the pimple. It’s easier to cover when it’s not punctured. And make sure that the concealer you are using is an exact match for your skin tone to make it undetectable.”

PS: I’ve done this trick for a ton of times and not just for my own self. My girl-friends, my hubby and my kids have been the so-to-say recipients of this trick.

Herbal Tea Benefits for Skin Breakouts

Party or not, it is not a celebration when you need to deal with daily skin breakouts and blemishes. What I’ve learned growing up from my grandmothers on both sides of the family are some amazingly effective tricks to fight skin breakouts.

Herbal teas are my favorite time for quiet and destressing. Besides, the teas I collect into my herbal pantry are those that have immensely positive effect on the skin.

Here’s my adorable herbal trio I drink and use for my under eye masks and cool compresses: linden tea, chamomile tea, and rosehip tea. Check out their benefits you may reap by including into your skin care routine and diet.

Linden Benefits for Skin

Linden flowers and leaves are a powerful antioxidant that protect the cells from inside out, thus truly promoting the anti-aging skin process.

But one of the best and most critical benefit that linden tea provides to the skin is that it locks moisture into the skin. And where there’s moisture, there’s life and beauty and healthy aging. Without a balanced water level inside your skin, it will look older. But most important, the skin will experience a distress and will react with its many outcomes. Such outcomes range from a tired look to wrinkly and dry skin and extend to thinned collagen, dark under-eye areas and more.

Those with skin breakouts, could include a linden tea into their diet and then reuse these herbal teabags for the eye masks. I like to use these teabags cold. Just pop a teabag into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, then use as a cool compress over your eyes.

Keep in mind that linden is a natural astringent and helps to balance skin natural sebum production and to tighten and clean the pores. As an overall effect, the skin receives that tightening effect. Who wouldn’t like to have it?!

Chamomile Tea Skin Benefits

For those with breakouts, chamomile tea could be a natural and easy way to control them. Being a potent antioxidant, chamomile protects the skin from free radicals, hence early signs of aging.

But what you need to know about chamomile is that by drinking it and then using cooled teabags as eye masks, it will help to fade darker spots and eliminate acne scars. Overall, with regular use of chamomile tea, you can successfully fight breakouts, if used as topical masks.

I like to drink my chamomile tea, and then reuse the teabags for my eye masks after the shower or during the day.

Rosehip Tea Benefits for Skin

Under-eye dark circles may appear due to several reasons. If they are connected to stress and sleepless nights, you can contribute to the breakdown of collagen. Skin depleted of collagen thins out and shows more of blood capillaries, thus darker circles under the eyes.

Including rosehip tea into your regular diet and using the tea bags for eye masks helps prevent the breakdown of collagen. The antioxidant carotenoid astaxanthin is one of the strong players in cell and skin tissue regeneration.

Here is a list of Herbal Teas for Your Last Minute Beauty Tricks.

Blotchy Skin Solutions

Wake up with a road map of red splotches on your face? Don’t despair. With the right makeup, you can fake complexion perfection.

– First, apply moisturizer. “Use a product infused with naturally calming ingredients like chamomile, cucumber and aloe to soothe and alleviate redness,” Blandino suggests.
– Give that a few moments to sink in, then smooth on foundation.
– Pat concealer on any remaining red areas.
– Set with a dusting of translucent powder.

Cold Compress for Puffy Eyes

You want to look stunning and refreshed at the holiday party. But sometimes the puffy eyes can easily tell a different story.

It could be too much salt or not enough sleep that can leave you with so much baggage under your eyes you’ll be tempted to call for a moving van. But before you cancel your party plans and climb back into bed, try celebrity esthetician Scott Vincent Borba’s favorite last minute beauty trick for parties.

“Put your eye cream in the freezer for ten minutes before applying. It will act as a cold compress. Choose one with light reflectors to help reduce the appearance of puffiness.”

Also, you may want to explore using regularly the 24k gold skin care products that help with puffiness and dark circles. They really provide a quick solution to a mush smoother skin under eyes. Also, I found that using 24k gold masks work in synergy with with my other tips and tricks to achieve a powerfully refreshed look.

Check out my detailed post on the Best Gold Skin Care Products for eye masks and facial masks.

How to Deal with Dark Circles Using Makeup

More often than not, the most called-for area for treatment is the under-eye skin. But you can still apply last minute beauty tricks to look like you’ve got a beauty sleep.

To treat those telltale under-eye rings, first head to the kitchen. Dampen tea bags, take a seat or lie down and apply the bags over your eyes for a few minutes.

“The tannin in tea has been shown to reduce swelling and discoloration. Then use a yellow- or peach-toned concealer to cancel out the purple or bluish color under the eye. Stay away from pink-toned concealers. They can actually make your circles more noticeable,” says Kimara Ahnert.

And the models love this tip from Blandino.

“Line the corners and rims of your eyes with a flesh- or nude-colored pencil to brighten and lighten the eye area.”

You don’t need to take these tips and tricks as true, rather test then out! Then you’ll be able to set aside only those tips that work for you. Later, you’ll be confident that they won’t let you down as your last minute beauty tricks you resort to.

In the Best Tips for Beautiful Eyes post, you will find a unique list of products to conceal those stubborn dark circles and puffy under-eye areas.

I select the products for personal use with strict guidelines, giving preference to non-toxic ingredients that work wonders when used in specific formulations.

Over-Plucked Eyebrowes Can Be Helped!

Eyebrows could be some of the difficult spot on a woman’s face to deal with. But with a little bit of practice, you can learn how to make your eyebrows party worthy.

Laura Geller, the New York City makeup artist who counts Mary-Louise Parker among her clients, suggests this simple last minute beauty trick.

Fill in your brows with a brow powder that matches your natural hair color as closely as possible. If it’s too light or too dark, it will instantly give you away. When you apply it, extend the length of the brows on the outside for a more youthful appearance.

Kimara Ahnert recommends applying the powder with a baby toothbrush for a more natural look and to whisk away any excess product.

“Then brush a clear brow gel over the brows to give them a groomed and polished look,” she says.

If your Hair Got Rained On

Hair is one of our best ways to show that we are ready for a party. But things do happen, and we need to come up with a solution for some hair despair situation.

You just spent 40 minutes blowing out your hair when a sudden downpour hits. Hats and scarves are one option, but New York City stylist Ted Gibson, who has tamed the locks of Eva Mendes, Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie, prefers a more elegant solution.

“Pull the hair back into a sleek ponytail. Use hair pins to twist it into a bun, and finish off with some hair spray.” That simple!

Test Your Last Minute Beauty Tricks!

No matter how simple last minute beauty tricks may seem, you can always try and test them out. When I learn something new, I like to test such knowledge out and see if it works for me. If there’s success, I keep such a small achievement in my beauty library of tips and tricks. It’s always handy to have a reference I can rely on in some critical moments.