Ready for Carnival? To get in the mood, here is a selection of inspiring photos + (easy) make up tips. This year I am not carnivalesque at all, it wasn’t possible to go from London to Vogue’s Ball (so sorry, I always love getting ready to the ball) and I will be pretty far away from all the fun because it’s Paris Fashion Week! But… I hope you have loads of fun all plated in glitter!!

In order for the post not to be confusing, I first put the photos (keywords for Carnival: colour, glitter, metallics, cristal, embellishment on the head) and then the tips in the end

. Chanel always has incredible inspirations… a mix of glitters and glows from different shows:

This is from the last haute couture show, the cutest, most simple and effective thing this eyeliner with glitter close to the bottom lashes! You can adapt it with those glitter eyeliners (Urban Decay, Nyx, Yes Cosmetics… they all have it)

 Here the glitter is XL, almost sequins, and goes on top

Here it’s glued crystals even

This is not glitter, but it’s worth as an idea: a mask made with a pretty lace is already a great costume

. Dior doesn’t stay behind and teaches how to use colours and crystals:

In the eyes…

… and in the mouth!

Metallics for the eyes are always a good idea – glitter, pigment (wet, to get more intense), creamy eyeshadow and even gold leaf are all valid:

This is still by Dior, but in a golden glitter eyebrows version from the September show – the mooost beautiful thing!

Old Fendi show, I really love this make up

Blue glitter in the make up for Juliana Jabour’s last show in SPFW, by Henrique Martins

The glitter goes from the internal corner until the middle of the eyelid and a smokey shaped as a cat eye finalizes the make up

I also love this make up from Reinaldo Lourenço’s last show, by Fabi Gomes from MAC. It’s a pure, graphic metallic, I find it almost minimalistic since it doesn’t have anything else “going on” to interfere with it!

There was also the silver version at Reinaldo’s

Colour focus: the best way to cheer up the look with the less amount of work possible! You can go with lipstick, easier than this it’s impossible, and colourful eye pencil in the eyes (I love when applied only on the bottom):

Like the blue from Marc Jacobs, that has a cat eye on the external corner and another one on the internal corner…

Or this one a bit greener from Stella McCartney, that is more on the waterline

If you are in doubt on what vibrant lipstick colour to choose, it’s worth saying that orange totally reigned in the last season of shows (summer 2014 of the North Hemisphere) – as Karlie shows for DKNY. But I also love the electric pinks so much, if you can, wear one each day hehe!

You can also do both, blue eye pencil on the eyes (or was it green?) just on the bottom + orange lipstick, like Cara in an unknown show

In real life… 4 looks that I loved in this year’s edition of Vogue’s Ball:

I totally fell in love with the make up my dear Karine Vilas Boas, Vogue’s stylist, wore – true golden glitter all over the eye and going from temples up to the hair! The make up artist Cris Biato did it, using lipgloss + Gold glitter by MAC and Copacabana highlighter by Nars

The idea of the crystal glued to the internal corner – as a more powerful spotlight – used by Helena Bordon (so beautiful!) is great for the more discrete… Make up by Nadia Tambasco

It’s always great to have an element on the head, like the necklace Proença adapted for the dear Lele Saddi

(a vintage photo of me, because I also wore a necklace on the head for the ball in 2009!)

And, to end, if you don’t have anything for the head or a necklace or a similar item to improvise… run to the garden, grab some flowers, garnish a side braid and you’re ready to go! You can be as pretty as Alessandra Ambrósio, with hair by Cris Dios from Laces & Hair

Practical and simple tips for you to do your make up and be happy during Carnival – being dancing samba in the Parade Avenue, in a little street bloc, in a VIP box, in a party of a club…

LESS IS MORE. Seriously. Think about the heat, the crowd, the sweat, the drinks, the lack of infrastructure adequate for touch ups… It is not the ideal moment to do that perfect skin with a thousand steps of products and matte finish or that impeccable smokey eye. It won’t last, you are gonna get upset and no one will even notice it! So it’s better to adopt a more relaxed strategy, choose a part of your make up you want to highlight and leave the rest really light – like the minimum necessary.

TO FOCUS what about changing the elaborate smokey for a glitter layer on the eyelid (on top of a thin layer of Duo glue, just like Fabi Gomes taught in the first episode of #camiandvictakelondon) + waterproof mascara? Or making an almost bare eye – keeping just the mascara – and applying a mega electric lipstick (preferably opaque, that lasts longer)? Or smudging a bit the eye with a colourful eye pencil (it takes a minute, I swear)? Or applying a bunch of glitter where the highlighter usually goes? Or on top of the eyebrows?

WHAT ABOUT THE TOUCH UPS? Well, some things are unavoidable – for example an eye with a colourful eye pencil on the outlines will smudge, and that can be a positive thing. I love a more “lived” and not static look. And the glitter alone, there isn’t a more living make up than this shining powder. Of course it will migrate around your whole face (and your boyfriend’s and who else’s crossing your way), but that’s no big deal, it’s Carnival! The only thing I think it’s worth to touch up is the lipstick, but if you’re wearing an opaque and apply it well at home, the chances of it lasting super nicely and only needing some retouches in the center of the lips are high – and this you can do even without a mirror. And don’t complain about oily skin, let the poor break free for a day!

WHERE TO ASSEMBLE THE CARNIVAL KIT  everyone has some carnivalesque items to improvise a make up at home. But if you want to pimp your kit, I suggest you swing (physically or virtually) by a MAC or a Quem disse, Berenice? or a Contém 1g or a Sephora or a The Beauty Box store. Going to only one of these is enough to find vibrant lipsticks, colourful eye pencils, glitters and shiny and metallic pigments. And what else of you need, right? It’s also worth trying a bigger drug store, like one of those that has several options in terms of make up brands.

WHAT ABOUT THE HAIR? I am a total fan of the updos, like that super high bun (that I even showed in a video, and it’s mega master easy to do) – because no one deserves to worry if the hair is “fine” all the time, right. Not to mention the heat, the hair heating the neck and the back… It’s worth it also to improve the updo with braids and different embellishments. But if you want to go out with it loose a-ny-way… Well, than my tip is to bring a hair tie in your pocket in case you change your mind halfway through!

LINKS to complement this post:

My shiny eye shadows in the post about make up for New Years Eve

Hangout with me about Carnival make up in video, a Google+ hangout from last year

Video with the incredible Carnival make up that Theo Carias made in me last year – this one from the photo below!

{Translated by Ana de Almeida}