Am I glamorous? I don’t think so—but I do think the fun of holiday parties is getting dressed up. It's important to afford myself the luxury of spending several hours getting ready in order to properly get into character—which is "fancy person." This holiday season, I am using parties of all kind as prime opportunity for presenting my Most Glam Self. It's kind of like a performance. And this is what's happening backstage beforehand.
DRESS
For inspiration, I'm looking to one of the most glamourous women on the planet, Julia Restoin Roitfeld. Have you seen photos of her on the red carpet? That black dress she wore to the last AMFAR Gala in particular—wowza. She manages to look sexy but demure all the time. A black, silk Altuzarra slip dress seems like a “yes” to me. No bra. Really any simple black slip works. I decide to offset the sex appeal with my enormous Sandy Liang puffer coat that makes me look like a freshly-hatched baby chick. It's all about contrast.
HAIR
Clean hair. I wash using Christophe Robin Purifying Salt Scrub, plus some Ouai Conditioner on the ends which makes for baby-soft hair. The texture is great when it air dries, except for this annoying cowlick I have to get rid of by sticking a round brush in for five minutes while I do my makeup. Not much else going on here, which is a good thing—because then I can devote a ridiculous amount of time to doing skin prep.
SKIN
This part starts in the shower. It’s winter, I have dry skin, and I am fairly naked in this dress, so I thoroughly scrub myself from face to feet. Kate Somerville Exfolikate is my satisfying physical facial scrub of choice, followed by African Botanics Detoxifying Body Scrub on the rest of me. It has the PERFECT ratio of salt and sugar to oil and is extremely luxe and effective. I leave the shower with brand new skin that is a liiiittle red, so I put on some Skin Trip. It has aloe and coconut oil in it and I smell like a vacation now. Priming Moisturizer goes on my face and neck, and I leave it for second to let those redness-reducing ingredients get to work.
MAKEUP
Jane-Birkin lookalike Louise Follain has these incredibly dark, defined, Twiggy-esque lashes, and they are the focus of my beauty look. Luckily for me and my undefined lower lashline, Nars makes a natural-looking set expressly for that—which I now wear for any and all festive occasions.
I start by leaving my well-moisturized skin as is, then applying the Tawny end of MAC's QuikTrik Stick on the high points of my cheekbones and blend in for a dewy, no-shimmer bronzer. Then I use a dark brown MAC pencil to define my brows a bit more and I layer Boy Brow in Brown over that. Falsies go on my bottom lashes, and I curl and apply a few coats of dark brown Volume de Chanel on the top. A bit of Haloscope in Moonstone on the center of my eyelids and cheekbones, and then lastly, lips. The perfect recipe is By Terry's Click Stick in Bare Me topped with Sisley Phyto Lip Twist in Nude, a forever favorite, for some lovely specks of glitter. I feel uncomfortable when I look too made up, or like I’m trying to look capital-s Sexy. But with the sort of undone hair and nails, and minimal makeup, I'm on the fresher side of glam. Now I’m ready for my entrance.
—Eva Alt
Eva Alt photographed by Tom Newton on November 19, 2016. Eva is wearing a Sandy Liang coat, Altuzarra dress, and Manolo Blahnik shoes. Styled by Lilli Millhiser. Hair by Clay Nielsen.
Part 5 of our Holiday Party Look series. See the rest over here.
