Day-to-Night Necessities

No time to stop home before a party? No problem! These easy tricks will take you from office to cocktails and beyond

Psst… here's a little secret of makeup artists that will surprise you: Nighttime makeup looks better when it's applied over your daytime look rather than on a freshly scrubbed face.

“It's the makeup equivalent of second-day hair,” says New York makeup artist Raychel Wade, owner of Cheek to Chic studio. “The makeup has a chance to settle in, so it becomes one with your skin. It's a sexy, sultry look. Whenever I do brides and they think their makeup looks too done, I always tell them to give it a couple of hours and see what they think then. And I'd never think of starting from scratch with my own makeup if I'm getting dressed up after a day of working.”

Prep for the Night in the Morning
Going from a daytime to a nighttime look is all about making your eyes more dramatic. A little planning helps. “If you start out with a really great day look, it's easier to add on at the end of the day,” says Wade. A flattering-on-everyone look is champagne or taupe shimmer all over the eyelid and a midtone brown in your crease. You'll find beautiful shades of all three, along with seven other daytime-friendly hues, in Tarte Eye Couture Day-To-Night Eye Palette. The final step: a swipe of brown liner across your upper lashes.

Add Intensity in the Evening
For after-dark eyes, zero in on two shades that go well together, say, a light blue and a navy, or a lavender and a deep purple. The NYX Eye Shadow Palette makes this foolproof.

It offers five stunning combinations—10 shadows in all—of perfectly matched bold and bolder colors. Using a fluffy shadow brush, apply the lighter of the two colors in a swirling motion from the outer corner of your eye to halfway across the lid. Next, apply the deeper color with the same motion in a smaller area, layering it right on top. Now, using a flat liner brush, apply the deep color across your lash line, right over the brown liner that's left over from the day.

Glam Plus
If you want an even sultrier eye, don't underestimate the drama that comes with seductive neutrals. Urban Decay Cosmetics Naked Palette w/Brush comes ready to go with 12 diverse neutral eyeshadows in colors from Virgin to Darkhorse. Start with a subtle champagne near the inside corners of your lids and choose a smokier color for the outer edges. Then, line the inside rim of your eye with a black liner. Tarte Eye Couture Day-to-Night Eye Shadow Palette has a terrific double-sided eye pencil—brown on one end for day, charcoal on the other for after 6, plus 10 shadows that will take you from soft and understated to all-out sizzle.

For more ideas on a.m.-to-p.m. transformations, check out Lorac Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial. It contains all the tools you need to create a soft, natural eye, a high-fashion cat-eye and a sexy smoldering eye, including primer, shadows, liner, mascara and a blending and smudging brush. Bonus: The step-by-step instructions that cling to your mirror are the next best thing to having Lorac founder Carol Shaw standing beside you!