The holidays are almost here, and if there is one beauty look dominating every mood board, editorial shoot, and TikTok feed heading into the festive season, it is this one: deep wine-stained lips paired with an ethereal shimmer that catches every candle, every camera flash, and every string of fairy lights in the room. This is not a maximalist look. It is not a full glam production. It is a deliberately chosen, deeply modern combination that photographs like a campaign and feels effortlessly sophisticated in person.
"Think ethereal sparkle, pearlescent highlights, and fluttery lashes — all-over shine that makes you look lit from within rather than coated in glitter." — Stylist Kasey Spickard
According to Who What Wear's holiday beauty roundup, wine-stained lips and tinsel-inspired shimmer are two of the most bookmarked looks of the entire festive season — and the reason they work so well together is precisely because they balance each other. The lips are deep, saturated, and grounding. The shimmer is light, airy, and reflective. One reads as drama. The other reads as ethereal. Together they create the kind of look that works from a holiday dinner at 7pm to a New Year's Eve celebration at midnight without a single touch-up in between.
Cosmetics Business confirmed in their TikTok trends coverage that wine-stained lips have become the must-have festive makeup look of the season, partly driven by their versatility — this is not a look tied to one specific outfit or occasion — and partly because the technique itself is accessible. You do not need to be a professional to achieve a believable wine-stained lip. And the shimmer component, as stylist Kasey Spickard notes, is equally low-barrier: a wash of sparkle applied with a fingertip is enough to transform a base look into something that belongs at the most elegant event of the season.
How to Create the Wine Lip and Tinsel Look
Building the Wine-Stained Lip
The wine-stained lip is defined by its bitten, effortless quality — it looks as though the colour is coming from within the skin rather than applied on top of it. The shades range from deep plum and merlot to burgundy and oxblood, with the most versatile sitting in that merlot-to-dark-plum range that works across a wide variety of skin tones and outfit colours.
The technique is what separates a wine-stained lip from a traditional dark lipstick application. Rather than lining and filling precisely, the approach is intentionally soft. Dab a plum or merlot lipstick onto the lips with your fingertip, concentrating colour in the centre and feathering it gently outward — just slightly past the natural lip line — for that bitten quality. The edges should be diffused, not sharp. For longer wear, a sheer lip stain applied to the centre first and then blended outward with a fluffy brush creates the same effect with more staying power.
Joanna's tip: The wine-stained lip is incredibly forgiving precisely because it is meant to look like it has worn in slightly. If your liner is not perfectly symmetrical or the colour is not uniformly applied, that is the look working as intended, not a mistake. The only thing that actually breaks the effect is if the stain is too concentrated at the edges — always build colour inward from the centre outward, never from the outer corners in.
Layering the Tinsel Shimmer
The tinsel component of this look is about creating an all-over luminosity rather than a targeted highlight. The inspiration, as stylist Kasey Spickard describes it, comes from the sparkle of a fully sequined outfit — the idea that light is catching on every surface at once. In makeup terms, this translates to a layered shimmer approach that covers the lids, the inner corners, the high points of the cheekbones, and the brow bone with pearlescent, iridescent, or metallic products that all sit within the same cool-to-neutral tonal family.
Start with a shimmery liquid shadow or glitter shadow tapped across the full lid using your ring finger — the heat of the finger helps the product adhere more naturally than a brush does. Then add a frosted or iridescent product specifically to the inner corners for a brightening effect. Finish with an ultra-reflective liquid highlighter swept across the cheekbones, the bridge of the nose, and lightly along the brow bone. The goal is for every element to feel cohesive — as though you are catching light rather than reflecting it from a single point.
Joanna's tip: Keep the shimmer cool-toned to balance the warmth of the wine lip. Warm gold and bronze shimmers fight with deep plum and burgundy tones — they cancel each other out visually. Silver, iridescent white, cool rose gold, and icy lavender all complement wine-stained lips beautifully. When in doubt, reach for a product that has pearl or silver in it rather than pure gold.
The Base: What Goes Under Both
The wine lip and tinsel look depends on a base that feels polished without being heavy. A medium-to-full coverage foundation with a satin or luminous finish gives the skin enough surface for the shimmer to build on without looking dry or tight — matte finishes can make shimmer sit on top of the skin rather than blend into it. Keep the under-eye area well-concealed and bright, as deep lip colours draw attention upward and any shadow under the eyes will read as more pronounced than usual.
Keep blush minimal and in a berry or mauve tone to stay within the wine-plum colour family. Too much warm peachy blush will visually clash with the cool depth of the lip. A small, precise application on the apples of the cheeks, blended upward, is enough to give the face colour without competing with either the lip or the shimmer.
Joanna's tip: A classic red or berry lip makes fair skin look washed out when combined with heavy shimmer because both elements compete for the eye's attention. For fair skin tones specifically, choose a wine shade with a slightly cooler, bluer undertone — something closer to plum than red — and keep the shimmer restrained to the inner corner and brow bone rather than the full lid. That balance works with fair skin in a way that a full gold lid and red lip rarely does.
Making It Last Through a Full Evening
A wine-stained lip can fade and migrate during a long evening if it is not set properly. After applying the stain, blot once with a tissue, then press a small amount of translucent powder over the lip using a fluffy brush or fingertip. This sets the base of the colour and significantly increases wear. For the shimmer, pressing rather than swiping product into the skin at application helps it stay in place through hours of movement and expression. A light dusting of setting spray over the finished face locks the full look in without dulling any of the metallic finishes.
Joanna's tip: Touch up a wine-stained lip by re-dabbing colour with a fingertip rather than applying from the product directly. This maintains the diffused, stained quality of the look. Applying directly from a lipstick or wand at a touch-up tends to deposit too much product in one spot and breaks the effortless quality that makes the look work.
Book Your Holiday Look in Edmonton
If you have a holiday party, gala, work event, or celebration coming up and want a wine lip and tinsel look built to suit your colouring and your occasion, Asia.O Makeup Artistry takes bookings across Edmonton and surrounding communities. Studio and mobile services are available. November and December dates are filling quickly — secure yours now.
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Serving Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Leduc, and across Canada. Limited holiday dates remaining.
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Joanna — Asia.O Makeup Artistry
Edmonton Makeup Artist · @asiaomua · Studio & Mobile · Available Across Canada
