I’ve loved dressing up since I was old enough to put clothes on myself.  As a child, I used to wear black patent leather shoes and a fancy dress to play in the sandbox, so that should give you an indication as to how eccentric I was.  With age, I thankfully learned how to appropriately dress for my surroundings and saved fancy clothes for fancy occasions like, say, prom.  I may have hated high school, but I loved prom.

I know prom is mostly about finding the perfect dress, but girls, don’t forget about your hair and makeup!  Here are my three easy tips for making yourself look unforgettable at prom.

1. Wear false eyelashes!
They’re fun, easy and you can buy them super cheap at any drug store.  When I do makeup for clients, I usually use individual lashes, but these can be very difficult to apply on yourself, so I suggest buying regular strip lashes.  If you want them to be subtle, cut them in half and apply only along the outer edge of the lashes.  Also, practice placing them on your lid without glue first, so you know exactly where to place them once you’re ready for glue.

2. Try red lips!
Statement lips are very popular right now and a great option if you’re feeling underwhelmed by your makeup abilities.  So what if you’re not great at applying eyeshadow? Less is often more.  Sometimes all you need is mascara and red lips to look like a movie star.

3. Ditch the up-do!
Everybody gets up-dos for prom.  Be different, wear your hair down!  Angelina Jolie almost always wears her hair down at fancy functions and guess what, she looks cooler than everyone around her.  Mostly importantly, in a sea of tightly wound, headache-worthy up-dos, she stands out.  Think you’re not good enough at styling your own hair?  I challenge you to rise to the occasion!  Buy a round brush and for the weeks leading up to prom practice giving yourself a stellar blow out.  Divide you hair into sections with clips so you’re working with manageable amounts of hair and I promise you’ll get the hang of it.

If there’s one thing I can say about the pre-prom ritual, it’s this: looking amazing at prom doesn’t mean you have to spend a ton of money getting your hair, nails and makeup done.  I really can’t stress that enough.  It doesn’t matter if everyone around you is being whisked away to the salon for pre-prom preparation, you can do it yourself and look just as good, if not better.  I always did my hair and makeup myself and let me tell you, looking back on my prom photos I probably look the least regrettable of my classmates.  Well, except for that year I had pink hair and wore an insane multi-colored dress made out of tulle.  That was pretty regrettable.