Christmas Style || Mary McDonnell

Two things! 1 - Christmas is upon us. 2 - Mary McDonnell is one of my style icons (see related post here). With one of the most fashionable seasons upon us, how could I possibly combine Christmas and Mary McDonnell's style? Simple! I ask myself WWMW - What Would Mary Wear? Translation: I look through her red carpet outfits and see what inspires me! With the Christmas season here and all of the Christmas parties happening and New Year's right after that, it's the perfect time of year to get dolled up in your most fanciest dress, or your most sparkling dress or that little black or red dress that just screams "Christmas Party!". For this Christmas season, I think that this look that Mary wore to the In Pursuit of Peace Award Dinner || here || here || would be perfect for a Christmas dinner or party.

Dress: Lace V-Neck Dress || George at Asda: £40.00

Shoes: Gold Shimmering Diamante Knot Court Shoes || Quiz at Debenhams: £23.99

Clutch: Hugo Boss Nuit Black Hard Case Clutch || Hugo Boss on Amazon: £12.99

              Black Leather Look Knuckle Duster Clutch || eBay: £19.98

Ring: Emerald Silver Plated Ring || Yazilind on Amazon: £14.76

Earrings: Oversized Stone Dangle Earrings || Claire's Accessories: £8.00

All items are subject to availability.

Naturally, these aren't the exact items that Mary McDonnell actually wore because that would actually cost an arm and a leg and probably a portion of your heart because you'll have a heart attack at the streams of numbers that come after that £ or $ sign. I took inspiration from Mary's outfit for this look. Personally, I wouldn't have mixed gold and silver accessories together in such a contrasting way with the gold-ish shoes and the gold detailed clutch with silver earrings and by the looks of it, a silver ring. But then again, I have two Greek sterling silver rings that are permanent fixtures on my hands and so if I accessorise with gold, my silver rings will still remain there. I just won't add additional accessories to my hands. But to each their own.

The dress that Mary wears actually has skin-coloured sleeves on it that, honestly, do nothing for her. The material creased and just did not look well at all, adding creases and bumps where there wouldn't be any.

In terms of what make-up would go with this outfit for Christmas, I would go with a subtle smoky eye and a nude lip, just as Mary's make-up artist did here. Also, Mary's face isn't heavily bronzed or contoured. There is a subtle warmth to her face in the photographs from the event, and she looks just as fair skinned as I do. Irish genes for the win, people. The warmth looks to come from a combination of her foundation, a light bronzer and the blusher. If you would like to follow that style, here is a list of what I would use which is a combination of high-end and drugstore products. These items are merely suggestions that work for me, are what would work best for my skin tone and they are all in my make-up collection, and you can use whatever you wish and what works best for you or what you own.

Primer: Benefit The Porefessional

Foundation: L'Oreal Paris True Match Foundation - W1 Golden Ivory

Concealer: NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer - Vanilla

Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder - Translucent

Bronzer: The Body Shop Honey Bronzer - 2 Fair Matte

Blush: Chanel Joues Contraste powder blush - 76 Frivole

Eyes: Bourjois Smoky Stories Quad - Grey and Night

          L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Mono Shadow - Macadam Princess

Eyeliner: MAC Bountiful Brown

Mascara: Revlon Lash Potion

Brows: Anastasia Brow Wiz - Taupe

Lips: Revlon ColorBurst Lacquer Balm - Tease

Setting Spray: Urban Decay All Nighter Long Lasting makeup Setting Spray **Optional

As for the hairstyle, it isn't exactly a side bun style as it sits away from the base of her head and it isn't a ponytail. It's more like a... pony bun? Can that be a thing? In any case, I've pulled a tutorial that I think will help to get the look but a YouTube search will give you a plethora of other options and methods of achieving a messy side bun.

This might as well be a Beauty and Mary McDonnell blog because she's mentioned that often, haha. What do you think? What can I say? I adore Mary and her glam team are awesome!

Mary Christmas! (See what I did there? Haha!)

** Photographs of Mary McDonnell from MostlyMary.com and Facebook. All edits are by me.