The end of high school is so close you can almost taste it. Congratulations, you’ve almost done it! All that hard work and those late nights were worth it for one thing: your school formal! A night to celebrate with your friends and more importantly, go full glam! Whether you’re looking to make a statement, or going for a ball makeup look that lets your dress do the talking, here at PONi, we’ve got you covered. We’re serving 4 go-to looks, plus a few sneaky formal makeup tips we wish we knew at your age. 

School Formal Glam Look

 

When it comes to formals, go hard or go home. You’re only young once, for goodness sake! Take the look up a notch by matching your shadow to the colour of your dress - add some glitter on your lids and it’ll be all eyes on you. 

With a strong eye look, you’re going to want to  keep things even with the rest of your look so everything is cohesive. That means a sweep of Unicorn Candy Blush on your cheeks, contour with the Unicorn Chocolate Bronzer and a touch of the Unicorn Champagne Highlighter on the highpoints. Fill in your brows with the Brow Love Soft Brow Pencil and a couple of coats of the White Knight Mascara. All that’s left to do is get the perfect Insta pic! 

Bronzed Beauty Ball Makeup Look

Embrace your inner bronzed goddess with a glow that Zendaya herself would be jealous of. Stick with bronzed, golden shades of shadow, with smudged brown eyeliner. Tie it all in nicely with the Unicorn Chocolate Bronzer as a contour (the trick is to draw a ‘3’ from your temples, under your cheekbones and under your jaw). Keep things glowy with the Unicorn Champagne Highlighter on the top of your cheekbones, your nose, and under your brow bone to really lift the face. Voila! The perfect lit-from-within formal makeup look. 

Natural School Formal Makeup Look

If you’re after something a little more subtle (but still stunning) that lets your natural beauty and that dress do the talking, you’re in the right place. Keep your base mid-weight, just enough to cover any imperfections but still have your skin looking like real skin. A light wash of our cheek products will give you a gorgeous healthy glow. The real heroes of this look are the lashes and brows. One coat of the White Knight Mascara will give you a natural lift. Fill in any sparse areas of your brows with the Brow Magic and then brush your brows up with the Zebra Clear Brow Gel for a cute-as fluffy look! Finish it all off with the Natural Lip Heroes duo.

Bold Formal Makeup Look

Here’s some life advice from PONi HQ, a bold makeup look (especially a bold lip) is the ultimate confidence booster. Your year 12 formal can be a little overwhelming and if you’re on the shy side, a little scary. Give yourself a pep talk and dial up the glam. Do your favourite base and brows, then use the Pegasus Smudge Proof Liquid Liner to do a cat eye flick (practice makes perfect with this one). As far as your lip colour goes, now’s your chance to go extra. Our sister Lip Heroes have some incredible colours and long-lasting formulas. Our picks? The punchy red and the sweet berry pink. 

Top Formal Makeup Tips

• Never Skip Primer

If you’re doing your formal right, you’re in for a long night of dancing! That means you’ll need to prime to make sure your makeup doesn’t end up at your knees when the clock strikes 12. Keep your gorgeous eyeshadow locked in with our Brow Pop! which doubles as the perfect eye primer. As a bonus tip, always finish with powder to keep everything locked in!

• Don’t Be Scared of Blush

Spoiler alert: there’s going to be a lot of photos taken throughout the night, so to master your ball makeup look, go ever so slightly heavier on the blush so you look fresh and healthy in your photos (may we recommend the Unicorn Candy Blush). It can be easy to look very two dimensional in images, especially if you have a full-coverage base. But please, don’t wander into clown territory - it’s a fine line! 

• Find the Perfect Mascara

Water-proof, lengthening, volumising and smudge-proof all in one mascara. No, you’re not asking too much! Enter: the White Knight Mascara. The tubing formula gives the lift of your dreams, and when you’re ready to take it off at the end of the night (because you wouldn’t leave your makeup on while you sleep, right?), the tubes slide right off - no rubbing or harsh removers necessary! 

Shop everything you need for a stunning formal makeup look at PONi right here. 

Now go out there, grab your date (or even better, your friends) and dance into the night!