The Holiday Beauty Rules, According to Scarlett Johansson: Her 5 Best Party Tricks

It’s been a year of seminal changes for Scarlett Johansson. The 29-year-old actress moved to Paris, gave birth to her now two-month-old daughter, Rose, and snipped her honey-blonde strands into a choppy crop avec undercut. (“I feel more feminine with short hair,” she reveals.) Now back in her hometown of New York for the holidays—and in fighting post-baby shape thanks to circuit and weight resistance workouts with her bicoastal trainers whom she describes simply as “two huge, crazy fit guys”—Johansson is ready to embrace her pre-baby style by reacquainting herself with what she laughingly refers to as “everything in my closet,” including a few long-lost pairs of high-waisted jeans. “When your body has been a different shape for so long, you kind of re-find your whole wardrobe.”

The oncoming party season means she may also find occasion to revisit a festive evening look. “Because I don’t go out as often now, I probably up the glamour a bit when I do,” admits Johansson, who is quick to chalk up her increased desire for a certain kind of head-to-toe polish to living in The City of Light for the past year with her fiancé, the French journalist Romain Dauriac. “In the States, people have a tendency to dress for comfort, but in Paris, the form comes over the function a lot of the time.”

That’s just fine by Johansson, who admits that she’s “never been one to shy away from wearing something bold.” The same philosophy goes for her makeup arsenal—and as a long-time ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana’s expansive beauty line, she has no shortage of supercharged color options at hand. Here, she shares her five simple beauty rules for effortlessly navigating any occasion, from how to master false eyelashes to why a colorful cat eye is worth considering.

1. There is No Better Accessory Than a Bold Lip

“Last year, I rediscovered darker lipsticks as part of my ‘return to the nineties,’ and I like those colors a lot—the dark browns especially. You can only rock those shades sometimes, and if you do, you have to pick a matte one. But I like a nice red, too, like the new Dolce & Gabbana lipstick in Real Red. It’s not too orange or too blue. The Dolce reds are all really good. I also like Devil.”

2. Contrary to Popular Belief, You Can Wear Glitter

“I think it’s nice to wear something sparkly—just avoid getting the sparkles on your forehead and your upper lip. So maybe just don’t get too drunk! If you’re using something glittery, use it for an effect—so put it in the corner of your eye, or on your brow bone, or try a glitter eyeliner over your regular eyeliner. But remember to use sparkle sparingly, like, if you’re using a highlighter like Dolce & Gabbana’s new The Illuminator Collector’s Edition, don’t wear a glittery lip gloss and a glittery eyeshadow, too.”

3. Individual Lashes Are a Good Idea—If You Keep Count

“I wear a lot of lashes for work—I’m actually wearing them right now—and while I wish I was better at applying them, doing the strip for me is a disaster. The individuals, I think, are easier. I usually just use about 4 or 5 lashes from the middle to the end of the lash line and I always apply them with a tweezer. Just make sure you count how many you use on each lid so you don’t end up with one crazy eye!”

4. More is More When It Comes to Nail Art

“The nail art trend is very exciting to me because I’ve always loved nail polish. It’s like candy! I grew up buying tons of nail polish—my best friend Julia and I used to collect it. We still have tons and tons of colors but now we’re both obsessed with nail stamps. They’re really hard to use, but they’re just delightful! I love the animal-print ones, but we’ll do, like, whole scenes using a desert theme, or safari.”

5. You Can’t Go Wrong With a Cat Eye

“There’s nothing more fabulous than a liquid cat eye. You can wear it without other makeup, or with your lipstick or smoky eye, and you can dress it up or dress it down. It’s like the perfect accessory. Liquid pens are so hard for me to use, though, so I prefer the angled brush and cream liner technique because I have better control that way. I usually draw the angle of the flick up towards the brow, and I experiment with colors like navy—or bronze is a fabulous one. I love metallics during the holidays.”

Dolce & Gabbana The Makeup and Fragrance Collector’s Editions, available in-store now at Saks Fifth Avenue; online at dolcegabbana.com from December 1