'Tis still the season for non-stop parties, photo ops and public appearances, so add some holiday sparkle to your makeup routine!

The most requested look I get at this time of year is the "smoky eye," and I'd like to share my secrets for a long-lasting, sexy look that you can achieve on your own with the right products and tools.

I've added a glittery topper perfect for New Year's Eve fetes using my new go-to glitters by Eye Kandy Cosmetics. They are super-fine and really easy to work with, making fab shimmer attainable for all!

The key to this makeup is layering products and blending, blending, blending! Invest in quality brushes and practice using them to achieve professional, polished peepers. The products, brushes and step-by-step instructions are listed below, along with a video tutorial for my visual learners.

The look I do in the video is a cleaner, bronze-y version of the exact same makeup I'm wearing in the picture, except mine is a more messy, darker, rock 'n' roll translation using the exact same technique. Tweak the colors and the shape to make this beautiful look your own!

Have fun "making up," and may the rest of your holiday season be glittery and glam!

Suggested products:

• Eye shadow primer (Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer)
• Two soft, blendable eye liners (Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Pencil or MAC Eye Kohl) – one for eyelid and to line under eye and one very black to rim waterline. (You can use black for both like I did!)
• Two eye shadows – one darker that coordinates with eyeliner for lid and under eye and a lighter shade for under brow bone (Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette)
• Glitter (Eye Kandy Cosmetics Sprinkles)
• Glitter adhesive (Eye Kandy Cosmetics Liquid Sugar)
• Mascara (L'Oreal Voluminous)
• False lashes
• Lash adhesive (Duo)
• Bronzer
• Eye shadow brushes (MAC No. 242, No. 252, No. 217, No. 219, No. 224)
• Glitter application brush(es) (Eye Kandy Cosmetics Brush Large and Small)

Step One: Apply primer to eyelid from lash li…

The effect of other people's opinions (OPO) can be extremely powerful. Input from a collective group can be helpful, valuable and quite constructive.

Just look at Yelp. I use this site all the time for restaurant and service recommendations. I employ the Yelp user reviews as direction to where to eat, who to get my nails done by in a foreign city or to choose a local florist to deliver an arrangement to an out-of-towner. I trust without question the opinions of complete strangers who offer star ratings, testimonials and detailed journals of their personal experiences regarding local businesses. Yelp has yet to be wrong.

On the flipside, there are times when unsolicited OPO makes its way into your life. There seems to be a particular phenomenon that when you share your medical adventures – everyone else wants to share too, and most of the time it's horror stories of pain, discomfort and gore.

When I recently relented and decided to finally get a cortisone shot in the tendon sheath that runs around the thumb and into the wrist to alleviate the physically limiting pain I was experiencing in my left hand, I was impaled by OPO – a bevy of well-wishing folks who detailed the humongous needle, shooting pain and general horror I was about to undergo.

By the time I arrived at the doctor's office, I was a blubbering mess. I commandeered my husband to be my official "hand-holder" and was resigned to getting the shot, regardless of the unbearable, bone-shattering pain "other people" told me I was about to endure. I was so worked up I was sweating, my stomach was in knots, nausea set in and at one point I thought for sure my body was about to hit the floor.

Then, the doctor came in and suddenly had second thoughts on whether the shot was the correct recourse. (That, or he viewed my pallor and decided I might need a moment before he shot me up.) He decided to do x-rays (to buy some time and) to be sure the joint was not the problem since at this point, I could not even f…