More is more when it combines to eyeshadow options and these summer palettes offer quantity and quality.

Natural Eyes by Stila
The ten shades of perfect powder including my all-time favourite eye colour, kitten, can be worn wet or dry and have a combination of shimmers, pastels and mattes. $50 at Murale, 205 8 Ave. S.W., Calgary, 403-261-3703, www.murale.ca

Shades of Fame by Smashbox
These nine shades including turquoise, moss green and coral and two cream eyeliners in gold and bronze can be combined into a different look each day through the spring. $55 at Sephora, 100 Anderson Rd. S.E., Calgary, 403-441-7300, www.sephora.com

The Coral Reefs by Chantecaille
This quad has warm shades of pinks, browns and taupes with a coral branch design pressed into each colour and oversprayed with gold. A portion of proceeds from the pretty palette goes to the Marine Conservation Institute. $98 at Holt Renfrew, 510 8 Ave. S.W., Calgary, 403-269-7341, www.holtrenfrew.com —Jaelyn Molyneux

Figure skaters and circus performers are onto something when it comes to makeup. Everyone needs a little bling, baby. Even us average office workers.

Calgary cosmetic line Lit adds a little glitter to your life with more than 150 colours of sparkly eye make-up that comes in four different sizes and four different textures. You can go full-on diva bar star with the chunky blend, or more likely, add subtle lustre with lightly coloured iridescent glitter. Ease into reflective makeup by going for gold with Mr. T or shimmer with Vitamin C’s pretty pink.

Sometime you have to add sparkle to shine. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$12.95 each at Merle Norman, 6455 Macleod Tr. S.W., Calgary, www.litcosmetics.com

Back in the day guests at an upper class house party would retire to the parlour to talk politics, play games and discuss their important status.

Butter is a modern day beauty parlour that takes its cue from that luxury. It’s homey and upscale with candelabras, fine art and stately furniture. Like the parlours of olden times, Butter is a social space where blowouts ($36), manicures ($31), pedicures ($54) and waxing ($16-$56) takes place in lounge chairs or around shared tables. But, unlike the olden times, Butter isn’t just for the upper-class. Everyone’s status is considered important here. And, instead of parlour games and politics you’ll leave with shiny hair, glossy nails and maybe a little bit of celebrity gossip. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Butter, 2429 4 St. S.W., Calgary, 403-215-3404, www.butterbeautyparlour.com

The beast that is winter is almost over. It is time to usher in the beauty with these three fresh trends that are easy, breezy and bright.

Pretty Pony
Marc Jacobs, Marchesa and Elie Saab sent them down the runway, but Gwyneth Paltrow’s pulled-back coif at the Academy Awards made it official. This spring, the ponytail home is not just for the gym. 

Editor's pick: Wear it high, low or somewhere in between.

Lighten Up
Eye make-up goes pretty in pastels. Ditching the heavy liner and triple-layer mascara for the softer side of all over colour washes feels freeing, like you could run through a sprinkler and come out the other side without raccoon eyes.

Editor's pick: Get the look with Smashbox’s Be Discovered eye shadow palette ($44) at Murale, www.murale.ca

Pop of Polish
Nail polish is to makeup what a throw pillow is to home décor. It is an easy way to change a look seasonally. This spring orange is the fresh colour led by Pantone’s colour of the year Tangerine Tango.

Editor's pick: The future is looking bright with Sephora by OPI’s Paisley Attention to Me ($9.50). wwww.sephora.com —Jaelyn Molyneux

Lay back relax and get lashed.

Noir Lash Lounge opens its first location in Calgary and it is all dark charcoal and flirty fuschia with lounge chairs spread out in the open space. Noir has more than 100 lash-styles at its disposal and can make your fringe over-the-top dramatic for the holidays or just a little better than your natural self for everyday. Extensions, mascara and lash curlers are a thing of the past.

I spy an extra few minutes of sleep in the morning. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$75 per set and $35 for fills. Noir Lash Lounge, 100A 2303 Fourth Ave. S.W., Calgary, 403-228-1164, www.noirlashlounge.com

NARS cosmetics’ bought a ticket to Japanese kabuki theatre to find its muse for a merry Christmas.

The Land of the Rising Sun’s traditional singing and dancing theatre’s make-up is bold and beautiful. Think bright white foundation with exaggerated features painted over top. Its drama is glorious on stage and easily toned down for the everyday with NARS’ Hanamichi Kabuki eyeshadow palette ($70).

White, deep rose, gold and matte black eyeshadows are pressed into a pretty flower pattern with a wisteria wrapped brush. The flower pattern is an ode to the hanamichi, which is an extra bit of stage originally built to allow actors to walk out into the audience and accept congratulatory flowers.

It’s a palette worthy of an encore. —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.narscosmetics.ca

When Oscar Wilde wrote “her sweet red lips on these lips of mine” in 1881, he had no idea he was summing up a 2011 beauty product.

Fresh’s lip treatment has been a favourite for years, moisturizing and plumping our puckers with a formula that combines oils and waxes with real sugar. This fall Fresh introduced its latest spicy shade, Sugar Passion. The sheer crimson tint does what few reds have done before and flatters all skin tones.

We’ll kiss to that. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$22.50 at Sephora, Market Mall, 3625 Shaganappi Tr. N.W., Calgary, 403-286-0200, www.sephora.com

Blo skips the scissors and brings the heat.

The pretty in pink and white blow dry bar stocks its stations with hair dryers and flat irons with stylists at the ready to take your tresses from frizzy or flat to sleek and sexy in less than 30-minutes for just $35. Blo’s menu of styles include pin straight, the perfect pony, bouncy waves and boho braids to get your locks looking party perfect or casually impressive, depending on the day you have planned.

Let someone else wash and blow so that you can go forth looking fabulous. —Jaelyn Molyneux

From $35, 1317 1 St. S.W., Calgary, 403-264-2569, www.blomedry.com

They say "Change your life, not your hair," and with this summer's styles, there's no need to submit to scissors to change up your look. Taking inspiration from the S/S 2011 runways, here are five styles you can achieve in a jiff.

Braids: Lacoste
Always sporty and minimal, Lacoste is all about no fuss hair. A little side French braid leading in to a long ponytail is as appropriate for a game of tennis as it is for a night out on the town.

Low bun: Nina Ricci
The classic low bun has been taking a backseat to a hipster-loving topknot lately, but its sophisticated beauty can’t be denied. Grace Kelly would agree.

Side swoop: Rodarte
Not just your regular old side swoop: we are taking this to an extreme. Taking a cue from Rodarte, keep it all together with a little pin à la Margot Tenenbaum.

Big curls: Marc Jacobs
And we mean big! Channel your inner '70s disco goddess with the mightiest, curliest mane you can possibly sport before tipping over.

Beachy wave: Peter Som
The ultimate beach babe look requires a centre part and a little bit of wave. And it’s perhaps the easiest to achieve. May we suggest braiding your hair and sleeping on it? Blond hair not required.

—AG

If you’re jetting from the office to post-work drinks and then, on to evening events with no fairy godmother in sight, transforming for the ball is no easy feat.

But with the new Five Minute Face Palette by Joe Fresh ($20) it’s a breeze to go from drab to fab when it comes to your mug, at least. Small enough to fit into a purse, the palette includes four eye shadows, two lip glosses, a bronzer and a blush.

Start the day with the pale pink shadow, mauve lips and pink blush and when the clock strikes 6 p.m. add a touch of midnight sparkle to your lids, plum hue to your lips and a hint of bronzer to the cheeks.

Best of all, there’s no midnight curfew.

At Superstore.