Makeup Trends And Where They Come From
The Fluffy Brow
From over plucked brows to pencil filled, we have seen many creative and sometimes outrageous techniques to tame those unruly hairs. Trends come and go but the icons who created these famous looks shall always be remembered.
We saw the trend appearing in the 1950s, with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe pulling off a stronger and significantly bolder look to the previous years. Then again in the 1980s when women embraced their natural eyebrows, trend setters like Madonna and Brooke Shields where the leading lady from this decade and have become to inspire the 2021 "fluffy eye brow look".
Techniques such as ‘brow laminated’ where salons essentially perm the brow hairs to the shape desired, perfect for the fluffy brow look, quickly become popular for its long lasting effect and for the ‘lazy girl’ a great way to save some time. The ‘soap brow trend’ a technique that's been used by drag queens for many years reappeared in 2020, creating a similar effect, no where as near long lasting but much cheaper and assessable for more people to recreate.
Overlinned Lips
Kylie Jenner may have took most of the credit for introducting the over drawn, big lip effect to a whole new generation but the look is an old school trick that has appeared within the industry for decades.
Marilyn Monroe was famous for her luscious red pout in the 1950s sparking the well loved contouring effect (applying a darker shade of red around the perimeter of the lips and a light colour in the centre) giving an illusion of fuller lips. Brigitte Bardot was a nude lipstick lover in the 1960s, her signature look featured a striking, slightly darker nude pencil that she used to trace around her lips, this has become a staple look, that goes with every outfit and hairstyle, loved my many women to this day.
Trends got shaken up in the 70s and 80s when bight colours and glosses become the new look, but even through these fun, vibrant decades over lined lips went nowhere, they only added to the disco ready statement look. The 90s saw the trend settle back down into previous, a dark lip liner and nude or gloss centre, contrasting yet somewhat simple.
leading us to today, with influences basically ruling the world and social media all around us trends are easy to catch up with. The ‘Kyle Jenner’ look from 2017 is still hanging around however the lip filler craze has started to settle down, we are still seeing over lined lip trends, but a more natural version with dusky rose shades. Plump ‘kissed’ lips are on the rise, think Glossier and Milk aesthetic, natural and enhanced beauty.
Bold Lashes
It was during the romantic era that cosmetics first appeared on the scene, the first ever mascara was produced by Eugène Rimmel (recognise the name?) the product was made of Vaseline and Cole dust, a simple yet effective recipe and quickly gained attention from the public. 1917, Mabel Williams brought us a more refined version of the mascara using oils to create shine. The product was named ‘lash-brow-ine’, it was eventually tradmarked ‘Maybelline’ and have since become a world wide name.
The swinging sixties, what a decade! With twiggy shaping the eyelash trend and the quote of the decade being ‘the bigger the better’. Super long and thick lashes where all the rage, applied on both the top and bottom lashes, creating a doe-eyed effect, the look was enhanced with bold liner and a bright lip.
The beauty of lashes today is that there is so much new technology available to create Bold lashes that we can rely much less on mascara, or home made products. lash extensions, tints and lifts have become increasingly popular, with many different option within each treatment allowing a unique result, individual to how you want your lashes to appear.
‘No Makeup, Makeup’
Many women in the 70s participated in the women liberation movement, fighting back at the sexism they often faced, most women pushed away from female stereotypes, wearing little or no makeup at all. Brands quickly took notice of these changes and started introducing products named ‘glowy skin’ or ‘barely there’ to cater to a whole new consumer.
2021 has been the year of ‘no makeup, makeup’, we can see a combination of the 70s and 2000s when bright blush and glossy lips where all the rage. There has been a rise in cream products, specifically blush and bronzer, giving a more natural effect compared to powder products used primarily in previous years. The 70s taught us about natural beauty and the 2000s how makeup should be fun, the mixture of both and the creation of the ‘no makeup, makeup’ look is definitely one of my favourite trends.
The Smokey Eye
The smoky eye became famous in the 1920s, women looking to the black and white Hollywood movies for inspiration, women would wear heavy and dark makeup allowing it to show up on the big screen, the look usually consisted of dark, almost black shaded eyes and lips, dramatic and daring. Women of this decade used makeup as fashion, adding to their look and enhancing their style, shadow was smudged, rubbed or darkened into the crease of the eye usually matching fearless on screen outfits. As time went on and new cosmetic products where available, women where able to become more creative with their colour palette. The 30s saw brown and grey shades, applied with a softer touch producing a alternative subtle effect.
Since then, we have seen many new improved versions on the classic smokey eye. Kim Kardashions signature take on the smokey eye, dark blue and black shades with fluffy lashes in 2010 was one to remember, introducing the look to a whole new generation. Today, we are seeing a laid-back version of the technique, using shadow as liner, buffed out lines, layering colours and a light simplistic look, yet following the same outlines of those in the 20s.
https://thevintagewomanmagazine.com/history-of-the-smokey-eye/
http://www.lipstickandcurls.net/blog/smokey-eye/
https://www.byrdie.com/lipstick-trends
https://www.crfashionbook.com/beauty/a31945283/eyebrow-beauty-history-hollywood-brooke-shields/
https://intothegloss.com/2015/10/brow-history/
https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/news/a13574/the-history-of-women-and-their-eyelashes/
