Makeup Trends VS Classic Makeup Styles

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Hey dolls, so if you are on any form of social media I’m sure as the day is bright that you have seen some of the craziest makeup trends that seem to keep popping up. As someone who has enough knowledge about makeup, I can tell the difference between what is just trendy, fashionable and even just for fun in the moment, versus what is classic and timeless and can be worn throughout the years. I found this topic very interesting and thought that I would take the time to talk about it, mainly to help give people who are learning the world of makeup an easy guideline to help them understand the difference. First of all, I would like to start off by stating that I am nowhere near being a professional makeup artist, but I have been doing my own makeup for a good few years now and I do know my way around beating my OWN face. After years of trying different styles and products I have learnt what works best for my skin and my features and also I have figured out my makeup technique preferences.

Growing up my dad never allowed me to wear makeup. The closest thing I got to wearing any makeup before the age of 18 was the little tiny bit of stage makeup (blue eyeshadow, blush and pink lipstick!) my mom would put on me for a school play or a ballet concert – yes, I did ballet for 14 years. The year I turned 18 I went on a family trip to Taiwan and my dad let me to buy my first tube of mascara from this glamorous four-story beauty mall called Sasa. Now mind you, it was one of those fancy little mechanisms where the wand would twist so as to allow for an amazing mascara application. Guuuurl, I was shook!! I had been introduced to the world of enhancing your beauty and I loved it! So slowly over the years I started buying really affordable makeup and makeup tools and started dipping my fingers into the vast waves of beauty. As I got more confident and actually started understanding what different products were for and how to use them, I started buying more expensive, high-end makeup and makeup tools. However, I still stand by a few of my very favorite drugstore products that I use till this day.

With makeup there are obviously different products that help to enhance the different features of your face. There are products for skin, brows, lids, lashes, lips, and your face as a whole. With the different products come different ways and boldness in which you may use them, which usually tend to be influenced by how fashion designers and makeup artists choose to do their models makeup during big fashion events such as New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, an Haute Couture Fashion Week. The thing about makeup is that there are no set rules. You get to play with it however and whenever you want, however, there are influences and trends that come with it that tend to be seasonal. Meaning, we tend to wear our makeup differently throughout the different seasons – as we would wear our clothes. People tend to lean towards more full coverage foundation, to cover up redness and blemishes or dry skin due to cold weather in winter, where we then also use a lighter shade of foundation as we lose our summer tans and become lighter in complexion. It is also trendy to wear deeper, darker shades for shadows and lipsticks. Whereas, in summer we tend to use a lighter coverage foundation that looks dewy, natural, and light, with a touch of bronzer and blush for a beautiful, golden summery glow that is usually paired with fun, colourful shadows and lipsticks. So, the same as we have fashion trends with clothing, we have trends in makeup.

For example, if you think back to last year, bold, full-faced makeup with perfectly arched concealer-cut brows, a bold, dark smokey eye, thick full dramatic lashes, sharp winged liner, strongly contoured cheekbones and over-lined matte lips were the thing. This year though we have started seeing less perfectly painted faces and a more natural, dewy foundation with minimal contouring and natural, glowy highlighter, some bronzer and blush to warm up the features, fuller more natural brows and warmer, copper, blush and golden toned eyeshadows with pretty matte or glossy lips. So what would you describe as trendy makeup, versus classic makeup you wonder? Let’s discuss…

Trendy or Classic?

Skin

Makeup products for our skin do amazing things! We have foundation and concealer to give us flawless looking skin, primer to hide our wrinkles and pores, highlight and contour products to enhance the shape of our face and to give us that amazing bone structure we wish we woke up with, and, after all that, blush and bronzer to bring colour back to our skin!

Trendy
Every now and again, you have an occasion where you feel like you have to pull out all the stops and smack on a full-face beat for the gods! A full coverage foundation, heavy concealer, a full on highlight and contour and the works! During the last few years, a full on face beat has been trending. You would see all these stunning girls’ pictures, circulating social media, with them wearing a heavily done face with the sharpest of contours, highlight on fleek (and by that I mean glowing like a glazed doughnut!), dramatic eyeshadow, and thickly over lined lips with a matte lipstick. To be really honest, its stunning but I barely wake up early enough to put on my eyebrows! I take my hat off to you ladies who make the time to do your makeup everyday! You ladies are dedicated AF 😉 But back to the point: when it comes to the health of your skin, a full beat is not going to be great for your pores. Your skin needs to breathe and makeup prevents that, which then leads to break outs. So, although it seems like goals to be able to wear a full face of makeup every single day, it’s actually not very realistic for all makeup wearers or very healthy. And also, the trend is slowly starting to fade, with more natural makeup becoming more popular. But don’t get me wrong: there ain’t nothing wrong with a gorgeous full face of makeup from time to time;)

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Classic
When it comes to a classic style of foundation I would tend to lean towards a lighter coverage foundation. Something light and natural and glowy – we want to look pretty and naturally flawless, not necessarily like a porcelain doll all day. A slight cream highlight and contour for some definition with a dab of a beautiful liquid highlight, some blush and a touch of bronzer for warmth. Natural makeup is the way to go, as it keeps you looking youthful and not worn down as you would look by a mask of heavy makeup. When I think about ‘classic’ I think about something that will be fashionable forever, and I am sure as anything that a beautiful breath of fresh, natural makeup is the way to go!

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BROWS
Eyebrows have always been a thing, I mean, what on earth would our faces be without them?! Your brows frame your face and without them we tend to look a little tired and undone. So looking back over the years at the different trends that ruled the eyebrow-world we go from over-tweezed, thin little brows to thick, luscious brows. We have now settled on having full beautiful brows, however, the way we’ve been using makeup to accentuate them is a different story.

Trendy
Besides for the Instagram brows that’s are extremely filled-in and severely arched that are cleaned up with concealer to look even more sharp, I am sure that you’ve seen the art that has been the boldly dyed or colored brow, the bedazzled or glitter brow, the theme-decorated brow, the feather brow, the wavy brow, the braided brow, or the McDonalds brow. These are makeup trends! They are fun to try, and artistically and creatively freeing, or even just something fun and challenging to try out. They are even more fun to be worn to fun events such as festivals or themed parties, but not usually something you would see someone wearing on an everyday basis. These trends usually don’t last for too long. After a while the hype of them seems to whither away and we are back at square one, with our normal eyebrows and a crazy-creative makeup artist willing to try something funky and new!

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Classic
Although the shape, fullness and thickness may change, brows will forever be apart of our faces. So something that I believe to be classic is just that: the shape, fullness and thickness in which we make up our brows is classic. Full shapely brows will forever, in my heart, be brow goals, not just because they look good – but also because fuller brows lend a hand to helping you look younger and refreshed. Whether shapely means arched for the gods or straight and masculine, beautifully kept brows are a must in my book and will never leave you looking old-fashioned, believe me!

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EYELINER

Eyeliner, the bane of some people’s existence, however it has been the most creative way in which we are able to create an illusion and change the shape of our eyes. Whether we want our eyes to look bigger, rounder or even smaller and sexy and slanting, eyeliner is there to do the trick. It is all about the way in which we use it!

Trendy
Now, for the trends that have been flowing through our feeds like a tidal wave: the stunning trendy eyeliner styles that I have been seeing are endless. From the geometric liner to the colorful liner, the glitter, the diamonds and the sequins, the beautiful painted work and intricate little extra lines that accentuate the already drawn on lines! Yas girl!  So stunning and fun, but not always the most practical to wear on an everyday basis.

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Classic
Think about the thick black lined lids the stunning women of the 50’s wore. A simple elegant black winged cat eye was the go-to-look, and it still is! Eyeliner is not a must but neither is it going to go out of style. It is beautiful no matter how you wear it, it is definitely classy as hell and it is definitely here to stay!

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EYESHADOWS
Eyeshadow is another way we creative beings have invented to help change the shape of our eyes! We can use eyeshadow to create the illusion of shadow and light to make our eyes look bigger, rounder, smaller, slinky… basically whatever you like. We have learnt how to manipulate the mind’s eye in order to exaggerate our features and it is amazing.

Trendy and Classic
there are soooo many different eyeshadow styles that one may use, ranging from the smokey eye, to the halo technique, the outer V, the photographic C, and the stunningly popular cut-crease. Trust me, makeup artists do it all! These styles all come and go, and new ones are forever being created, but for sure, I would say that for me it is the colours and the amount of shadow we use that change dramatically over the years. Colour plays a big part in the world of fashion and makeup, and as the seasons change, so do the makeup colour preferences.

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LIPSTICK
Whether we use a light dab just for a hint of colour or the boldest, most succulent smack of lipstick, lip colour has become one of the makeup staples. Lipstick can spruce up any look and just make it look well put together and elegant. We have dug our fingers into the most natural of colours to the most bold, dark and daring ones as the world has become more open-minded with makeup being a statement – especially the lips! I remember being highly bored years ago: I never even dreamt of ever owning a blue lipstick! So to make up for my sudden lust for creativity, I took a blue eyeshadow that I “borrowed” from my mom and mixed some scrapings with petroleum lip jelly and used it as a blue lipstick just for fun. It was amazing and I felt so weirdly glamorous! LOL, but now, thank the makeup heavens, we don’t have to go creeping into out eyeshadow draws in order to wear the perfectly strange colour on our lips… We can just walk into a MAC store now!

Trendy
As we have gotten more daring with lip colour, it was only a matter of time that one brave soul would go out and do the most and start a lip art trend! And so, of course they did! Makeup artists have tried everything from glitter and sequins, to drippy paint looks, to ombré lips, to painting actual ART on their lips! Again, they are amazing but not always very user-friendly and practical for everyday use. So we can leave the stunning lip decor for more suited occasions and make things easier by sticking to whether you want to use a bold lipstick, or just a pretty nude lip gloss!

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Classic
A few lip colours that I would believe to be classic are definitely a beautiful nude, a pretty pink, a vibrant coral, a sexy red and an enchanting maroon/ ox blood lipstick. With these simple five colours you could easily rule your world!

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So there you have it! My opinion on the differences that I feel make makeup styles classic or trendy. As I have said before, there are no rules to makeup there are just the different influences which make certain things more desirable to wear at different times. So take your time to play with your makeup and figure out what works best for you, what styles and techniques you enjoy the most and you are on the road to success! Trends are easy to follow and best to take inspiration from, but it does not necessarily mean that you absolutely CANNOT do anything else with YOUR face! Makeup is meant to be fun and creative and without boundaries, so even if it seems as if every single person is doing the same thing it is perfectly fine to go ahead and do your own thing! Live your life, babes 😉

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*All images used were found on Pinterest.