Jan 14

Jan 14 Bold Eye Looks For the New Decade

Contrary to popular opinion, there is no right way to do makeup. There are no steps, there are no rules, and 2019 has seen multitudes of trends in terms of makeup style that emphasize taking risks and stepping outside the box. The most influential, in my humble opinion, was the rise of bold, striking eye makeup worn as an everyday look. Many people’s first thoughts might immediately go to the trend of Euphoria makeup based on the show by Sam Levinson, starring Zendaya. Even though playful, editorial makeup has been—and will continue to be—done for a long time, I do have to give the show props for pushing makeup-wearers to gain the confidence to stunt bold looks on the daily. Makeup is an art form, after all.

I do love a no-makeup makeup look, I do love a natural beat, but sometimes it's fun to change it up, especially when going into a new year. Make this year your year to stand out, and play around with some of these simple tips to help spice up your daily looks.

COLORSCOLORSCOLORS

Try your hand at bold, monochromatic looks as opposed to daily neutral shades. I’ve definitely been guilty of buying way too many different palettes of similar color schemes (neutrals, browns, reds, oranges) because I was intimidated by blues, greens, and purples. Monochrome is tremendously popular right now, and is a great cop-out for those who don’t feel like their technique is “good enough” (but who cares, really, right?) to blend multiple shades seamlessly.

There are a multitude of ways to approach single shade eye looks: the easiest is to simply tap your saturated shade of choice across a primed lid, and diffuse it through your crease. The fact that you’re using a single color gives you much more leeway to go wild without worrying how to transition into another shade. My go-to palettes for bright and bold eyeshadows are the Juvia’s Place palettes: they’re vivid, pigmented, and all of them retail for no more than $25.

Colored eyeliners are products I swear by, and I think everyone should add a couple of their favorite colors in liner form to their makeup collection. There’s no easier or quicker way to spice up a look than using these. The options are endless: swap out your plain black winged-liner for a color that matches (or contrasts) a piece of your outfit, try your hand at geometric shapes (squares, circles), and if all else fails, add dots! Dots of colored liner have become a part of my everyday makeup, and it only takes seconds. I’ve built up a collection of the NYX Vivid Brights liners over time, and they each retail at $7.

PLACEMENTPLACEMENTPLACEMENT

Placement of shadow has become a huge game-changer on the runway, and as of recent a key part of my own routine. We all know where shadow is meant to go, but instead of washes of color over your lid, try testing out different placements: Diffuse shadow around the inner and outer corners of your eyes only, blend a color on the outer corner of your eye and extend it farther than normal (I usually go as far as to my temple with orange and yellow shades), blend a color on your lower lash line only, or extend it to the outer corner of your eye (mimicking a wing).

There’s no right way to go about placement of shadows. It’s about having fun with your makeup, treating your eyes as a canvas and your blending tool as a paintbrush.

BLINGBLINGBLING

The addition of glitter and gems to your looks is an effortless way to make your eyes pop. Washes of glitter shadow over your lids and in your inner corners are go-to looks, but it’s always fun to try and branch out a little. Don’t save glitter for special occasions only! Makeup stores will always have endless varieties of glitter mediums and shadows, but I prefer to opt for super chunky glitter and gems.

Usually I frequent a craft store like Michaels or Jo-Ann to find extra-chunky versions as opposed to fine ones (stars, hearts, moons, any shape is possible, really). Gems and lash glue are best friends, so try your hand at it: add some lash glue to the back of your accessory of choice, wait a couple seconds for the glue to get tacky, and go crazy. I like to apply gems and glitter to the outer corners of my eyes and the tops of my cheeks.

Makeup is an ever-shapeshifting vessel, and trends either come and go like clockwork, or stick around to cement their place in the beauty world. Style is fluid and dynamic, and so are you. What makeup trends do you hope to see stick around this new decade? What will you try next?

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