The 2016 Beauty Trends We’ll All Look Back At And Cringe
As far as trends go, 2016 isn’t the worst year for beauty. But it’s also not the best.
Every decade has its mishaps. Even the 90s, which we normally love, had frosted lipstick, over-plucked eyebrows, brunettes with highlights, and lipliner a shade darker than your lipstick.
Of course, we’re not saying you shouldn’t follow trends! But isn’t it funny how what’s cool now is going to look insane in 5 to 7 years? Let’s discuss.
1. Overdone Eyebrows
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, super-skinny drawn-on rainbow eyebrows were the coolest, but you wouldn’t be caught dead with them now.
Welp, overly sculpted brows are going to look just as unfortunate in the next decade. The Unfortunate Trend Brows of 2016 have a super sharp border in the middle, making them look like they were literally shaded in with a one-size-fits-all stencil.
You don’t want people to look at your brows and immediately picture the pencil you used to draw them on. Right?
2. Overlined Lips
Juvederm lips? Check. Too much lip liner for a human face? Check.
If you’ve noticed that half the selfies on Instagram look like they belong to real-life Bratz dolls, you’re not alone. Looking like a cartoon version of a woman is very 2016.
It looks normal now, but when we all go back to our natural lips, over-drawn liner is going to look hilarious in photos. No shade for now, though. Optical illusions are fun!
3. Colored Highlighter
Do you want to look like a space fairy? Me neither!
Colored highlighter is cool if it’s Halloween, but if you’re a real person who is living in the real world, it’s just not a smart decision. A blinding highlight doesn’t fit well into a life lived during the daytime. If it’s the evening, I say… go ham! But if the sun is shining on your skin and you’re wearing a blue pigmented highlighter, you’ll look like a clown-fairy-mermaid monster.
It might look fun, but think about what you now think of the roll-on body glitter you bought from Bath & Body works in 2004. You’re def going to feel the same way about rainbow highlighter in 10 years.
4. Heavy Contour
“If we were all cast in the same mold there would be no such thing as beauty,” Charles Darwin once said. And the man is right!
Contour is a way of shading using dark shadows to sculpt the face in a severe way. It actually started as stage makeup so performers wouldn’t look washed out by the lights. And now it’s an everyday beauty trend. SPOOKY!
If you want to live in a 2 dimensional “selfie” world, be my guest. But that’s not reality and we don’t want you to lose yourself… or your real face.
5. Neon Lipstick
Lipstick can take you from girl to diva, unless it looks bad. And if you’re into wearing neon lipstick, I suggest you consider buying the perfect nude.
The truth is that certain color palettes work on certain skin types, and paler skin just doesn’t look so good with bright makeup. It tends to wash out the skin, and that’s not hot! It might look cool now but it’s going to look funny soon. I mean, 2 years ago you wouldn’t have been caught dead in it. You’ll feel that again… very soon.
Plus, do you really want to get neon coral lipstick all over your crush’s mouth after a steamy make-out session? Didn’t think so.
6. Baking
Baking actually began as an old-school drag makeup technique used to set concealer and highlight the face.
It requires loose setting powder, a high-coverage concealer, a sponge for blending, a cosmetic sponge that you don’t mind getting powdery, and a big fluffy brush. Yes, that’s a lot (lol).
Unfortunately, after baking your face for 20 min, your skin feels dry, you’re bored out of your mind, you have a cake face, and every photo that you take makes the amount of makeup on your skin super obvious.
Just like, why even bother?
