trends

Contouring: An Observation

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This is a legacy post that has been given a facelift! Content has been edited for clarity and readability, but opinions are the same. Recent additions are noted in-line. Enjoy!

If I had to name a single beauty trend for 2015, I’d say it was contouring. (2018 Update: Agree with this assessment of the time. In 2018, people are still contouring a good bit, but it seems like the frothing-at-the-mouth quality has since transitioned to blinding, occasionally holo, highlight.)

Granted, people have been using darker-than-their-skin products to contour and enhance features – cheekbones, jaw lines, what-have-you for ages. I think the rise to prominence in the past few years is thanks to the artistry routinely done on a certain famous-for-nothing-really celebrity who I won’t bother naming (not Voldemort, I’ll say that). If you’ve seen her without her makeup, the difference is stark. So contouring has been trendy for a while, but the market for products intended for it exploded this year.

Most notable brands came out with something dedicated to it this year (unless they already had it). Cream sticks? Palettes? Special brushes? Name a brand and I can name you a product.

Here’s an observation about a lot of the products coming out, though, for you:

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Glitter Eyebrows

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If you came here expecting a demonstration or tutorial of glitter eyebrows, I’m sorry (not sorry) to disappoint. A well-sculpted brow is a beautiful thing, but we’re approaching silliness here.

In the space of a single week, I’ve seen a few glitter eyebrow photos pop up on various places on the beauty-concerned web.

Here are a few notable ones. Glambot, in talking about an app that makes makeup recommendations, displays this relatively straight, glittery gold brow (and some other things):

Looks like they were sculpted with a great deal of care. Oh Anastaaaaasia, you didn’t tell us you were coming out with a new Dipbrow shade! What’s it called – gilded? I kid. (Also Dipbrow is amazing and if you knock it you’re probably using it incorrectly).

And then there’s this one, from MAC:

What.

What?

I love pigments and glitter as much as the next girl (but probably not as much as Ke$ha in that I do not want to siphon off my blood and replace it with a sparkly liquid) but this renders me a little speechless. Yes, I know it is for some fashion show nonsense but still – what’s the angle here? “Nothing screams chic like holographic gold glitter eyebrows that disperse towards the model’s hairline…”

I showed the MAC-tweeted photo to a friend who remarked that she just wants to be glitter for Halloween. (Seriously, add these leggings from American Apparel in the Gold Dot/Black color and you may be onto something…)

Is this actually a thing, or are glitter eyebrows just happening for the sake of artistry?

If this is just happening for artistic purposes then that’s cool. I would strongly caution against wearing something like this in a role you need to be taken seriously in (assuming it is not an artistic industry) because it simply will not happen.