Blues, yellows and glitters: the new makeup is thinking to be seen

Sarah Weingartz, 18, became an expert makeup artist during her senior year of high school. She spent her days taking Zoom classes and a part-time job at McDonald's and her nights on FaceTime, connecting with two co-workers, usually around midnight, putting on a bunch of eye shadow and lipstick, then he unpainted and went to sleep.

During the height of the quarantine, Weingartz, who never wore makeup in pre-pandemic times, stocked up on pencils in vibrant colors, powders and palettes. She studied eyeliner techniques from Kall Me Kris aka Kris Collins, a Canadian tiktoker with more than 40 million followers, and experimented with blue eyeshadow and liner, which are now staples of her growing makeup collection.

"I started with a basic scroll at the corner of the eye and gradually made things more sophisticated," Weingartz recounted her journey of discovery. "From there it grew rapidly."

She now draws an exaggerated wing that “raises” and extends past the outer corner of her eye and uses white eyeliner on the waterline to make her eyes “pop”. When she's in the mood, she smudges on some red or blue eyeshadow.

This is what the new way of putting on makeup is all about.

Makeup as self-expression

After years of romanticizing "makeup without makeup," a catch-all for products that give the illusion of a "bare" (but perfect) face , people are now turning to self-expression when considering their appearance in the context of a post-lockdown world. Many people are back to socializing, going to restaurants, on vacation, to the office and events, and soon to New Year's Eve parties and are hungry for ways to express their individuality.

“There is a huge collision of cultural trends that are influencing the reinvention of makeup,” said Sam Cheow, global head of makeup innovation, portfolio and product development at Estée Lauder Cos., including lockdowns, social media, generation Z and a more demanding buyer. “People hate being told that 'this is the trend.'”

That's why the pandemic sparked a makeup renaissance in terms of how we apply it, the products and colors we use, and our attitude toward beauty. Modern make-up aims to reflect what is happening inside; It's not about looking sexy or looking like you didn't have any makeup on: it's colourful, expressive, imperfect and meant to stand out.

According to 1010data, which tracks consumer habits, US online makeup sales (lip, eye and face categories combined) are up 29 percent in 2021 , compared to 2019.

Also read: The 4 mistakes that can cause your eyelashes to fall out

“People are realizing that makeup is a way to celebrate your femininity and personality,” said Violette Serrat, makeup artist and founder of Violette_Fr. "It's finally happening."

So what will the makeup look like and how will we put it on?

Make-up 'girl look'

After years of perfecting seamless makeup, the kind designed to conceal, contour and highlight, something new is brewing. This is not a heavy, complicated look that requires a 35-shade eyeshadow palette and a 30-minute YouTube tutorial . It's also not the kind of makeup that, like shapewear, is supposed to be invisible but is quietly rearranging your body into something more palatable to men.

“A 'no makeup' look implies that you're trying to cover something up , ” said Maria Salcedo, Ulta Beauty's senior vice president of marketing. The store is ceasing to use the term.

This is where “girl gaze” makeup comes in, a new middle ground that is expressive but still easy to apply and, above all, doesn't look like a costume. A single swipe of metallic pink shadow over the entire lid or a blue eye “paint” used as eyeliner doesn't take much time (or skill).

It's not revolutionary, but it is an improvement on the all-pink Glossier era. Teens and millennials want to keep looking fresh, but with a liquid eye shadow in a shade of yellow on the verge of gold. Real fur is in fashion; the full-coverage foundation seen in the heyday of contouring, between 2015 and 2019, already feels dated.

Doniella Davy, makeup designer for HBO's "Euphoria ," believes makeup should be something you wear for yourself , she said, not because you feel pressured to contour your nose or cheeks to give the illusion of structure. perfect bone (although that's perfectly fine too).

It encourages people to think of makeup in a less "corrective" way.

"There is a world where you can wear pink eyeshadow and not wear concealer," Davy said.

'Time to be seen'

Mascara, eyeliner, brow enhancers, false eyelashes, and eye shadow are a cosmetology forte. The eyes are the only visible part of the face if you wear a face mask and they are also the feature that allows more expression and creativity.

"There's this inner urge to strut your stuff somewhere," said Shireen Jiwan, founder and CEO of Sleuth Brand Consulting. “We may not be ready to strut around in 4-inch heels, but we are ready to strut around in blue eyeshadow.”

Overall, US online eye makeup sales have been 47 percent higher in 2021 than in 2019, according to 1010data. That's more than double the increase in sales in the lip or face categories in the same period.

Search terms also reflect the trend. Analysts looked at the top terms that lead to a purchase of beauty products on Amazon . Last year, "face soap" and "shampoo" were the most searched items. Now “mascara” and “gel nail polish” are the #1 and #2 searches that lead to a cosmetic purchase.

“Now is the time to show up,” says Tereza Kurbasa, 41, an administrative assistant in Melbourne, Australia. "Everyone is going to throw the house out the window." She celebrated the end of Melbourne's sixth lockdown with sparkly eyeshadow and lunch with friends, her first time in a restaurant in months.

Raynell Steward, founder and CEO of Crayon Case, a makeup line inspired by school supplies, is seeing the demand for bold eyeshadow.

“People who have never liked color are now more interested in color,” Steward said, adding that she had trouble maintaining the Box of Crayons' 18-tone palette and mini eyeshadow pads, especially the green ones, in stock.

"Flesh-colored popsicles aren't selling ," she said.

The new blue and monochrome eyelids

Beauty industry insiders say that complicated eye embellishments— think exaggerated shadow with brows that look like they were drawn in permanent marker—are out of fashion.

Serrat suggests a single stroke of color painted over the entire lid (blue is her favourite), applied with a brush or finger. Depending on your mood, the end result can be rich and opaque, light as a watercolor, or something in between.

With Yeux Paint by Violette_Fr, a liquid eye color that doubles as an eyeliner, you can apply it to the eyelid and blend it to your liking or paint a thick line along the lash line (wing optional) with a very soft applicator. Easy to use. A "sparkling" blue is the most popular color, Serrat said. (She thought it would be beige.) Two new shades came out at the end of October: a deep navy blue and an acid golden yellow.

Don't let blue eyeshadow bring back memories of frosty hair, feathered bangs, Madonna in the '80s, and ugly fashion. The new blue is not garish.

"If you're wearing blue eyeshadow, but your hair is relaxed, your skin is a little faded, and you're wearing a little shimmer, you still look like you," says Serrat.

At MAC Cosmetics, yellow eyelids are all the rage.

In some places, sales of yellow eyeshadow have tripled or quadrupled, according to Drew Elliott , the company's global creative director, as a result, he said, of the content and the "Yes to Yellow" campaign that It started last spring.

And the skin?

"This younger consumer knows that her skin has texture," says Eden Palmer, Morphe's global brand vice president. "They're cool with it and want to show it off!"

It is a sentiment shared throughout the industry. At brands and stores like Morphe, Nars, Sephora and Ulta, customers opt for a tinted moisturizer or skin tint instead of a full foundation—to pair with a big-eyed look, of course.

"People are excited to show her face again," says Jiwan. “The only difference is that they are showing it in a different way than they did before.”