Beauty has come a long way in the past 10 years. When you think of beauty now, does the name “Kylie Jenner” come to mind? Although her billion dollar empire has taken over the beauty industry, 10 years ago Kylie was only 12 years old. Words like “microblading” and “K- beauty” were unheard of. Brows and lips were thinner and Instagram makeup wasn’t even a thing yet. Beauty has most definitely evolved over the past decade bringing us some revitalised trends and some brand new innovations and I’m sure we’ll see some fab new beauty trends come to light over the next decade. Maybe in the year 2030 we’ll re-write this article to see how much things have changed, but until then here are 10 of the biggest beauty trends from 2010 until now.
Balayage, ombre and dip-dyed hair
Let’s take it right back to the beginning of the decade, where the Balayage hair trend was all the rage. Although this trend originated in France back in the 1970s, it’s revival wasn’t until 2010 where celebs like Chrissy Teigan and Jessica Alba made this freehand colouring technique famous. Then came sub-trends such as the Ombre, where the hair is coloured softly from dark to light and the Dip Dye which was a less subtle block dye technique that saw hair dark at the roots and light at the ends.
Instagram makeup
Quite possibly the biggest trend of the decade, Instagram makeup has quite literally taken over our screens. These images showing makeup techniques inspired by drag-queens and multiple layers of makeup, with cut-crease eyeshadow, contouring, overlined lips and face “baking” have made it possible for people to earn a living off posting makeup tutorial videos and images on social media. This is where celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and Huda Kattan rose to fame, landing them multi-million dollar makeup empires.
K-Beauty
K-Beauty or Korean beauty rose to fame around 2017. Things like the sheet mask, glass skin and popsicle lip tints were made popular thanks to this trend. The idea behind K-Beauty is to facilitate affordable products and it has a strong emphasis on skincare where the norm is to have a 7 – 12 step skincare regime and unique ingredients such as snail mucin and propolis from bees are some of the ingredients you may find in K-Beauty products.
Microblading
Ditch the brow pencil or gel because microblading is one of the biggest brow trends in recent years to have taken over the beauty industry. Microblading is a semi-permanent brow tattoo technique that is given to people with thinner or not very defined eyebrows to give the illusion of thicker and fuller brows and while it may be pricier than your favourite brow pencil, it will shave time off your daily makeup routine because your picture-perfect brows are always ready to go.
Bushy Brows
The 80’s called and they want their brows back! Just kidding – this trend is here to stay. Au natural brows have been all the rage in recent years. Think back to the 90s where brows were not a priority and in fact, gals used to pluck and preen to the thinnest line possible. Although a lot of 90s beauty trends such as brown lipstick and scrunchies have made a resurgence, the thin brows are no more, instead, being replaced by thick, bold and bushy brows and I don’t think we’ll ever turn back.
Contouring
Another of the biggest trends of the decade – contouring is synonymous with the Instagram makeup trend and was made big by celebs like Kim Kardashian. This face shaping makeup technique gives the wearer the ability to “shape” their face using light and dark colours to blend and highlight features such as the cheekbones and minimise the appearance of features such as the nose.
No makeup – makeup
From heavy makeup to no makeup at all. The rise of the no-makeup makeup look was one of my personal favourite trends. Not only because it requires little effort, but revealing your true self without disguising your face under layers of makeup is a two thumbs up for me. Advocates like Alicia Keys, who have refused to wear makeup at all public appearances since 2016 have lead the way for the rest of us to be comfortable showing our real skin, putting more emphasis on skincare and glowing skin rather than mounds of makeup.
Short hair
From undercuts to choppy, blunt bobs. Short hair has made a return and I love it. People are ditching the extensions, straying from the long and sleek or beachy wave look and opting for something short and sexy with pixie cuts, blunt bobs, french girl bobs, undercuts and shaved heads becoming big again paving the way for this androgynous trend to take centre stage.
Smoky eyes
It was big in 2010 and it’s still big in 2020. This is one trend I don’t think will ever go out of style. It works on light eyes, it works on dark eyes, it’s sexy, fun and versatile, making the eyes pop with browns and blacks. Smokey eyes – we love you.
Bouncy blowouts
Our final trend is the bouncy blowout. Made popular around 2011 when blow-dry bars started popping up left, right and centre. Now, there are plenty of at-home tools to help you perfect this look that is a fave among people such as the Duchess of Cambridge and British movie star Kate Beckinsale.
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