I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

That's interesting, LL and I think I know what you mean. I did the dark matte lips in HS too and it was very much a product of the time and also not wanting to be a girly girl. This makeup is different though in that it's very overtly sexy. They might definitely be using it as a mask of some kind but it's more in a traditional bombshell Kylie Jenner exaggerated everything sense.

I'm all for anyone doing whatever they want with makeup it's just something interesting that I've observed. Tbf these girls had actually done an amazing job for the kind of look they were going for it was just A LOT for a Saturday afternoon out with the fam.

My parents still keep up a pic of me at 15-16 yrs old that they made me take at Glamour Shots. I am pretty sure that shoot put me off of full face makeup for life.

It is appalling how much makeup I still feel the need to put on every day and it’s definitely about feeling otherwise uncomfortable with myself, which is a poor reason. I would say it’s due to high beauty standards (whatever those are set as) in London, but then whenever I visit an English village there’s a beauty parlour on literally every street, so it’s likely entrenched everywhere. I’m not into that fake tan, heavy eyes look, though like you say, ENBB, I can appreciate its own artistry. Tanning is a huge thing here though and has been at least since I was at school. For a while I remember me and my best friend spending £2.50 to go on the tanning beds for 14 minutes after school every day. Not that I gave it a lot of thought at the time but for me it felt like a faux-financial status thing like ‘You can see that I am living a glorious lifestyle because I have clearly sought sun elsewhere’. Like if people saw that I was tanned they would assume I had money and was therefore more desirable. I wonder where I was getting this from though... I am really interested in the skin pedagogies of different cultures.

xpost - Oh man, seeing people's glamour shots from their youth is the best. I never had them done but I almost wish I did because they were so OTT and ridiculous. :D Did you get to wear a hat? I feel like hats were often involved.

Oh yeah in addition to the fake tan tanning beds are still huge here! I got my nails done today (southwest London) and at least four people came in to use the beds. I didn't even realize people still did that. I wonder if the continued popularity of the beds also has to do with how dark and grey it is here in the winter. I was almost contemplating it before I left because I've been so starved for sunshine. I guess that wouldn't explain the fake tan though. I also find it really interesting for the reasons you stated above, T. It's such a big thing that I'm sure someone has studied this before.

I remember having 3-4 changes of tops or hats. I have always been pretty lowkey and it was the height of college rock/alternative so I was horrified. The acceptable pic that made it out I had teased hair, no hat and a crushed velvet top. I passed on the bedazzled jean jacket and leather jacket pics. My spouse saw it and was so confused. But then he saw a 5th grade class pic of me where I am dressed up completely Hawaiian...

One of the articles I was just reading about UK tanning said there was a renewed interest after Pippa Middleton had her glowy tan during Kate's wedding.

There was this great essay about the beauty industry’s control over our skin perceptions that I just remembered I was paraphrasing. It’s mainly about Asian skin whitening, but still sort of relevant.

Haha I love that people were using tanning beds around you today! It does seem like it should be outmoded by now... It’s quite an uncanny and sci-fi-ish experience. They give you little foil cones to wear in your eyes!

my mom used to use a tanning bed as a SAD lamp before SAD was recognized as a thing
kind of a sad sort of self-medication (classic sad/SAD lol there)

not at home, but at a salon
lest you think we had a tanning bed at home

As long as I've been alive my mom has been fighting her sunspots and trying to whiten her skin (she is from a fishing village in Taiwan) and has always been strictly against me being in the sun. I remember in the 80s she was a chaperone on a field trip to Kill Devil Hills and she was the only mother that carried an umbrella to block the sun. I was mortified. But she knew better.

A guy at my high school named Brian Craig had a tanning bed at his house, down in the finished basement. We'd sit on it (not while it was on) drinking beers. Needless to say, dude was always tan. In Pittsburgh.

yeah, growing up, I felt like being pale was higher status than being tan, because tan signified working outdoors (I think this was just me, and not actually cultural) and living somewhere inescapably sunny (e.g. inland), as opposed to working indoors and living in higher status places where it was cooler and foggy (e.g. coastal places like San Francisco or Monterey). But I remember in high school going to shows and wearing long sleeves and matte tights (even in summer) to hide the fact my arms and legs were tan. Oh yeah, and I'd wear lighter foundation (which probably looked awful) so that my face looked paler and less ruddy.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the UK youth heavy make-up thing is about how you look in selfies rather than how you look in the cold light of day to strangers in the street. It’s also aspirational - Famous Person X gets their nails done professionally and so can I (even if it means sitting in a window somewhere the technicians may or may not be employed under modern slavery conditions).

I do think the caterpillar brow will be to this generation what the spiral home perm was to mine. But we all need old pictures to laugh at when we’re middle aged, right?

are we talking Instabrows or another look?

even my mum has been talking about microblading! she does have weedy eyebrows and would never ever go for a scouse brow or anything, but I'm still trying to dissuade her.

I don't watch First Dates regularly but have seen a couple. It's quite good for a reality type show. I feel quite out of touch with normal young people.

i wasn't in touch with normal young people even when i was young
it's ok!

It's crazy how one's eyebrows never grow back even after the minor-est of plucking. I have gotten glossier's boybrow (seems fine) and anastasia's brow pencil. I like how I look, but as I mentioned above or elsewhere?, I think I look like an evil baby who smokes cigars.

I wish my brows never grew back - I need to tidy them daily.

I did my eyebrows with henna. It's awesome.

I wish my brows never grew back - I need to tidy them daily.

same here! though i got the $5 eyebrow grooming kit from Sephora and I feel like using that daily makes me look 100% more "together" than before -- like I feel that if your eyebrows look groomed it makes messy hair look less messy, whereas if both are all over the place, you just look like a mess, if that makes sense, though idk

Re: UK tanning trends, can we please discuss the concept of tanning (fake or bed) before you go on a sun holiday?

Got to get that base, right?

do not do it

do not

DO NOT

end of discussion

I think there was/is a myth that once you’ve tanned, you won’t burn.

That is a myth I have always subscribed to despite hard evidence to the contrary

Vonnegut was right.

Do not do it.

DO NOT DO IT

[/rant from pale-complected 45 year old who wishes she had heeded this advice]

oh ha posted multiple times BECAUSE YOU SHOULD HEED

Isn’t it as much about not having milk bottle legs for the first week?

But yeah, sun beds are categorically proven to cause cancer, so...

And so is the actual sun, so. . .

If it is a matter of thinking you will feel more comfortable/have to use less product if you have a "base tan," I encourage you to think about it as working up a "base carcinoma."

Yeah its all about arriving at the beach looking attractive. I, btw, never tan, fake or no.

Fake tans may have a good look ikd; I assume they have improved technologically over the years? But they provide zero sun protection over your original skin tone.

I'm pretty sure people apply sun lotion over their fake tans; it's promoted as sort of the healthy alternative to tanning (sun or bed) which seems fair. It still smells absolutely terrible though, from what I can tell. I accidentally bought a moisturiser that had fake tan in it a couple of years ago, and it's that slow-release rotten smell that you're suddenly aware of surrounded by people on the tube. The embodied smell of inauthenticity! Horror!

so much of that kind of stuff has a coconut smell (or fauxconut smell) that I don't like -- i have reconciled myself to the fact that almost every hair product for my hair type has coconut in it and gives my hair a slight coconut smell after I wash it, and i guess i've gotten used to it, somewhat, but i am thankful i don't have to wash my hair all that often, but I still avoid coconut smelling cosmetics and hair stuff as much as possible. ...

lol @ fauxconut

i just made that up, and was quite proud.

lol fauxconut is a dreadful cosmetics ingredient - so sickly! When was that universally decided as the go-to scent? Fake tan is like a distillation of the most offensive of those scents.

xp!

granted, it's not as bad as if cosmetics smelled like tuna salad (the american kind w/lots of mayo), or like cat pee, but ... i guess i should count my blessings because at some point in the horrible future the smell trend of cosmetics could very well be tuna salad cat pee

How do people learn to apply makeup? I mean, I check out youtube and some three yo is doing it better than I can. Then again, everyone is better at this than I am. That's why I don't bother: I'm rub at it. Should gone to art class. (Btw nathom =stevienixed)

stevienixed!!!!! so happy to see you!!!!!!

Thanks! I missed ilx. :-))

Serious answer for Nath: I have a feeling most people start with a couple of products - bit of concealer and some mascara maybe - and then build it from there (for me over the course of two decades). Pretty sure that if I’d gone straight from zero to my current 14-ish products I’d feel like I was wearing a mask.

It literally took me seven years to get flicky eyeliner right at a reasonable speed.

what's flicky eyeliner?

Cat eye type eyeliner. Flicks up at the outer corner of the eye.

God I so desperately want to be able to do the eyeliner. 😭

I am still trying to make eyeliner happen without pulling the side of my eye out. It's so hard to change up and just look straight ahead.

I don’t care about having milky white legs at the beach. I slather myself in SPF and haven’t been properly tan since I was a kid. I don’t actually like the way I look tan. I went was in the Bahamas last spring for a couple days and somehow forgot sunscreen. I for burned to a crisp and when it faded to tan I kept thinking my face was dirty.

I think Madchen’s right about learning makeup skills over time. I never actively tried to learn but have admired different MUA for years and I’ve just gotten better over time, I think.

Cat eye type eyeliner. Flicks up at the outer corner of the eye.

haha this is the only make up thing I actually know how to do well!

one of my coworkers has the most amazing winged eyeliner, it almost looks tattooed it is so perfect

i want to email her and say “hi what eyeliner do you use and also PLEASE TEACH ME YOUR WAYS”

Really into cream blush atm, I am trying to track down the perfect color