WINTER MAKEUP TRENDS TO TRY

Words by Jamal Grootboom | Images: Getty Images

Scrolling through TikTok and Instagram, makeup trends have found a new life after the beauty community moved from YouTube to more short-form videos. In a compact 30 to 60-second clip, you’ll see these trends either work amazingly or fail dismally.

As different makeup techniques have become more accessible than ever thanks to the influx of brands and creators. It has allowed for freedom of expression with makeup like never before. Specifically, giving popular trends an easy gateway for any makeup lover to try.

Winter is the perfect time to take these trends from the internet to real life and execute them flawlessly. We’ve compiled a list of popular winter makeup trends and how to do them step-by-step.

A couple of years ago, celebrity makeup artist Scott Barnes introduced many general makeup consumers to the magic of underpainting after he demonstrated it on YouTuber Tati Westbrook. In the video, he shared how to get Jennifer Lopez’s flawless makeup and unveiled the secret was underpainting.

Recently the technique became popular again as filters on TikTok showing where to place concealer, contour, blush and highlighter dominated the beauty side of TikTok.

To achieve underpainting, the key is to only use liquid or cream products for a seamless blend. Place your concealer, liquid blush, contour and highlight where you usually would. Blend all the sections separately, starting from the concealer and ending with your contour.

Now, you might look a bit strange but this is a trust-the-process technique. Once everything is blended you fill in the gaps with your foundation, preferably a skin tint or light to medium coverage foundation. The reason for this is to use your foundation as a means to merge all the other products together and not cover them up completely. In the end, you should have a skinlike finish with a seamless blend between all the products used.

The grunge movement has been taking the fashion industry by storm and this has made its way to the beauty industry too. The ‘90s movement has been updated for the modern day and its biggest trend is a smokey eye. Now, while it might seem easy to achieve, this is not the same messy black shadow and liner from the days of Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

For this, you will need an eyeshadow palette with cool-toned browns and a very pigmented black. The key to getting a smokey eye is placement on the eyelid and starting with your transition shade first. Start by taking a very light brown and placing the eyeshadow on the lid, blending upwards. Create your desired shape and where you want the eyeshadow to end.

Next, go in with a medium to dark brown shade in the crease. The aim is to create dimension. After this, you go in with a black eyeshadow over your entire eyelid then gently blend the edges into the medium brown crease with a fluffy eyeshadow brush. If you want to add some extra sparkle, pat a silver or iridescent shimmer shade on the centre of your lid with your finger.

The ‘90s aren’t letting up when it comes to beauty trends and this time it’s the lips getting the attention. Gone are the matte lip days and it’s all about juicy, glossy lips.

Adding a dark lip liner brings a vampy feel to any look. To achieve this, use a dark lip liner around the perimeter of your lips in a thick line. Blend the inner edges lightly with your finger. Once the harsh edges are gone, go over it with pink or clear lipgloss to get the modern ‘90s lip combo.

Incorporating bold colours brings joy and a dopamine fix you never knew you needed. Dopamine dressing is responsible for vibrant colours taking over street style and runways across the globe. This has made its way to beauty too, in sharp contrast to the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ wave defined by very minimal makeup.

The key to getting vibrant eyeshadow is prepping your eye area with an eyeshadow base to get the most colour payoff. If you have medium to dark skin, using a lighter concealer or eyeshadow base is best to get optimal results. You can use one bright or multiple shades - just keep the colour wheel in mind when doing the latter. Either stick to blending the warm shades together - yellow, orange and red - or the cool shades - blue, purple and pink. What completes a dopamine look is blush and lots of it. If you think you’ve added enough - add more. For placement, you would start from the middle of your cheek moving upwards to the temple area.