Let 2015 be a year of beauty risks
Step outside your comfort zone with trendy tips and tricks that were once considered fashion faux pas
Kate Holowaty
Contributor
New year, new look! Start off with your makeup, learn the tips and tricks for the perfect look and make sure your look is always on fleek.
Photo courtesy: Facebook
With 2015 kicking off and everyone and their mom posting awe-inspiring New Year’s resolutions across all social media outlets, a thought suddenly came to me. This year I want to take more risks.
And no, I am not going to be jumping out of any airplanes or shaving half my head anytime soon. I am talking about taking some beauty risks and stepping ever so slightly outside of this beauty “box” that us girls have found ourselves stuck in.
Twenty-something girls are playing it too safe when it comes to their makeup, after all, this is our time! We are never going to be this young and hot again. Our eyes will never be this sparkly or our skin this clear and unwrinkled, so why not embrace our youth and have some fun with our beauty routine? We all love perfectly applied black winged eyeliner as much as the next person but ladies it’s time to break the student beauty mold and reinvent in the New Year. Here is a list of Top 5 beauty risks and tips to incorporate into your 2015 beauty regimen.
Go big on eyes and lips
We’ve been told our whole lives “If you do a dark smoky eye do a nude lip” or “if you want to do a bright lip go simple on the eye makeup” but this rule needs updating. Sure, maybe for school an intricate cut crease on the eye with false lashes and MAC’s Russian Red lips might not be the most appropriate look but if it’s a special occasion go for it. Try doing a more neutral toned but still glamorous smoky eye with natural falsies like the Ardell 110 Demi Blacks, which can be purchased at Wal-Mart and a hint of satin shimmer eye shadow like Stila Grace that can be purchased at Sephora, and then a more matte but still bright color on the lips such as the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella. As with any makeup look, the separation between the amateurs and the pros is all in the application process so check out some YouTube tutorials to perfect this look.
Wear coloured eyeliner
If you’re more of a Hilary Duff than a Lindsay Lohan when it comes to beauty risks than this is for you. Switching up your plain black eyeliner for something with a little more depth and visual interest is an easy way to amp up your daily look. Look for dark shades that complement your eye colour. My personal favourites are ELF Essential Liquid Liner in Midnight, and Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Liner in Rockstar, which can be purchased at Sephora. Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Eyeliner in Teal, also found at Sephora, is beautiful too. Another cool way to incorporate this look is to use brighter eyeliner and do a thicker wing and then go over it super close to the lash line with your preferred black eyeliner mimicking the wing shape. MAC just released amazing Technakohl eyeliners, $16 off their website, in attention grabbing shades that will be perfect for this technique.
Get bangs
I admit I am guilty of being that girl humming and hawing about how bangs look so good on other people but don’t think that I could personally pull them off, but life’s too short to play your hair game safe. We are blessed to live in a climate where it is socially acceptable to wear a toque or some type of headwear at all times so if it turns out your new fringe is looking more scary than savvy just cover that head up until it grows out. If you want to visualize some styles take a look at Lauren Conrad’s hair for side bang options and ideas. She is a hair goddess.
Learn how to contour
This tip might conjure up some visually confusing mental images; pictures of girls with dark brown and white stripes all over their faces who seem to, as if by magic transform their bone structure in an admirable yet daunting fashion. But contouring can be a great skill to incorporate into your makeup routine and can be relatively easy to master if you have the right tools. Tips: Buy a beauty sponge, watch a tutorial, start with powder products and then work up to cream based application.
Step up your eyebrow game
Ladies step away from the mirror and put the tweezers down. Brows are arguably the most influential facial feature and therefore should not be neglected. If you’ve over plucked it is still essential to go get your eyebrows threaded and shaped so they’re symmetrical and the base shape is easy to fill in. Threading is not only very inexpensive but it is better for the skin because it doesn’t pull at the delicate eye area. Don’t overdo it with filling them in and drawing them on, keep the brows solid but still natural with pencil first and then applying powder after with an angle brush.
There you have it, girls. Spice things up this year and step outside of your box. We are only in our twenties once, so lets take advantage of what we have to flaunt!
