10 popular beauty trends that makeup artists hate
Every month it seems like there's a new beauty trend, but that doesn't mean you should always follow them.
Insider asked professional makeup artists about some popular looks they wish would disappear. Read on to see what they said.
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The "selfie makeup" trend doesn't always look great in the real world.
Celebrity makeup artist Lydia Sellers — who's previously worked with Meghan Markle — told Insider that she's not a huge fan of the "selfie makeup" trend.
"I have a personal aversion to the overly contoured, 'selfie makeup' face," she said. "Where the highlighter is so iridescent, it has a purplish shine to it; the contour is dark and poorly-blended, with drawn-on features; and giant strip lashes in the wrong length and volume for the eye shape are used."
She continued, "It's time for this tacky trend to go away. Sometimes, less is actually more."
Don't overdo it when filling in your eyebrows.
Eyebrow trends are always going in and out of style, but regardless of what's in, filling them too much can distract from the rest of your face.
"Eyebrows frame the face and are usually one of the first things people notice," New York City-based makeup artist Carlina Zacarias told Insider. "The eyebrows shouldn't be painted dark and overdrawn. Instead, they look best when you create hair-like strokes and clean the look with a highlighter crayon, pencil, or foundation/concealer."
For a natural look, she suggested going for an ombré effect instead of a solid shape.
Some makeup artists believe that there is such a thing as too much highlighter.
Much like over-filled eyebrows, Zacarias told Insider that some beauty lovers are getting a little too heavy-handed with highlighter.
"Highlight that is too shiny can make you look like a light bulb," she said. "It's supposed to be used to create a glow — not high beams. A sheen, smooth texture of highlight is the best and will give you the nice glow that you're looking for."
Bright, unblended eye shadow isn't the best look.
When it comes to applying bright colors on your lids, Philadelphia-based editorial makeup artist Dana Flippen told Insider that not blending your eye shadow is a major makeup sin.
"I call this trend 'dancehall eyebrows' because it's almost as if the goal is to just be bright and stand out with color, without really focusing on [the finished makeup look]," she said. "It's almost like you're wearing costume makeup."
"I'm all for self-expression and experimenting with colors, but if you are going to have six different colors on your lids, blend them," she added.
You might not want to bother with a matte lip if you don't have the time or energy to reapply product.
According to Gabriel De Santino, makeup artist and founder of Gabriel Cosmetics, matte lipstick isn't for everyone.
De Santino said matte lipstick can look great, but it requires precise application and upkeep throughout the day.
"Matte lipstick must be applied with a steady hand — lip liner can be helpful — and lips have to be hydrated or you run the risk of cracking throughout the day," he told Insider.
Likewise, overlining your lips isn't always the best look.
According to Eddie Funkhouser, cofounder and executive creative director of Eddie Funkhouser Cosmetics, the trend of overlining your lips needs to stop.
"I get it, we all want fuller, more luscious looking lips," he said. "But overlining the lips has gone from a subtle trick for boosting the fullness of your pout to pretty much drawing on an entirely new mouth."
He continued, "There are ways to contour the lips to make them appear more full without the profile of your mouth looking like you completely missed the mark with your liner and lipstick."
Overly perfect or stenciled-on eyebrows can date a makeup look.
Allyson Roe, licensed aesthetician and makeup artist of Allyson Roe Makeup Artistry, told Insider that she wished the stenciled-on eyebrows trend would go away.
"Yes, those 'instabrows.' You know the ones. They're so precise they look like they've literally been drawn on with a sharpie and a stencil," she said. "Sometimes they even come with a pale ring of concealer around them. If that's your style, then great, but they will date a look so fast."
She continued, "If we did 'instabrows' on our clients for photos or video, in a few years it will be just like us looking back on bad makeup from the 1980s."
You don't have to apply a concoction of foundations and concealers every time you do your makeup.
Makeup tutorials are usually full of different foundations and concealers, but that's not usually necessary.
"I have seen way too many YouTube and Instagram videos where the 'guru' will mix three different full-coverage foundations, add two or three concealers (although the foundation did enough to cover), and then use a few different powders on top," Roe told Insider.
She said sometimes she'll mix a foundation or two to get the perfect shade and consistency for a client, but oftentimes just one product works just fine.
Roe also said that the heavy, full-coverage look that most beauty gurus show off in videos seems great with the right lighting, but her job as a makeup artist is to make sure her clients' skin "still look like skin as much as possible."
Contour charts and diagrams don't work for every face shape.
Some beauty sites push out different charts that are supposed to help you become a makeup pro, but Tatiana Rivera, the lead makeup artist for Gabriella Anthoney's Design Artistry, said they don't work for everyone.
"I am not in love with the one-size-fits-all brand of beauty," she told Insider. "These facial diagrams of where you should be applying your highlight, and where to place your contour doesn't apply to every face shape."
She continued, "The whole theory behind contour is that you are trying your best to create the illusion of an oval shape face with oval being the 'ideal' facial shape. So, if you have an oval face why are you doing a heavy contour?"
And some makeup artists think that contouring, in general, has gotten a little out of hand.
Contouring has definitely become a favorite technique of beauty lovers, but not everyone adores it.
"The type of contour we are seeing in the mainstream is meant for the stage; like for the actors who sit in the back row," celebrity makeup artist Alexandra Rutkay told Insider.
She added, "This type of contouring is an overdone trend and — I should mention — probably best left to be done by professionals. Brown and streaky isn't a good look."
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