Clown Contouring
Clown contouring is a trend that went viral after make-up artist Bella DeLune decided she’d had enough of trolls calling her techniques and tutorials “clownish.” She fought back in the best way possible: sharing a full on clown look before blending it into a beautifully contoured face of makeup. This led to a whole range of spin off trends in a similar vein including henna contouring, sugar skull contouring, and even kitty contouring.
Rainbow Freckles
Who doesn’t want to look like they’ve been kissed by the sun, or by the rainbow? The rainbow freckles trend saw girls painting fake colored freckles around their eyes and nose using a range of purples, blues, greens — even whites and golds.
Glitter Beards
Whether you’re a fan or not, glitter beards definitely had their fair share of attention over the Christmas break After spreading over Instagram, the internet became riddled with tutorials; some even went as far as “beard baubles” (which are a thing that you can actually buy). We can’t help but think of how long it must take to wash it all out — glitter beards are for life, not just for Christmas.
Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge
The Kylie Jenner lip challenge — a process which involves pumping your lips to twice the size by sucking them into a shot glass — spiraled from an Instagram phenomenon into a serious health hazard. Even Jenner herself responded to the risky trend, tweeting “I’m not here to try & encourage people/young girls to look like me or to think this is the way they should look. I want to encourage people/young girls like me to be YOURSELF & not be afraid to experiment w your look.”
Heart Bangs
Heart bangs are possibly the cutest hair trend to hit Instagram. Kickstarted by South Korean youth, “heart-bang hair” or 하트 앞머리 (hateu aapmuhri) in Korean involves shaping strands of your fringe into a delicate heart shape on your forehead. Some even managed to get the hairstyle to stick (presumably with hair-curling tongs and copious amounts of hairspray) and ventured out with the hairstyle.
Dyed Armpit Hair
As an act of feminism or just for fun, dying your armpit hair different colors is a trend that women from all over the world are giving a go. 17-year-old Destiny Moreno received over 320,000 views on her Youtube video MY BLUE PITS, in which she shared her newly colored armpit hair. Others quickly followed suit, including Miley Cyrus who posted a photo of her pink-dyed pits on Instagram.
Pom Pom Nails
After the popularity of “fur nails” and “bubble nails,” “pom pom nails” are the latest nail trend to take Instagram by storm. It is what it says on the tin: nail designs with impractically large pom poms stuck on top. It’s fair to say those with pom pom nails are unlikely to do the washing up any time soon.
Hair Stenciling
Hair stenciling is an art form. Using hair as a canvas, stylists such as Janine Ker and Brad Baker are amongst those sharing DIY looks to their Instagram with designs from polka dot patterns to fluffy cloud motifs.
Nose Twerking
This strange yet mesmerizing video of a girl who painted a booty on her nose and made it twerk to Rihanna’s “Work” went viral this month after reaching over 30 million views. This lead to a wave of Instagram users “twerking” the look and even resulted in a makeup tutorial.
As we share the first series of Beyond Beauty with Grace Neutral in full, follow us deeper into the world of alternative beauty. From the unorthodox to the obscure and the weird to the wonderful, we’re celebrating the people, subcultures, treatments and trends helping to redefine beauty.
Credits
Text Lula Ososki