AIBU To be bemused by current make up trends?

[misskelly]

I'm in my 40's and have loved make up since I was quite young. Make up has improved so much over the last 20 years and the colours available for every skin tone has been amazing. Anyone can find the right products and enhance their features if they wish.

So, I ask why,why,why for the love of god has a trend evolved that can only be described as Widow Twanky. Why do so many women want to look like pantomime dames?

Is it due to a culture of selfies and wanting to look good in photos? Fake eyelashes, contouring, drawn on eyebrows and lip lines does not translate in the flesh.

I know this might come across as bitchy, but I'm honestly not trying to be. Especially when so many women could look amazing because they are spending a lot of time and money on their faces. Am I so out of the loop now that I just can't appreciate this look?

Oh. My. God. You guys...

THIS has just popped up on my FB timeline. I didn't think the slug brows could get worse! What fresh hell is this?! www.facebook.com/OfficialMakeupGoals/posts/299041300572404

Hmm I don't like the heavy made up look with the contouring( would make me look orange) but have always been gothy so always worn thick cat eyeliner and I have to draw my brows in black because I overplucked them as a teenager and they never grew back. I'm also blonde but dye my hair black so need my eyebrows to match my hair. This thread makes me feel like I would be judged on my appearance :(

It is really bad. The brows. The contouring. But no worse than some of the awful 80's stuff.

I bought highligher today, don't even know what it's for. What the fuck do you do with it?

I do a lot of out-reach work in sixth forms in a very female-dominated field. It freaks me the fuck out when I stand in front of a class of 16/17 year old girls and see 40 pairs of thick, black eyebrow slugs staring at me.

Doggo I don't think that's the case. I think when thick black make-up is clearly part of a "look" like a gothic-type look then it makes sense.

Even if it's not necessarily your style, you can still recognise that it's what that person is going for and it probably suits them.

However, I think the modern make-up looks most people are talking about here are looks that are just adopted my young women because it's "in" with no regard whatsoever for (i) how to do it properly, (ii) how it hangs together with other things like clothes and hair and (iii) whether it actually suits you.

I'm sure you look great

Oh God. I was recently treated to a makeover in the Widow Twanky style. "Primer". Six coats of foundation. "Contouring". Dark grey Marker pen eyebrows. Blue eyeshadow. Fuchsia lipstick. I'm very, very fair. I looked like someone's toddler had drawn my face on. My husband nearly died laughing.

Oh yes, the makeover face.

I ended up like this after a run insession on a Estee Lauder counter. I had my body weight worth of Double wear and teal eyeshadow on. And spidery eyelashes when I don't usually even wear mascara.
It was epic.

If you are wearing make up and people can tell that you are wearing make up then you have done it wrong.

Only of you're going for the natural look, which I never am. You can totally enhance your features by looking dramatic or using non flesh colours, it's loads of fun. Eyeshadow colours that play off your eye colour are gorgeous.

This is a bit like wearing a dress that flatters your shape and saying it's been done wrong because you don't look naked.

I might go for a makeover just for the fun of it

gosh yes Chardonnay why is it always Teal eyeshadow?? I am always recomended teal and it's ridiculous because I have really deep set eyes and so I can't use ANY colours which aren't pale or bright without looking like I've been punched in the face. Yet they ALWAYS suggest a dark/smoky kind of teal?! why?!

Actually that's not fair, the girls at benefit are a bit better with their eyeshadow and lipstick colour suggestions based on people's colourings and/or bone structure BUT they are the worst offenders when it womes to the super shiny highlighting game!

I was wondering why female singers are always running around in their knickers now and got tore off a strip by young fans on Facebook.

Now these young uns take proper offence to any middle aged genuine befuddlement or any criticism of their look. Back in my day we expected parents to have a moan and found it funny.

I have to say though watching all these hair and makeup tutorials and the constant photos and selfies even makes an old woman like me feel insecure and tempted to spend a fortune, I hate to think what it does to the minds of young women. I was debating having lip fillers the other day, and I'm desperate to get porcelain veneers but right now I can barely afford my bills, what's that about?