Beauty trends over the past few decades have been interesting to say the least. In the ’80s, you weren’t on trend with beauty unless your perm was big enough to stop traffic and you were covered in Love’s Baby Soft. In the '90s, grunge was in, which meant pencil thin brows, stringy hair, and lots of dark lipstick. The 2000s were a more girly, pop-princess phase for beauty. Then we hit 2010. We think each year will be the one without any horrid moments or mistakes that have us looking back and saying: “What were we thinking?” And yet, here we are. What’s different about 2017 is that the runways and red carpets don’t solely dictate beauty trends anymore, although they’re obviously still important. Beauty bloggers with millions of followers on YouTube and Instagram massively influence the beauty world–sometimes shocking rather than inspiring. In 2017, many of the “beauty trends” weren’t really trends at all—they were simply out-there ideas about how to do makeup, hair, and nails that bloggers knew had viral potential. We can’t think of a person who wouldn’t click on a link that says, “Nose Hair Extension Tutorial” out of pure curiosity. (By the way, give that one a Google.) Most of the beauty trends of 2017 that had us talking were downright strange. These beauty trends from 2017 make us thankful for Mama’s classic beauty advice. We’re happy to say adieu to these beauty blunders from 2017.
Highlighter Overload
Don’t get us wrong—highlighter is a wonderful makeup tool. A little highlight on the top of the cheekbones can create a glowing, illuminating effect. But 2017 was the year we were all blinded by the obnoxious amounts of highlighter on people’s faces. It might look cool in a beauty blogger’s professionally lit studio, but it doesn’t work for the real world. We’re happy to see highlighter jobs that look like sun reflectors go.
Crazy Nail Art
Beauty bloggers and the Internet went all out with nail art this year. Not only did nails get weighed down with jewels and cut in scary claw shapes, nail art took a turn for the downright weird (and gross) with hairy, fuzzy, and pimple-popping nail art. We spared you a picture of the latter, but we can’t make this stuff up. We just want to know how someone types, eats, drives, or does any daily tasks with those things.
Heavy Contouring
Contouring is a makeup technique that has its benefits. It can complement your natural face shape and accentuate your favorite facial features. But in 2017, the contouring trend got way out of hand. Makeup should enhance your natural beauty, not completely change your face. And let's get real—that sure is a whole of work to do every morning.
Body Contouring
Overly done contour jobs didn’t stop at the neck in 2017. People were contouring their collarbones, cleavage, stomachs, arms, and even their legs. In our humble opinion, that’s more effort than anyone needs to put in.
Squiggle Eyebrows and Lips
There were a lot of strange eyebrow trends in 2017 (Look up “feathered brows,” “braided brows,” or “Christmas tree brows” for a good time), but one of them moved into the lipstick category as well—the wavy look. We’re not sure why this was ever invented, but we’re glad it’s gone.
Unicorn Everything
We agree—the mythical creature is very beautiful and magical, and our Lisa Frank binders and folders we had as kids inspired our love for unicorns. But after seeing tons of rainbow makeup, body rhinestones, multi-colored hair, and unicorn-horn nail art, we’re not convinced that the words “unicorn” and “beauty” belong together (except on Halloween).
Fake, Colorful Freckles
Like many of 2017’s bizarre trends, this one makes you say, “Just why?” If you’re naturally blessed with freckles, you should show them off. Those spots are unique to you, and they’re beautiful. But nowhere in nature would anyone have rainbow freckles on their face. Although we want to say goodbye to this odd trend in 2018, we hear glitter freckles are on the rise. Great.
Brows Beyond Brows
We were so happy that pencil-thin, pointy brows of the early 2000s were gone by the 2010s, but 2017 took the brow trend a little too far. Filling in your brows is a useful makeup tactic for, obviously, making them look fuller. The result is supposed to be a natural, Cindy Crawford-esque look, but brows went above and beyond in 2017 and into a realm of harsh lines and unnatural shapes.
The Wet Hair Look
This is one of those trends that is only pull-off-able on the red carpets and runways of the world. In real life, walking out of the house with hair greased back to appear wet just looks, well, greasy. We’ll save the wet hair look for the beach.
Overdrawn Lips
Big lips came in a few years ago with the Kylie Jenner beauty craze, but they continued to get bigger and bigger in 2017. Although lip liner is supposed to (ahem) line your lips, that has been sorely misinterpreted. An even worse trend than overdrawn lips is one called “lollipop lips,” which are said to give the appearance of having just eaten a lollipop. Unfortunately, “blurred lips” are on the horizon for 2018, and they’re not much better than the latter two trends.
Using Strange Objects as Makeup Sponges
Makeup sponges, often referred to as beauty blenders, have soared in popularity the past few years. But beauty bloggers got a little too creative when they started using household items as makeshift beauty blenders. Among the most odd and disturbing—silicone bra inserts (it’s a no for me), tampons (what?), eggs (yes, that you cook with), fidget spinners (but how?), and finally, condoms (this is not a drill).
“Neon” Makeup
We’ll admit—it’s extremely impressive that makeup artists can create a look that literally appears to glow like a neon light. But just because something is interesting or cool does not mean it necessarily belongs on our faces. Like a couple of the other 2017 trends, we’ll save this one specifically for Halloween.
Harsh Charcoal Peel-Off Masks
We love a good facemask at the end of the long day. There’s nothing quite like a little at-home spa treatment to leave your skin feeling fresh and smooth. But the Internet was overwhelmed with viral videos of charcoal peel-off masks that were harmful and painful. These facemasks take the saying “beauty is pain” a little too far. Ouch!
Glitter Roots
After attending any function in which glitter is involved, you inevitably get it all over you and randomly find it in every corner of your house for the next six months to 17 years. That’s why we aren’t exactly sure why anyone would want glitter roots, but we’ll let the people be (as long as this trend is truly over in 2018).
The Floating Crease
This trend got its start on runways and red carpets, but it’s one we don’t fully grasp. Eye makeup is supposed to enhance the natural shape of your eye and eyelid, which already has it’s own crease. We’re unsure the purpose of a randomly drawn line (i.e. the “floating crease”), but we’ll happily leave this in 2017.
Glossy Lids
A makeup look that belongs where it began—on the runway—glossy lids were actually a thing in 2017. We understand if you want your skin to look dewy and fresh, but your eyelids? That just seems sticky and uncomfortable. Not the trend for us.
Rainbow Highlighter
Considering the popularity of unicorn and holographic beauty looks in 2017, we saw this one coming from a mile away. Like we said earlier, highlighter was way overdone and unnatural in 2017, and highlighter that’s the color of Skittles is as unnatural as, well, Skittles.
Ombré Lips
Ombré looks have taken over hairstyles, fashion, and even home products. But ombré lipstick is so much work (and it looks a little odd, if we’re being honest). We’ll stick to a classic swipe of one lipstick color, please and thank you. On the note of lipstick trends we want to say goodbye to in 2018, we really wish dry, matte lipsticks would see their way out, but we can always hope for that in 2019.
