Have you noticed that some beauty trends are making a comeback? That you’ll see a picture of your mom and you’re wearing the same jeans? Beauty trends have done a whole 180 over the decades, and some are even making their way back, such as bell bottoms, low rise jeans, even thin eyebrows. Have you ever thought of where they came from?
In the 1970’s the biggest trend was very bright, shimmery , and bold eyeshadow. You’ll most likely see people in blue or silver eyeshadow, as well as a lot of mascara and black eyeliner. As for the base of the look, women usually used a sheer and tan foundation; that’s why some girls looked orange in photos. As for lips, people usually went for a colored lip gloss. Usually in hues of raspberry, purple, and deep pinks. Anti-aging products were like people’s lifeline from the 1960’s into the early 1970’s. For the piece of resistance was a tube cream blush with intense pigmentation. Now with the hair, the most popular hairstyle was the Shag, mostly associated with Jane Fonda.

Jane Fonda in the 1970’s as Suzanne in Tout va bien. Image courtesy Janus Films.

In the 1980’s the lips were the focal point of the face in the beauty world. If you had big lips you were attractive. The biggest trend at this time was blush. It was a must have in the world, no matter what, you wouldn’t see a woman without very pink or plum blush on their cheeks for color. Obviously the beauty world still loved their eyeliner and mascara. For the makeup base though, it’s still on the more sheer side. A very popular hairstyle would be a feathered, curled blowout with lots of layers.
For the 1990’s, this was a year they really went for it and experimented. It was the time for smokey eyes with thick eyeliner and dark makeup. However, this was when very vibrant blue eyeshadows were on the rise and very popular. So for makeup it was either dark, smokey eyes with thick eyeliner; or very bright blue eyeshadow with light eyeliner. One of the biggest trends in this decade that we’re still recovering from, thin eyebrows. It was very common for women to pluck their eyebrows to be very thin like angel hair noodles essentially. If you didn’t know, if you pluck hair enough times and long enough,the hair stops growing. So a lot of women now have to fill in and shape their eyebrows. This was also the time for pretty neutral base makeup but with matte brown lipsticks. For hair a big trend was called the “West Valley Bangs” where it’s kind of like the feathered hair but making their bangs go as high as they can go.
The early 2000’s were known for the cotton candy pink or blue eyeshadow, and all over eyeliner with pink lipgloss. Also styling their outfits with a fedora here and there. It wasn’t until the mid 2010’s when the base makeup really expanded out of simply just being blush and a sheer foundation.
In the 2010’s a very big part of beauty, thanks to the show Jersey Shore, fake tan. Except, when we got to 2011 people started tiptoeing away from the fake tan. Throughout the beginning of the decade, the smudged black eyeshadow, and thick eyeliner never really left. Mostly being seen with Punk Rock and Metal bands. This is when contour, bronzer, concealer, highlighter, and false lashes came into the beauty world. As for hair, a very common hairstyle was either a bob or a pixie cut. Think of the musician P!nk! when thinking of the hair of that time.
Now, last but not least, 2020’s. These past few years people have really been looking at either natural, or bold over the top makeup. Using matte full coverage foundation with defined jawlines and brighter than the sun highlighters. With the eyes it’s either very bold, bright, and detailed eyeshadow, or very neutral tones with brown eyeshadow to swap out the bright and vibrant colors. As for eyeliner, they changed the smudged and thick lines to winged eyeliner looks. For hair, it’s usually long wavy hair with curtain bangs, or people do the same look, but with a choppy bob or short hair. A big trend as well has been the lower part of the hair is blonde and the upper staying a brunette.
The best thing about makeup though, is in the end, it shows who people are. Just because there are trends, doesn’t mean people listen to them.There are people out there still doing the trends from the 70’s. Trying to keep the vintage look alive. Especially if you look back, men were never allowed to wear makeup as it was seen as ‘less manly’. Now, there are so many men beauty gurus who have a big following. It’s how people express themselves and that is the most important takeaway at the end of the day. For it to always be showing who you are with no remorse.