Exploring the Future of Makeup with the Highly-Contoured Teens of Beautycon

She’s here, she’s actually here, oh my God I can’t believe she’s here!”
                                           

Three young girls are chasing after makeup vlogger Olivia Grace. The 16-year-old social media influencer might look like she’s still at school, but YouTube videos where she reveals the contents of her handbag or what she got for Christmas regularly receive tens of thousands of views. At Beautycon—the annual beauty convention beloved by YouTubers and teenage girls—screaming kids, selfies, and expensive luxury highlighter are the norm.

Thousands of mostly teenage, female makeup addicts have travelled from all over the UK—and even further afield (I meet one person from LA)—to the Olympia Trade Centre in west London. Most have paid $40 for entry-level access to the convention, but others have shelled out $160 for premium packages, including “access to all brands, main stage panels, and activations,” extra makeup shopping opportunities, and the opportunity to take selfies with their favorite influencers. They’re here to meet YouTubers, Instagram makeup icons, and reality TV stars—as well as to spend their pocket money at one of the dozens of teen-favored brands that have retail stands at the event.

Makeup here is not about appearing pretty or enhancing how you look. Gone are the days of buffing in pink blusher to create a natural flush. These girls and women want to look hyper-real—so perfect they resemble alien princesses.

At the stand for the glitter makeup brand Sparkles London, I meet three 15 year-olds who look like lost members of Little Mix. Natalia has eyebrows so angular that I wouldn’t be surprised if she drew them with a compass. (We have withheld the surnames of all the girls interviewed due to their age.) “Today I spent an hour on them,” she says, although normally she only spends around 15 minutes on her brows. “I brush pomade underneath, then I line on top and blend out, and I put concealer around to sharpen everything up and highlight.”

How Atomic Makeup Founder Navil Rico Is Making Beauty More Inclusive

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest beauty trends, you know that liquid matte lipsticks are some of the biggest products on the market right now. While there are many options to choose from, not all are created equal — some can be too drying, too expensive, or too limited in shade range. Luckily, there’s an indie brand out there with lipsticks that include a creamy formula, wide spectrum of colors, affordable prices, and a socially conscious attitude. Meet Atomic Makeup NYC.
                                                 

On an ordinary day, the cosmetics line sells thousands of lipsticks, and recently, Atomic sold out its entire inventory during a sale on Labor Day weekend. While this seems like an easy enough feat for a thriving indie brand, Atomic’s ability to achieve this is especially impressive given that her team includes only five people, including Navil herself.

It’s typical for sellers on Etsy and other online platforms to sell handmade products at a higher cost due to the time-consuming and laborious nature of creating them, but Navil keeps her prices low in order to be more accessible. She says, “It’s not so much about profit per lipsticks, it’s about how many lipsticks can someone enjoy within their budget?”

Creating such shades is essential to the brand, and Navil's personal experience as a woman of color made her hyper-aware of a beauty standard that favors light complexions. Of this standard, she says, “I think that the only way to get rid of it is working harder and bringing knowledge to everyone that it’s not just about what we grew up knowing as beauty."

Her upbringing made her conscious of the restrictive beauty culture which was everywhere she looked, from magazines to television shows and more. The Atomic founder says that in the predominantly Latino city of Santa Ana, California, many girls she knew tried hard to fit into that standard.

How to Apply Makeup That Will Still Look Amazing at the End of a Race

When I ran my first obstacle course race, I envisioned crossing the finish line triumphantly, a big smile on my face, glowing with the joy of achievement. In reality, it was a sweaty and humid unseasonably warm day, but in my race photos I look great. My secret? I ran in a full face of makeup.
                                         

As I turn 30, most of my big life moments are behind me. I’ve already done the graduation, wedding and new baby photos, so now the big moments and photo ops in my life are ones I create for myself. I’ve run several distance races in full makeup, and the photos above are from my first obstacle course race. It might be vain, but after months of training for the Spartan Sprint and a hefty entry fee, I’m willing to put in a little extra effort to go home with a few great pictures to go with my medal.

Race photos and action shots won’t be close ups. Your race day makeup serves a different purpose than everyday makeup. The goal is to look great from ten feet away, so focus on making your features pop and complexion look even. Make sure your eyebrows don’t disappear on camera and your lips stand out. More product means more things that can slide around, so keep your race day look stripped down and minimize any contouring or highlighting. You will have plenty of glow from the exercise, so you don’t need an artificial one.

Race preparation for something like a Spartan or a marathon takes months of training. After putting in all that effort, I don’t want to take any chances with my race day look. Most of what I wear are prestige cosmetics with formulas engineered to withstand a long day. The bigger price tag really does get you more technology and better ingredients.

My race day face starts with Clinique Fit foundation. It’s got SPF 40, so there’s no need to put on any additional moisturizer. I like this foundation because it’s long wear and full coverage without feeling heavy. Any longwear foundation you like will get the job done as long as it’s a matte finish formula.

Emily Ratajkowski Masters the French Makeup Game in Paris

Emily Ratajkowski is getting the hang of this whole Parisian beauty thing. A quintessential California girl at heart, EmRata's aesthetic menu typically centers on tousled lengths, nude lips, sky-skimming lashes, and strategic ab reveals. But some time spent in the City of Light—under the guidance of makeup artist Hung Vanngo, no less—seems to be eliciting a desire to ramp up all things above-the-neck. Though, as it's France, the elevation comes with a side of nonchalance, a winning combination that is more challenging than meets the eye.
                                   

Case in point: After the Jacquemus runway show, which was held at the Musée Picasso, the party found Ratajkowski serving up a look classique: Show-stopping red-orange lips defined by its glaze of gloss (as well as her signature plump pout). Lengths were styled in a rumpled wave that offered a familiar frame for the flicks of liner and amplified lashes that completed the doe-eyed gaze. And rather than following the splashy moment with a one-up, the morning after saw the model-turned-actress embracing a no-makeup makeup look that was pared-down and demure (and very French) at Dior's front row. Those same lengths were neatly tucked behind ears, her lips coated in a transparent gloss, eyes edged in a touch of highlighter, with smudged onyx making a subtle showing under the lower lashline. The shared factor was EmRata's glowing complexion and compulsion for contoured blush (that L.A. lean), but it's the contrast of the looks that demonstrates her mastery of what defines the Parisian allure: the ability to move seamlessly from French femme fatale to angelic ingenue without skipping a beat.

Is there animal fat in your blusher?

Veganism is moving from what we put into our bodies to what we put on our faces. In a decade, the number of vegans in Britain has increased from 150,000 to more than 540,000, according to the Vegan Society, fuelled by younger people, aged 16-34, who account for nearly half that number. It makes sense that those avoiding all meat, dairy and animal derivatives such as wool and leather would also be keen to avoid beeswax in lipbalm, animal fat in cream blushers and eyeshadows, and crushed cochineal beetles in red lipsticks. You don’t have to be vegan to be put off by this.
                                                 

Tashina Combs has been writing about cruelty-free and vegan makeup for the last six years on her blog Logical Harmony and has recently noticed a surge of interest. “I think people are becoming more aware. For a long time, people didn’t really realise how common animal testing still was in so many places around the world. With vegan cosmetics, they start to look at the ingredients too and are realising a lot of them are byproducts of other industries they don’t necessarily want to support.”

The new vegan brands, she says, have a mainstream feel. “I think for a long time there was a stigma – that everyone thought they were these earthy, crunchy brands and now they’re realising you can go to department stores and buy this stuff. They are high-quality products that makeup artists are using and they perform in the same way as the conventional brands we’re used to.”

Jenkins recommends British company PHB Ethical Beauty – she rates their mascara – and she also likes Arbonne, and the long-established vegan company Beauty Without Cruelty. “I love Pacifica for their BB creams, and their mascara and eyeshadow is great. Lime Crime is a really fun brand – they do fantastic brightly coloured eyeliners and gorgeous lip glosses.” A lot of lipbalms have beeswax in them, she says, but a company called Hurraw makes “beautiful creamy lip balms, which I use a lot”.

Several Outdated Makeup Trends

The 70s, 80s, and 90s gave us so much good stuff. (We love you, Fleetwood Mac and smartphone-free family dinners.)
                                               

But when it comes to beauty? Let's just say there isn't quite as much to feel nostalgic about. Even though each decade was defined by very different styles, they all had one thing in common: makeup that seems kinda crazy today. (Not only did makeup trends baffle us, but how about these old-school dating rules that we can't believe existed?)

1: Heavy concealer
A severe matte complexion is a lot like a power suit: Both are usually unflattering and announce to the world that you're stuck in the 1980's. Plus, all that pancake makeup can actually make you look older, especially if you pile it on under your eyes. "It settles into fine lines and accentuates them," says freelance makeup artist Hillary Klein. (Avoid making these 7 foundation mistakes that age you.)

The update: Using a little bit of concealer is totally fine. Just stick to applying it on the inner halves of your under-eye area, where there are fewer lines for it to settle into, Klein says. And always moisturize before adding makeup: Hydrated skin is plumper and less crepe-y, so your concealer will go on smoother.

2: Crazy amounts of bronzer
A little glow is good. But too much can look like you're trying to harken back to the (dangerous!) days when people used to sit out in the sun slathered in baby oil. (If you can't help sunbathing, slather on one of these 5 best sunscreens to keep your face looking young.)

The update: The key to doing bronzer right is picking a powder that’s just one or two shades darker than your skin tone, so it'll look natural instead of radioactive. And apply it lightly, says Christina Flach, CEO of Pretty Girl Makeup. Using a big brush, swipe a "3" on both sides of your face—starting at the corners of your temples, curving in towards your cheekbone, and ending at the corners of your chin.

Meet the Instagrammers Testing Makeup for Women of Color

When all you see is an online photo of a makeup palette, it doesn't tell you much. It's impossible to know if a new shade of eye shadow or lipstick will really look good IRL, especially since most websites use digitally-rendered swatches for darker skin tones. That's why women are taking matters into their own hands on Instagram, swatching makeup so women of color find their matches.
                                             

I wanted to create a resource to have all swatches on complexions that were more like mine in one place," says Ofunne Amaka, the woman who runs @cocoaswatches and its app, "Some people don't even buy anything before they see it on my page." Since launching two years ago, she's amassed nearly 88,000 followers eager to see how the latest launches look on deep skin and discover new brands.

Even on so many of the brand pages, I always would wonder: Where are the swatches for people who look like me?" Osase Emokpae, who founded @browngirlfriendly in April 2016, tells ELLE.com, "Why should brown girls and boys be forced to use their imaginations to figure out how a makeup product might look on us?" There's clearly a need for these online spaces–back in April when Forbes released its first-ever list of Top Beauty Influencers, of the 10 named, nine were fair-skinned.

It's definitely difficult. Sometimes I feel left out of the conversation because I'm catering to a certain market," Amaka says in regards to brand partnership opportunities, "The people that I'm helping is what helps me keep going, and validates me to keep going. To relieve that frustration for some people so makeup can be fun is a really good feeling.

Amazing! Watch how this makeup artist transforms herself

These barely-believable transformations are the work of self-taught makeup artist Courtney Hollins from Western Australia.
                                     

“I started drawing and painting at the age of four. I was always really good at art, in fact it was the only thing that I excelled in at school,” Courtney tells Be.

The 28-year-old runs her own freelance business but incredibly, has only been turning herself into comic book characters and monsters for two and a half years.

Courtney decided to do a diploma in specialist make up, but although she enjoyed the beauty looks, she found her creative side wasn’t satisfied.

With just over 2,500 followers on Instagram – where she showcases her amazing work – Courtney says some people struggle to believe her looks are real.

Her artwork is now being recognised internationally, with American makeup label NYX Cosmetics nominating her for their #FaceAwards.

She’s made it through to the top 15. To become a finalist she painted a design inspired by Mad Max which took six hours to complete!

We all know how important it is to slather on sunscreen every day (quick refresher: it's like, really important. A few dollops a day can potentially shield skin from damage brought on by the sun's powerful UV rays). But did you know that reapplying your SPF is just — if not more — crucial? Yep. According to dermatologists, you should be re-administering your SPF every two to three hours, which means that full face beat you put together early in the A.M. may get a little disheveled after the second slathering. Luckily, it doesn't have to be that way. Turns out, there are foolproof techniques to reapply your sun protection without smudging or smearing your early-morning makeup masterpiece. Here, the top six tricks, plucked from top dermatologists and makeup artists.

Here's Why I'll Never Tell Anyone to Stop Wearing Makeup

If you're even somewhat in touch with the world of beauty, you know that the #NoMakeup movement has become a powerful force. Started by celebs like Alicia Keys and Alessia Cara who have gone makeup-free on the red carpet, the trend is all about pushing women to embrace their so-called flaws. If you need further proof it's a real thing, today has actually been declared National No Makeup Day! (Here's what happened when our beauty editor tried the no-makeup trend.)

While the idea behind it is admirable, the spike of the #NoMakeup trend means that makeup-shaming has also become a thing. I've heard whispers on the NYC streets from men and women alike poking fun at those with super-bright green lipstick or a heavily painted face of foundation.

As a longtime beauty writer and editor, my personal philosophy is that you should put skin first. I find skin care—my insanely long, like 18-product-long routine—to be a form a self-care, and I feel that the better I take care of my skin, the less makeup I need to wear. But that's because I LOVE the way I look without makeup on. Honestly. When I wear heavy shadow or dark lip colors, I do not feel my best. But give me smooth AF skin (right now, I'm living and dying for IT Cosmetics Confidence in a Compact Solid Serum Foundation; it's like Facetune on crack, but IRL), a post-exercise flush across my cheeks, tweezed brows, and the barest hint of lip color (Glossier is my current fav) and I literally can't not feel beautiful.

Still, I am a big proponent of makeup in all of its forms, particularly how you can use it to express yourself. One of my OG mentors in the beauty biz has a look completely different from my own: Her raven-colored hair and razor-sharp bangs are the cool-girl antidote to my basic California girl butter blonde. But perhaps the starkest difference we have is her straight-up need for bright red lipstick, a signature look she's rocked for a decade and that I love her for.

HOW TO GET THE NO-MAKEUP LOOK—WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP

One of the best things that could ever have happened to your beauty routine? The no-makeup trend, which shows no signs of slowing down.

The idea—as seen on an increasing number of runways and worn by a growing number of celebs from Gwyneth Paltrow to Kim Kardashian—is that you’re literally not wearing cover-up of any sort. Even better: It saves you (valuable) time in the morning as you hustle to get ready, costs way less than maintaining a full cosmetics kit, and—the best part—it lets you work what your mama gave you.

1. Drink lots of water
It’s a no brainer, but Patinkin counts staying hydrated as an essential step of your beauty routine. “Think of your skin like a sponge,” she says. “When it’s dry, it’s brittle and rough, but when it’s saturated, it expands, softens, and becomes much more pliable.”

2. Befriend a good exfoliator
Skin looking dull? It might actually be totally healthy, but just covered up with layers of dead cells (gross but true). “Getting rid of those makes your skin smoother and look brighter,” promises Patinkin.

“You don’t have to be rough about the way you exfoliate, and there’s no reason to spend days looking like a phyllo pastry—using a gentle alpha hydroxy acid like glycolic or lactic will give a micro-exfoliation that leaves the skin looking luminous.” She recommends Juice Beauty’s Stem Cellular Resurfacing Micro-Exfoliant ($55) to get the job done.

3. Do some prep before you leave the house
You don’t have to reach for foundation to get that dewy look. The key is getting a handle on any inflammation. “A vitamin C or other antioxidant serum is super important in the no-makeup look,” Patinkin explains. “It reduces the inflammation we get from free radical damage like pollution or other environmental stressors and can actually help to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and sun spots.”

This Cheap, Easy Scotch Tape Trick Will Give Your Old Makeup Palettes New Life

The Internet has made all kinds of information easily accessible. Now we all know that Ryan Seacrest is 5'8". We also know how to fix our makeup palettes if they ever crack or crumble—although doing anything with powder can get a little complicated. It's just a fussy medium: Not only do you need rubbing alcohol on hand—vodka probably won't work, although we haven't tried—but it takes some time to wet it, mix it, set it, and then let it dry in the sun.

That's why we're all about this new hack, which both cleans and repairs the surface of any powder in your makeup stash in just 10 seconds. Why, you're probably asking, would your powder need repair? Well, when you use your brush to pick up eyeshadow, swoosh it around your eyes, and then press that brush back into the powder, your brush is incidentally transferring the oils from your skin to your pan. These oils can mix with the powder, which eventually hardens into small, raised patches on the surface and creates a film. This makes it tough to pick up pigment with your brush. It also sounds like a recipe for a breakout to us, especially if you're dealing with powder foundation.

Then you tear it off, taking that oily-residue film with it. It's the same satisfaction of waxing, but with fewer tears—and, obviously, with makeup palettes that are suddenly like new. We're going to file this under: "Wow, we should've thought of this sooner." Still, at least someone did. And with your fresh pan of powder newly revealed, you might just find that that smoky eye is a million times easier to pull off.

This Hack Will Save You So Much Money On Your Makeup

You don't need us to remind you that makeup products can be expensive as hell. Sure, there are a ton of amazing drugstore options, but when you fall in love with a pricey foundation or eyeshadow, it's hard to not keep coming back to it.
           

You could always wait (and wait and wait...) and hope it goes on sale one day — or you could get creative. But how? Let us introduce you to the wonderful world of cosmetic refills.

The concept is simple: Many brands offer refills for items like eyeshadows, foundations, and lipsticks — and those refills cost significantly less than if you were to buy the product in its original compact or package. Are you picking up what we're putting down? Is your mind blown?

This method won't just save you money — it will also cut down on the amount of cosmetic waste that ends up in our landfills. According to an EPA fact sheet published in 2014, roughly 30% of the items rotting away in our landfills in 2014 were containers and packaging. While not all of this was cosmetic packaging, every little bit helps.

That being said, we won't deny that there's a certain luxury in having a product in its original form — the heft of a well-made compact, the magnetic "click" that a brand-new lipstick makes as it snaps shut — but for those of you looking to save some cash, buying refills instead of the original product is a great option. Ahead, check out 10 refillable makeup items that will make your makeup bag and your wallet very happy.