The evolution of makeup brands: how did professional quality makeup become accessible?

I feel like makeup has really exploded in the last ten years. Previously only brands like MAC, MUFE etc had extensive, high pigment colour ranges. The 90s and early 2000s was worse. Growing up the only makeup my friends and I could afford was stuff like Covergirl. Revlon was considered fancy for us. The colours available were either matte brown or chalky pastels. The quality of most drugstore makeup was pretty bad. Nowadays even people I know who aren’t that into makeup buy big palettes, and affordable drugstore brands like Nyx carry setting sprays and primers, which would have been considered specialist products 10 years ago.

I also feel like it’s become commonplace to wear a lot of bright makeup - bright or dark lips and eyes, a lot of glitter and shimmer. And coinciding with this, nail art culture has become mainstreamed.

What drove this change? Was it consumer led by the internet’s democratisation of information, leading to people educating themselves online, posting tutorials etc? Or did the beauty industry forecast and decide for us what trends would become popular, and what products would be required? Has it been a push for us to buy more makeup? I read that during times of war, lipstick sales go up - people want an affordable way to feel good. I wonder if the shifts in makeup culture reflect the socio-political times we live in? Also was the push to include shade ranges that were more inclusive of different ethnicities something that was consumer led, or corporate-driven?

I feel the Kardashians have played a big role in spearheading the contoured, sculpted brow, heavy eye, matte lip look that’s become popular. Again, contouring would only have been done by makeup artists 10 years ago. When you look at celebrities on the red carpet in the 90s and 2000s, their makeup was very minimal and natural.

I feel like everything is in currently. Matte lips, glossy lips, lip gloss, nude lips. The Glossier no makeup look. The heavily contoured look. Matte skin. Dewy skin. The options available are great. I’m curious whether it’s all because makeup technology just keeps improving and becoming more accessible, or whether the beauty industry has kind of pushed us to all become makeup experts.

Submitted November 22, 2018 at 04:58AM by pubecube808 https://ift.tt/2znuPaB