Fleek brows, bleached brows, glitter brows, soap brows, feathered brows, squiggle brows and braided brows? That’s a lot of options. What do these crazy trends have in common? Some are high fashion, others are beautiful art forms, and yet others are simply ridiculous. However, they are all common household terms in the beauty industry birthed by Instagram.

These trends extend to various ways of wearing eyeliner, techniques for applying foundation and many, many more. As outrageous as some of them may be, one thing is certain: Instagram has completely transformed the meaning of makeup.

The cover of The Spring Issue this month.

Makeup used to enhance one’s natural beauty, but has now become an art form and a channel for self-expression to many. Countless beauty accounts on Instagram and beyond feature people fastening physical objects to their faces. They constantly garner huge engagement, despite the fact that they may be completely unwearable in real life. Seashell-eyebrows, anyone? Okay, probably not in real life—but it does make for one hell of an Insta post.

 

 

From wearable to completely avant-garde, not-to-be-seen-in-public kind of looks, Instagram makeup culture has become the latest boom with Millennials and Gen Z consumers, and we freakin’ love it.

 

We’re seeing vampy, smokey eyes right through to looks inspired from nature, and the results are stunning.

 

 

Replicating inspiration from other inanimate objects is a thing now too, like creating neon light effects using simple techniques for a striking effect.

 

Whether you’d like to rock out your own natural glam, or play around with textures and use your face as a canvas, we’re all about how Instagram has changed the makeup game and can’t wait to see what other reactive visual inspiration emerges from this social platform.