As the year comes to close, it is nice to look at the beauty trends I loved. I felt lucky this year that many of the trends I liked were looks that I have worn for a long time. Makes me feel like a trendsetter in my own mind (shhh!). Then there were trends I felt should have died when the fashion weeks ended. If you want to know which two trends I adored this year and which ones I ran away from in terror, then read on, lovelies.
My Best Picks in 2012 Beauty
This spring, the Pantone Color of the Year, Tangerine Tango, made a huge splash in makeup. This was a blessing for me since I naturally look good in orange tones. I was more than happy to break out my poppy, coral, golden sunset, and tangerine lip colors. This trend allowed you to go beyond lipstick and wear this hot hue all over your face in a bold or subtle way.
For fall, I loved that the woven hair trend made it for yet another season! For those who do not know, those of us with kinkier, afro hair -- who do not chemically process it -- like to wear styles that keep us from having to style our hair daily which protects it from excessive handling, breakage, and our ends knotting up. These styles are known as protective styles and woven hairstyles are the most popular types of protective styles us natural hair girls like to wear. We love to adorn them with ribbon, flowers, jewelry, and any other cute accessory we can think of to jazz up our look.
2012's Cringe-Worthy Trends
I love defining the brow. It frames the face and can give a lot of power and subtle edge to a natural-looking face. What I do not like are bold brows that are thick via filling them in with brow powder or pencil. A skilled makeup artist can pull this look off for the runway. In real-life, off the runway, the look was not a win at all. I cringed every time I would pass a woman or teenager trying this trend out throughout the year (yes, it had the nerve to be a trend for both seasons). I wanted to pull out my facial wipes and scrub their faces because the Groucho Marx look never flattered a female in my opinion.
Bright pops of color was a love-hate trend for me, because when it was done right, it was strikingly beautiful. Unfortunately, I have seen it done wrong more than right. Bright pops of color in makeup can be a good thing when the right skin-flattering shade is used. I think the three most misused colors of the trend were blue, yellow, and baby pink. I understand that blue is your favorite color but not all shades of blue are for everybody. Pale, cool blues do not flatter darker skin with yellow undertones very well. Blue lipstick during the daytime does not make the best impression. Lemon yellow lips are not flattering and baby pinks that appear silver-ish only works on a very few skin tones, even then you need to work the 60's mod look to make it look relevant.
The Lasting Trend Is…
I think the woven hair look will continue to go strong even into 2013. As more women experiment with intricate weaves and updos, confidence in the look builds. Plus, a woven updo can be very feminine and alluring for formal events like proms, weddings, and homecoming dances.
So, lovelies, which trend was your favorite of the year?
Which one do you hope will crash and burn never to show its awful face again?
ShawnTe Pierce is a Yahoo! Shine Beauty Guru who writes about beauty and fashion for her blog SJP's Fashion Updates as well as for Yahoo! Voices, Daily Glow and other places on the web (sounds mysterious doesn't it?). Follow me on Twitter or at Fashion Sense on Facebook.
