Current beauty trends to make your own
Hey there - Lise here, owner of well&belle.
Over the last little while, some really lovely skincare and makeup trends have emerged, and I'm super excited to share them with you.
If you know much about well&belle, you know that our main aim as a business in the beauty industry is to help you be more yourself.
So yes, I love to tell you about trends and include pretty pictures to show you what they look like, but if they don't resonate with you, make your own trends and always feel free to take trends and adopt/adapt them in your own way!
After all, beauty is all about making yourself happy by expressing yourself and being fully yourself.
And you're perfect just the way you are. You really are.
Skincare trends
Vitamins for your skin
Just like the vitamins you might take to boost your health when your nutrition is not so perfect, a big trend in skincare is to include vitamins as a major part of what you put on your skin. After all, your skin is your largest organ!
Read on to find out the benefits of various vitamins on your skin.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C serums are popping up everywhere lately, and with good reason! A good vitamin C serum can help stimulate collagen production, protect your skin from damaging UV light and pollutants, prevent and improve dark spots, and brighten your skin!
With vitamin C serums, quality is key.
Vitamin C needs to be stable or it can break down if it's exposed to oxygen or sunlight. So pick a reputable brand, handle your product with care, and close the bottle as soon as you've used your product.
If ever your vitamin C serum gets discoloured or if it smells funky/different, stop using it.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is great for moisturizing, protecting, soothing and healing skin, and can reduce signs of aging. It helps your skin hold on to moisture for longer, so it’s perfect if you have dry patches. As an antioxidant, it has protective properties and can also protect your skin from sun and other environmental damage.
You’re best off applying before bed to give your skin a chance to fully absorb the vitamins.
If you have very sensitive skin, or if you’re prone to clogged pores, I don’t recommend using a vitamin E serum because it can aggravate your skin. (Try vitamin C instead.)
Vitamin B
There are different forms of vitamin B that can be great for your skin.
One of the best B vitamins for your skin is B3, or niacin if I’m getting technical (just for a sec, I promise).
B3 is great for rosacea, acne and other redness on your skin. It’s also a really great for preventing fine lines by improving your skin barrier’s function for more youthful looking skin.
Another B vitamin to look for is B5 (also called panthenol), which can help to attract and hold on to moisture to help with elasticity and hydration. B5 is also great for acne, helping to keep just the right amount of oil on your skin and help prevent blemishes.
Vitamin B5 also helps to heal and protect the skin, to reduce inflammation and redness while strengthening the skin barrier, making it perfect for acne-prone skin. Studies have shown that Pantothenic Acid can reduce the skin’s formation of oil to regulate and maintain optimum oil levels to reduce the formation of acne.
Oil cleansing
I think that once you try oil cleansing, you're going to want to keep doing it, it's that good!
So what is this oil cleansing, you ask? Simply put, it's all about replacing your face cleanser with an oil. But it doesn't stop there, there is a method to this madness!
For best results, spread the oil onto your face (you can remove your makeup ahead of time, but you don't have to), then wet a facecloth with very warm or hot water, place it over your face to create a bit of a steaming effect.
Take a couple of breaths and relax... Once the facecloth has cooled off, use it to gently remove the oil.
This process may seem a little longer than your usual face washing routine, but it leaves your skin so soft and supple, and this routine feels like a mini spa experience every time you do it. Granted, it may feel a bit weird at first, but give it at least a week or two before you decide whether you want to keep going with oil cleansing.
If you ask me, the very best oils for cleansing by far are Living Libations' Best Skin Ever.
BSE lives up to its name, so beware: once you get used to BSE, you may be hooked. Like forever. It's that good.
Minimalist skincare (Skinimalism)
What do you call it when you take two words to create a new one? It’s a portmanteau. (yes, I'm a word geek, I can't help it)
Anyhoo on to skinimalism…
This is another trend that I've been telling you about for a while.
Skinimalism means picking a few products that work for you and your skin's needs and sticking with them.
Of course, our skin changes over time, but there is no need to adopt an 87-step routine (yes, I know I’m exaggerating), or jump from one skincare routine to another, to another, to another...
I recommend finding a solid cleanser or two that you love (maybe a gentle cream cleanser for the morning and an oil cleanser for the evening), one or two serums that target your particular skin condition, and a good moisturizer.
You may like a toner (I personally can't live without my toners), and you may want to switch up your moisturizer according to the season, and serums according to any skin conditions you're trying to address.
Add a sunscreen to protect your skin from sun damage.
That's it. Find what you love, stick with it.
Makeup trends
The Kitten Eye
Instagram / @alyciajdaily
You've likely seen a lot of cat eye liner over the years, it's a classic that's been popular for a while.
But if you've ever tried to do it on yourself, you know it takes time and practice to get juuust right.
Well, say hello to the cat eye's more natural and subtle (and easier!) little sister, the kitten eye.
Seen on celebrities all over social media, this look currently has a lot of traction, and it deserves it!
It's lovely and flattering on just about everyone, makes your lashes look longer and your eyes pop, and paired with red lips it definitely has a bit of French-girl flair.
The kitten eye is fairly simple to do yourself.
Start your liner in the middle of your eye using short strokes to draw along your lash line, making the line thicker as you move toward the outer eye. Give it a little flick at the end for a subtle wing.
To stay on trend, keep your skin dewy, use a single eye shadow in a shade that’s similar to your skin tone. Pair with a red lip for a French-girl look, or a lip tint/gloss for a more natural look.
Dewy, glowy skin
This is definitely one of my favourite fall trends.
This trend is quite simple: it’s the look of well-moisturized, fresh, bright skin. The makeup is natural, simple, and leaves you glowing.
Sounds great, but how do I get it, you ask?
The first thing to do is make sure your skin is well hydrated. This look isn’t going to work on dry skin. I recommend oil cleansing, a vitamin serum, and a good moisturizer (oil or cream). The Perfect Sunscreen gives you this exact dewy look, so you can start with it as your base if you don’t wear foundation.
Makeup-wise, you’re going to want a foundation that’s light (i.e., lets your skin shine through), or has built-in light reflecting properties. You can mix any foundation with an illuminating primer, just use as little foundation as you need to give your skin minimal coverage.
To keep my skin dewy, I like to mix one pump of Gentle Illuminating Primer with a drop or two of Soft Focus Foundation.
I also really love Vapour’s Luminous Foundation, but with this one, I skip the primer and apply the stick foundation over my moisturizer or sunscreen.
The rest of the makeup for this look is all about keeping things luminous and bright.
On your cheeks, a cream or stick blush will keep things dewy. Choose an eye shadow with some shimmer (bronzer on your eyelids works great!), or pat a bit of highlighter on your eyelids.
Highlighter is key to this look, and I really love Vapour’s highlight stick, or Lily Lolo’s powder highlighter.
Finish off the look with your favourite lip gloss or creamy lipstick (I love Vapour’s Lip Nectar).
To get a dewy look in a hurry, I love the Lux Conditioning Tint, with its creamy, subtle colour. The bonus with this stick is that you can use it as blush or bronzer, or on your eyes, with or without eye shadow. The possibilities are endless, they really are!
Shop highlighters and bronzers
Lashes for days
Who doesn’t like the look of long, thick lashes? Go on, tell me who. No one? Yeah, I thought so.
Our collective love affair with long, thick lashes has been going on for a while, so what makes this a trend?
As you know, for over a year, lash extensions weren’t an option. But challenging times brought with it innovation and many of us turned to lash and brow serums to get our lashes (and brows, but more on those later) to their full potential when appointments weren’t a possibility.
Both the lash and brow serums we carry are outstanding - they work super well!! I apply lash and brow serum as the last step in my nighttime routine.
For longer, thicker lashes, spread the serum along your lash line and you should see results within a few weeks.
Curling your lashes is an important part of this trend, and if you currently don’t curl your lashes—what are you even waiting for? It’s seriously life-changing. Or lash-changing. Or both. Plus, Plume’s lash curler is the best one I’ve ever tried.
Okay, now on to mascara.
We carry several mascaras and they’re all great in their own right. Personally, I love to combine Lily Lolo’s Big Lash mascara, and follow with Vapour’s Mesmerize Mascara. I like to use this handy little brow comb to separate my lashes when they need it.
Lovin' the lippie
After all but disappearing for over a year, lipstick and lip gloss are definitely having a moment.
And it seems that after that time not wearing lipstick and lip gloss, they're back with a vengeance.
While I realize that not everyone loves red lipstick as much as I do, there are a gazillion other choices if you’re not a fan of red. If you prefer a more natural look, I recommend a lip tint or lip gloss.
We carry so many amazing lip products in a range of shades; you're bound to find one you love!
Fluffy, natural brows
Similarly to the lash trend, the brow trend has emerged as a result of do-it-yourself being necessary. More natural, fluffy brows have been making a comeback for a while now, and as it happens, the lash and brow serums that will support your lashes will also help grow out your previously over plucked brows.
If your brows aren’t quite as full and fluffy as you would like them to be (whose are, really?), then you may want to fill and tame them with a brow wax or brow pencil.
The lovely thing about Plume’s brow pencils is that they contain some of the same active ingredients they put in their serum, so using it actually helps your brows grow as well. Talk about working yourself out of a job! And Ecobrow’s brow wax is amazing for keeping those pesky little hairs in place as they grow. Believe me, one of these little jars is going to last you a long time.
Blushing beauty
After not really being on the makeup radar (is there even such a thing?) for several years, blush has made a huuuge comeback. I’d bet that looking at ourselves looking a bit washed out on Zoom calls has been a huge factor in this trend. (Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s the camera.)
From powders to creams to sticks, you can go super subtle and create a look that says “I’m healthy and loving life”, to “I just went for a brisk walk”. Either way, pick a shade works with your undertone (i.e., cool, warm or neutral) and apply to the apples of your cheeks, moving toward your eyes to create a lifting effect if you want that.
I really love using Vapour’s multi sticks for blush. They go with my slight obsession with the dewy/glowy look… I’ll often start with a powder and layer the multi stick over top.
As always, feel free to contact me if you need help picking your shade!
Not your mama's lip liner
You may have noticed a lot of 90s trends that are making a comeback in fashion. And not too far behind are some 90s-inspired makeup trends, including lip liner.
Let me assure you that the lip liners being made now are not your mother’s lip liner!
The new generation lip liner is smoother and easier to apply, and looks great worn as a stain with some lip gloss over it.
You can approach this trend in a few different ways; you can follow your natural lip shape, you can overline to give the illusion of more plump lips, or you can redefine your lip shape to create more symmetry.
I like to start applying from the top centre of the lips, but this is something you can play with.
Colour-wise, pick a lipstick shade in the same colour family as the liner and either keep the pencil line well-defined for the 90s look, or blur it with a small brush. Or, use the pencil all over your lips and follow with gloss for a more natural look.
All together now...
Wearing all these makeup trends at once sounds crazy, right? Not so fast.
Here’s an example of a glowy, fluffy eyebrows, long eyelashes, lined lips kind of look:
If you have any questions about how to adapt/adopt these trends and make them your own, please give us a shout, we’re always happy to dispense advice. Especially me. My little sisters can attest to that.
And if you read this far THANKS!! (You're my favourite - you really are.)
- Lise xo
Comments
This is such good information, Lise! You’ve inspired me to try some new things. Thanks also for the tip about the Vapour eyeshadow quad, I really love it and it’s so kind of you to answer all my emails and give me so much information.