Around two days ago I was scrolling a Cosmopolitan web page and stabled across a very enthralling article by incredible Victoria Jowett called "I wore Instagram makeup for a week, and this is what happened...". The name of the article is self-explanatory, but it is very interesting to read. Victoria was sharing her unusual everyday experience and how it changed, once she turned her makeup routine upside down and started wearing full-face makeup, just like those beautiful Instagram makeup gurus.
Right after I finished reading, a brilliant and very 'new' idea came into my genius mind: "why won't I experience this myself and create a blog post, based on this beauty research?" What an extraordinary idea, isn't it *sarcasm*?
Well, starting off by choosing my favorite and not-so-much Instagram gurus, who I'm going to use as my inspiration for a future week of this makeup challenge. I tried to pick makeup looks that I like and gurus, who I don't follow but heard about. I must say this was a pretty simple task, especially if you are not trying to copy the makeup look totally.
Day One: Marxie Colon
For Monday I've decided to choose Marxie Colon's beautiful smokey eyes with a pop of yellow color. Marxie looks gorgeous in this picture, I especially like the lip color she picked for this dramatic look. I also applied a ton of highlighter, but my camera didn't catch the shine, though I wasn't so generous with this product. If you decided to recreate this look, I recommend you use a good eyeshadow primer or black eye kohl as a foundation for black eyeshadow, or the color will fade.
Day Two: Brittany Bear Makeup
Tuesday is wear orange day! This time my choice fell on Brittany Bear Makeup and her gorgeous warm everyday look. I love this juicy makeup with subtle contouring and bold lips. I know my lips aren't as luscious as Brittany's, but overall pumpkin lip shade looks pretty good. You can substitute this lip color with something less bright and wear this makeup look to work or school.
Day Three: Manny Gutierrez
Wednesday and makeup of choice for today is swamp green eyes with a pinch of navy blue eyeshadow on the bottom lash line, dramatic cat eyeliner, and terracotta lips by Manny Gutierrez. This makeup will look beautiful with any eye color and it is easy to pull off. But the lip color is my favorite part – it is simple and sophisticated. Once again, make sure that your eyeshadow primer is good enough to hold onto the eyeshadow.
Day Four: Andrea Brooks
Today's makeup inspiration is a charming beauty queen Andrea Brooks and her spicy eyes and reddish black lips. I love how innocent and young her eyes appear, without bold black eyeliner and dramatic false eyelashes. The lip part is a little bit hard to wear throughout the whole day and it is definitely not a work 'friendly' lip look. A regular red lip liner and a black lipstick combo easily transfer on the cup, food, and clothes, while long-lasting matte lipsticks tend to emphasize lip cracks and crazily dry out the lips.
Day Five: Mona Petre
Friday and Mona Petre bring me my all-time favorite gothic black silver smokey eye look with rich burgundy lip color. It is simply gorgeous and I think this makeup turned out the best on my complexion. If you are just starting to play with makeup, you must try this look, because it is so much easier to create than it actually looks. All you need to create this black and silver smokey eye are three basic makeup products – black matte eyeshadow, silver shimmer eyeshadow, and a liquid or gel eyeliner. This makeup look is surprisingly durable and lasted almost all day long, though I sprayed it a little with a setting spray.
Day Six: Elley Danay
Vibrant purple eyeshadow looks so beautiful on brown eyes and Elley Danay definitely knows this secret. I love almost everything about this look, the only thing I changed is contouring, I put a little bit less sculpting powder on my face. Bold black cat eyeliner, long false lashes, and nude Instagram lips – everything is in its place. At the end of the day, when I finally washed off this purple look I found out that my eyelids were stained and it looked like I have two fresh bruises on my eyes.
Day Seven: Kylie Jenner
And for the last day, I've chosen to recreate one of the hottest Kylie Jenner makeup looks. It is a very simple, yet appealing look full of dewy highlighting, soft contouring, and a gray matte lip twist. To tell the truth, I don't think my recreating turned out to be great, but I tried to make it look attractive. I even applied light grease paint on my eyebrows, to imitate Kylie's blond brows. Well, at least I had fun and tried to be creative.
Final Thoughts...
To summarize this makeup challenge, I must agree with an article by Kathleen Hou, posted in The Cut magazine, numerous Instagram makeup tutorials and pictures tend to look like all those ladies are clones of one woman. And that is why my latest makeup experiments are more on the 'weird' side – I love doing something unusual and even obscure. Aren't we supposed to be different and beautiful in our own unique way?
Understanding this simple verity was a good reason for me to try out wearing an Instagram face for a whole week. That's why I want to challenge every one of you, who is reading this blog post, to try out this beauty challenge yourself and wear a full face of Instagram makeup for a whole week. Don't forget to share your experience and pictures of makeup looks with your readers. Until next time, lovelies!
Lots of love,
Liz
