Creating a uniquely bold makeup look distinct from natural and matching styles is a process that requires some skills but mostly confidence in one’s self. Even if someone has this confidence, the question of whether others might react in a negative way could still be in the back of their minds. But is this concept actually true, or just all in our heads? We decided to challenge ourselves by wearing a different bold makeup look during a regular Monday through Friday school week to see if these out of the ordinary looks garnered any reactions or even none at all.
Products Used: L’Oreal Paris True Match Super-Blendable blush in N3-4 Innocent Flush and NARS Blush in Orgasm (real talk – who even names these shades?). I started out by sweeping the peach L’Oreal blush along the high points of my cheekbones, and then layered the shimmery pink NARS shade on top of the other blush and blended it slightly into the apples of my cheeks.
Reactions: Aside from a few second glances here and there on crowded buses, I was surprisingly underwhelmed at the lack of responses this look received. No one in my classes really reacted, so maybe it wasn’t nearly as intense as I had initially thought. This look turned out to be way more difficult to execute than I anticipated, but not because of actually applying the blush with a heavy hand but rather due to the fact that it did not show up in most of the pictures I tried to take. That being said, I ended up liking the look more throughout the day and might even start to use it with the color being a little less bright from time to time.
Products Used: The Saem Saemmul blushes in RD02 and RD03. I applied the RD02 first which is a lighter shade, then used RD03 to build up intensity over it, focusing the product near the side of my face and along my cheekbones and temples.
Reactions: Someone looked intently at me as I was crossing the street and the guy sitting next to me in class kept turning to look at me. The blush made me look very flushed so I must’ve looked very red as if I was overheating or something.
Products Used: Sephora Hysterical N°11. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the product is still available, except for on eBay. However, I believe it is similar to Passionate N°23. I started by brushing the color on the apples of my checks, then sweeping it out over my cheekbones. I layered it until I felt it was bold. This shade also has some glitter in it which really adds a nice sparkle to the look.
Reactions: I didn’t get too many looks or questions while going about my day. However, I did get several at the library late a night. This may be because the basement of the Douglass Library is cold, so me looking warm would have stood out.
Products Used: Pixi Endless Brow Gel Pen in the shade light. I naturally have some freckles on my face, but the Fenty Beauty foundation I wear typically covers them up. Instead of dotting the faux freckles on in a specific pattern, I decided to draw over my real freckles and add a few extra in areas that looked sparse such as my cheeks. The Pixi brow pen was very pigmented so I only need to apply a small amount of pressure when dotting on the freckles.
Reactions: This was an odd day in the sense that one of my classes was canceled and the other I had an exam in, so there was unfortunately not much of an opportunity for this look to get many reactions. Although I don’t believe it would have even if this had been a regular day of classes. Since I opted to enhance the freckles that were mostly already on my face with the faux ones, this look may not have been drastic enough to garner any sort of reaction. But I did learn that I could cover up blemishes by turning them into freckles, and for that I’m still gonna call this day a win.
Products Used: Nyx Liquid Suede cream lipstick in Downtown Beauty, the shade Dust in the Morphe 3502 eye palette, Real Techniques sponge and a toothpick. I used a toothpick to dot on the cream lipstick to create small dots throughout my face. I used the Real Techniques sponge to tap on the dots a few seconds after applying them to make them appear softer and not as pigmented for a look that is more natural. Then, I took a face brush and dipped it into the Dust shade and applied it lightly to where I placed to freckles to give a sun-kissed look. I went over any areas that the freckles might’ve wiped away as I applied the eyeshadow with lipstick again.
Reactions: The reactions I got were mostly from friends who are used to seeing me and immediately noticed the difference in my appearance. They all complimented me saying my makeup looked good and that it came out natural.
Products Used: Instant Lift Brow Pencil in Taupe. For this look, I dotted the brow pencil along my cheekbones, nose, and then a little on my chin and forehead. Afterward, I blended in the freckles with one of my makeup brushes so they had a more natural look. I then repeated these two steps. I made sure to make some darker so there would be some natural variation.
Reactions: While this wasn’t a look that got me stares on the bus, my friends and family did notice. It just so happened on this day that I got lunch with my dad, who was in shock he hadn’t noticed my freckles before. So I felt that I had succeeded in making the faux freckles look natural.
Products Used: Tarte Clay Play Face Shaping Palette shades Sand, Ember, Terracotta, and Solstice as well as the bright blue shade from an NYX 5 Color Shadow palette and bareMinerals Mineral Eyeshadow Powder in the shade Light Show, which is similar to their current Cultured Pearl. I could not find this NYX palette selling anywhere online, but the shade I used is similar to their Hot Singles Eyeshadow in the shade Asphyxiation. I started out by applying Sand all over the eye as a base and then blended Ember slightly above my natural crease to create the illusion of a larger lid. I used the palette’s warm bronzing shade Terracotta to add intensity to the outer edges of the crease and give the look a slightly burnt orange tint. Then I pressed the blue shade onto my lid, which turned out to be more of a royal than the sapphire it looked like in the palette. I went back in with Ember to blend it all out and then swept Solstice around the entire lid to clean up the edges. Lastly, I applied the bareMinerals shade to highlight the inner corners.
Reactions: The only direct comment I received about the look all day was from our Senior Editor Hannah Javed, who complimented my overall makeup but also knew that I was working on this article at the time (though not the bright eyeshadow specifically). Nothing out of the ordinary happened during my classes throughout the day, but I noticed a few people staring at me for longer than normal when I was walking down College Avenue to go to class. Overall I really enjoyed wearing this look, and will definitely try to recreate it with other bold shades on the lid in the future.
Products Used: All the eyeshadows were from the Urban Decay Electric Palette. I used Savage, a bright hot pink as the first color placed right under my brows and blended out. I wanted to add a transition shade to blend the purple and pink together seamlessly so I used Chaos which is a cobalt blue because there is no matte purple shade so I figured the blue would blend with the pink and create a purple color. Then, I applied Urban, a beautiful purple with multicolor shimmers that reflect blue and pink in the center of my lid. For eyeliner, I used the Fenty Beauty Flyliner to create a simple wing.
Reactions: I got no comments besides my friends, which is also has to do I was not out much because I only had one class and while at work, no one came in the morning.
Products Used: Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Solstice. I decided to only use this eyeshadow since it is a duotone and is pretty bold on its own. I brushed the color on strongly on my lids and a little in the crease. Depending on the light Solstice changes from red/pink to blue, purple, and hints of gold.
Reactions: I wear this eyeshadow a lot in the summer, but never apply this bold. I ended up getting a lot of compliments from my friends and acquaintances during the day.
Products Used: L’Oreal Liner Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Black Mica 610 and Rimmel London Colour Precise Eyeliner in 002 Blue. I traced the edge of my upper lash line with the L’Oreal liner, which is by far my favorite liquid eyeliner I have ever come across because it doesn’t smudge throughout the day or crack/clump off as some liquids tend to do, is very long lasting and affordably priced. I drew out the wing for the bottom line, and then still using the black drew on a second wing parallel to the first at the crease of my eyelid. I left the two black lines unconnected while I used the blue Rimmel London liner to fill in the space and traced it above the bottom black line on my lid. I then connected the black lines at the wing and finished drawing the second line in black above the blue on my lid to complete the look.
Reactions: While again no one in my class had any reactions to this look, several people definitely took notice. My friend Jennifer Haber, a senior here at Rutgers, complimented the makeup look, when we met up for lunch, as well as my roommate junior Helena Sukharenko, who additionally mentioned that the eyeliner was much brighter than how I normally wear it. Also at our club meeting that night, Hannah stated that she noticed how I had been matching my outfits to some of my makeup looks. As for the look itself I had fun playing around with different styles of eyeliner, but I don’t think I would necessarily do it on this day again since I had to wake up early for class.
Products Used: Fenty Beauty Flyliner and Lime Crime Diamond Crusher in Lit. I first applied the black eyeliner. Once it dried, I used a small brush to apply the liquid lipstick on top of it.
Reactions: I had a club member tell me she loved the sparkle for the look and immediately asked what product I was using. I had someone else compliment the look and told me how they liked that it was eye-catching but not over the top.
Products Used: Urban Decay Primer Potion and Elf Expert Liquid Liner. First, I applied the primer potion since I really didn’t want anything smudging or getting messed up during the day. The eyeliner was inspired by this article. I love winging my eyeliner and felt like this was a really fun interpretation. When the applying the eyeliner I followed the steps in the article and started with a vertical line towards the end of my eyelids. I then drew the horizontal line connected to the top of the vertical, I drew this line out to the end of my eyebrows. My eye shape is a little different from the author so instead of a triangle my version was a bit more like a trapezoid, but I was still really happy with how it turned out. Instead of one last line to connect the first two, I used two more.
Reactions: This was my most noticed look and my favorite. I got compliments from friends, classmates, and coworkers. People at our Her Campus meeting that night also seemed to enjoy this look. I also caught the attention of other people on my buses during the day.
Products Used: Colourpop Lippie Pencil in the shade Bichette, ULTA Matte Lip Cream in Stirring, and bareMinerals Statement Matte Liquid Lipstick in Naughty. I saw this post on my Pinterest feed shortly after we discussed which looks we creating during the week, and instantly became obsessed it. To try and recreate it, I first lined and filled in my bottom lip with the Colourpop lip liner as well as the corners and bottom part of my upper lip but left the top section unlined. I then applied ULTA’s burgundy red all over the bottom lip. Next, I applied the bareMinerals brick red shade to the top lip and used a Q-tip to blot the color in order to make it lighter and more distinct from the shade on my bottom lip. Lastly, I again applied the bareMinerals shade to the bottom part of my top lip and used a Q-tip to blend that with the ULTA shade to try and create a slight ombre effect.
Reactions: I only had one class today and did not really receive any reactions to the look all day, whether I was walking around campus or sitting outside by the student center doing work. However, I also opted for a two-tone lip that was on the subtler side. I had been eagerly waiting to wear a bold lipstick look such as this all week and this day also felt like the first day of fall so a deep red lipstick definitely fit my mood. And realizing that no one really reacted to wearing two different shades might be enough to push me to finally try out the electric blue NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick that I love but have been too afraid to actually wear much.
Products Used: I first applied a matte lipstick, Clio Mad for Matte in the shade Bitten Mulbery similar to the color of the liquid lipstick as a base for it to appear less streaky on my top lip, leaving the corners of my mouth and center of my lip. Then I used the Etude House Matte Chic Lip Laquer in RD302 on top of where I place the lipstick. Before that dried near the corners I took some of the IT’S SKIN Life Color Lip Crush Matte in #09 Show Me What You Got on a q-tip and blended the two together at the corners of my mouth. Then I placed the color in the center of my top lip and all over my bottom lip.
Reactions: A friend of mine said she loved my lip color and how it was two different shades then verified that I meant to do two shades. I also a “Yasssss” from a coworker! Other than that, though, no one paid much attention.
Products Used: Medieval by Lipstick Queen. For my top lip, I just applied some regular old lip balm so that it looked a little shiny and smooth. For my bottom lip, I used Medieval which I absolutely love (maybe it’s because I’m a Medieval Studies Major). It’s a really flattering sheer red lipstick, that compared to my natural lip color really makes my bottom lip stand out.
Reactions: On Fridays, I don’t have class and only have work, so I didn’t receive any comments. I did get some looks on the bus but nothing much more than that.
Cassidy: Each of these looks were different from how I typically wear my makeup during a school week, and I loved how they allowed me to switch up my routine. The bright eyeshadow and bold blush days, in particular, brought me the most out of my comfort zone since I tend to stick to neutral shades on the eyes and cheeks and only use a bold color for lipstick. The faux freckles were also really interesting to try out since before this week I had never attempted to draw them on with an eyebrow pencil before. I really enjoyed creating looks for the last two days, since coming up with different ways to draw on eyeliner and wearing a bold lipstick are two makeup looks that I used to play around with back in high school but stopped doing as much within the past three years. One of the main reasons why I wanted to create this article was to see if people really would have any reactions to these bold looks or whether that construct was just all in my head. I was surprised that these looks did not receive many reactions, but even more so that I felt increasingly more confident in my looks throughout the week. This challenge helped teach me that makeup is something that is unique to each person, and that someone should wear as much or as little as they feel like on any given day regardless of what they perceive others’ opinions to be, because at the end of the day all that really matters is your own opinions of yourself.
Shannon: For most of the looks, such as the fake freckles and two-tone lipsticks, I never tried them before. It was fun and interesting to play around with such looks and I think they came out pretty well. I definitely would love to play around with makeup and do more experimental looks such as these. Additionally, I did not get a lot of funny looks or side glances from people. I was really self-conscious about the freckles because it was my first time doing something like that and didn’t want to get strange looks from people. However, as I went about my day, I realized no one paid much attention and any doubts were only in my head. I think this just goes to show people don’t really care how you look, so as long as you enjoy the look and show it off with confidence, why not try something new with makeup?
Wynne: In high school, I used to do a full face of makeup every morning. Now, most mornings I roll out of bed, wash my face, put some moisturizer on, and maybe a tad bit of makeup. It was really interesting for me to return to something I used to do for years, and I ended up having so much fun with it. At the beginning of the week, I was nervous about how others would view me, and what they would think of the different looks. But as the week went on I realized that I didn’t really care what others thought, and believed that it was really about whether or not I was having fun and enjoying the looks. I developed an amazing sense calm and collection when going about my day. I learned more about my self during the week and ended up having a lot of fun trying new looks. I will definitely try new ideas and looks with makeup in the future.