September 5, 2023 |
People have been embellishing their faces since the beginning of time. Ancient scarification was used across African and Indigenous tribes, dating all the way back to 8000 BCE. Hindus began wearing bindis as a decorative mark to symbolize the third eye chakra in the third century. In Mexico, people have been decorating their faces with artfully skilled designs to celebrate Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) for millennia. And now, in 2023? Well, Gen Z are embellishing their brows with pearls, gems and studs; adorning their cheeks with bows and ribbons; and turning to pastel plasters to beautify their noses. Oh, how the times change…
Through the last decade we’ve seen bleached brows, soap brows and ‘90s skinny brows return, but the latest trend? Embellished brows. Doja Cat decided to lose the brows for futuristic silver studs when rocking up to the Givenchy SS23 show during Paris Fashion Week. Rita Ora then took the embellished brow baton by parading around her delicately gemmed brows for a dainty take on the cover of GQ. In April, Chlöe Bailey showed off her ethereal silver hoop brows in a fantastical fashion on Instagram, oozing all things otherworldly.
From left: photography courtesy of @ritaora, photography courtesy of @chloebailey, photography courtesy of @dojacat.
There are so many options for how to embellish your brows, maybe too many to choose from? But don’t get your panties in a twist just yet, because magical makeup legend, Rowi Singh, is the go-to port of call to find a look and tutorial from. Last year she launched her brand, Embellish, to – funnily enough – help you embellish your face. Through her looks she’s covered, bleached glitter brows, diamanté crown brows and gem-studded metallic brows – proving you don’t need to shave off your own brows to join in on the trend.
Photography courtesy of @rowisingh
Bows are getting all tied up in the beauty world too. The season of AW23 glorified all things bows in the name of coquette-core. The two shows that amplified the message were Simone Rocha and Sandy Liang, as both used delicate micro-bows to elevate model’s looks by dangling them down cheeks, ears and hair. Since these shows, ‘bow face’ has been trending over Pinterest and users have been turning to TikTok to flaunt their bowed-up faces. Not sure where to start with this trend? @alexandria.payton gives five simple ways of adorning your face and @saracampz has shown how she recreated the iconic Simone Rocha ‘bow tears’ look.
From left: Hair by Evanie Frausto and photography by Stolen Besos for Sandy Liang AW23, and make-up by Thomas de Kluyver for Simone Rocha AW23
While reappropriating plasters for a purpose aside from wounds isn’t all that new, it’s only just starting to dress up the beauty biz. In Japan, the Yami-Kawaii subculture (literally meaning ‘sick cute’) which emerged around 2015, brought about band-aid beauty by using pastel or patterned plasters and laying them over the nose. Now, this beauty phenomenon has made its way into the Western world: back in 2018, Gareth Pugh sent shapeshifting model Jazzelle Zanaughtti across the catwalk with half of her face completely covered in plasters – the work of makeup artist Val Garland. In 2023, MUA @charlottelooks gives a TikTok tutorial on her take at band-aid beauty and Blackpink’s Jennie Kim is a certified fan of the hacked up look. There’s even a TikTok filter that places a pink Hello Kitty band-aid over your nose in case you want a quick glimpse of how this trend would look on you. Not to mention, Alan Crocetti’s diamond encrusted white gold signature Nose Plaster (also available in silver and gold) is a step up in the band-aid game, coming in the form of a piece of face jewellery which can be moulded to sit on the bridge of your nose.
From left: photography courtesy of @uglyworldwide for Gareth Pugh, photography courtesy of @alancrocetti, photography courtesy of @jennierubyjane, and photography courtesy of @uglyworldwide
If there’s ever been a time to be more experimental with makeup and give face décor a go, it’s now. Since humans started standing up straight, embellishing the face has been rather commonplace; now is on a crash course into the high fashion mainstream. Only the fashion powers that be knows what’s next.
Top image: photography courtesy of @uglyworldwide.
