money I Tried A 2012 Makeup Tutorial Vs. A 2021 One And Decided Which Trends Can Stay And Which Can Go
Hello! I'm Hannah, and I used to loooooveee makeup.
Because I haven't worn much makeup in a while, I thought it would be fun to check in on the current makeup trends — and also throw it back to what they used to be. Now, back in the day, I used to follow juicystar07's makeup tutorials.
I can't find the exact tutorial I used, but it featured the Too Faced Natural Eyes Eyeshadow Palette, though I remember having a lot more glitter.
But because I feel that this was such a viral makeup video at the time, for this post I'm going to go with Jaclyn Hill's iconic smoky eye video from 2012.
So Jaclyn starts with her eyes, which is already VERY retro to me. I don't know why makeup gurus always started with their eyes. I feel like once you put foundation on, that just ruins your eye makeup. So...I did cheat and put foundation on first because I don't hate myself. But then I put concealer on my eyes, as Jaclyn did!
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
I'm honestly shocked she didn't use Urban Decay's primer potion. I just used Maybelline's instant Age Rewind Eraser concealer — I'm not old, I'm just broke.
Next, Jaclyn put tape on the sides of her eyes to help her create the cat eye, which was also very retro, but hey, I'm here for anything that makes my job easier.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
Pro tip: Don't let too much of the tape go into your under eyelid as you're putting it on. I did, and it kept almost poking me in the eye. Also, be sure to follow her tip of putting the tape on your hand first so it's not too sticky.
She then created a cat eye with gray eyeshadow...
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
...blended it with MAC's Wedge (TBT), went over the gray with black eyeshadow, and just blended the heck out of that over the outer corner of the eye and into the crease.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
I didn't have Wedge, so I just used a grayish-brown shadow. No shade, but I never thought MAC was much better than drugstore shadow anyways...okay, fine, that's a little bit of shade.
Here's what my eyes looked like after that.
Apologies for the awkward screenshot; it's from a video.
I really don't know the point of this, but Jaclyn then put black shadow on as if it were liner, then put gel liner over it. I don't own gel liner, since it's not 2012, so I just used a pencil that had about the same consistency.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
Next, I took the tape off, which I have to say was pretty damn satisfying.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
Jaclyn then moves onto her lower lids. Now, this was the part I was most nervous about, because she immediately goes into her waterline, which I have not done in a decade.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
She did it kind of messily, then blended it out with a brush under her eyes. At this point I'm feeling like Miley Cyrus in that pic. You know the one I'm talking about.
No baking or heavy contour here, folks — Jaclyn slathered on under-eye concealer, did a light powder contour and blush, then put on some nude lipstick.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
And I mean NUDE nude. TBH, it doesn't look great on her, and it definitely didn't look good on me.
Next come the brows. I was a bit worried that she'd either leave them alone or make them aggressively shaped, based on my memory of past trends, but she actually just filled them in with a little bit of powder, which was fine by me. She then put on false lashes. And here is the final look!
Is it as good as Jaclyn's? Absolutely not. Is this 100% something I would've worn in high school when I wanted to feel edgy? Yep.
And here's me looking down so you can see how badly I blended!
I thought I had blended well, but I soon realized I had not.
On to 2021: I decided to go with this viral video from Ashley Quiroz because it used trends I've seen on TikTok and felt like the most representative viral makeup video of this year.
Ashley started out with foundation — thank god — then concealer and then a brightening concealer. She applied it in an interesting way, too: in a little triangle by the inner corners of her eyes, and then below where a cat eye would be on her outer eye.
I followed suit, but to be honest, after I blended it, I felt that it wasn't that different from just putting concealer in a circle. She also put concealer on her smile lines, which I did too.
Sorry I look like a serial killer here. Again, I'm screenshotting from a video.
She then got going with the cream contour, which I have legitimately never used and had to buy for this post. She actually recommended putting the contour basically on your cheek rather than below, and I have to say, I liked the way this looked!
I am now learning that I look like a serial killer for the entirety of my makeup routine.
Here is how I looked before I blended the contour. I felt like a clown.
On to brows! Now, I have had a loooooong brow journey (see below)...and my brows are now microbladed, so I couldn't really do much here cuz there's not much hair to work with. But I went ahead and put on some clear brow gel and a tiny bit of colored gel.
I wish my brows looked as good as hers, but alas, it is not meant to be. I'm just glad I finally look like I have brows.
Ashley then finally gets started on her eyes, creating a cat-eye liner from the center of her eye out with a dark-brown pencil. She also went into the inner corners and kind of continued the line.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
I used a brow pencil instead of the eye pencil she used, and looking back, I wish I'd had something with a bit more pigment. But I blended some shadow over it and it came out fine.
I skipped lashes because I wanted to do them last and went on to lips. Ashley lined/contoured below and above her lips, which is a tip I've used before, then filled them in with some gloss. I didn't have colored gloss, so I settled for some lipstick, then clear gloss.
Hannah Marder / BuzzFeed
I liked the contour/liner under the lips, but not so much on the top. As for lip gloss — I haven't worn it in years, and honestly? I kind of loved it!
Last came mascara and lashes* — and here's the final look!
*I was wary of lashes after literally 30 seconds of wearing the ones in the last look made me uncomfortable — but I was pleasantly surprised by Ashley's technique! Basically, she cut them in half and then put the lashes just on the outer corners of her eyes. This didn't bother my eyes nearly as much, and I loved the way it looked. I have really long lashes, but my eyes are kind of deep set, and it can be hard to create that cat-eye look. This made it so my lashes seemed to fan out into cat eyes more, and it didn't even look as if I was wearing false lashes.
And that's it, folks! Here are my final thoughts:
NBC
It's interesting to see how much we've stuck to cat eyes over the years — I wonder if that will ever change. We also seem to be moving more and more away from eyeshadow, and especially smoky eyes. I actually love shadow, and I didn't hate this smoky eye look! I think if I had updated it more and left eyeliner out of the waterline, worn a darker nude lip, and gone with just the half false lash, it would've looked much better. As for brows...I feel like that trend has changed so much over the last decade, but honestly, I kind of miss the simplicity of 2012 brows. Maybe that's just because I can't achieve 2021 brows, though. And lastly, I loved that the newer routine was quicker and more natural looking.
