FASHION + BEAUTY
The beauty beat
2017
THE PACE AT WHICH THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY EVOLVES JUST SEEMS TO QUICKEN YEAR UPON YEAR; no sooner are we getting used to supersonic hair straighteners ironing out our pin-straight tresses than we’ re told it’ s all about beach-ready bed hair( or something equally Californian and glossy sounding). You’ ll need to be both quick off the mark and adaptable to keep up with what’ s hot and what’ s not in the world of cosmetics, so we’ ve rounded up some of the most prominent players this year. BY POLLY HUMPHRIS
Microblading
Microblading
The biggest buzz in eyebrows since Cara Delevingne made bushy ones cool, microblading is a form of skin tattooing that places pigment under your skin with a precise, handheld tool drawn in hair-like strokes to mimic the natural hairs of your brows. Brilliant for anyone who got a bit carried away in their youth, plucking with wild abandon until their brows were spindly and overarched, microblading will give you the full, shapely brows you’ ve always wanted and lasts up to three years too.
Really( really) long hair
Luscious long locks à la the likes of Kim Kardashian( love her or not, her and her ludicrously lengthy mane are * everywhere *) and the fabulous Julianne Moore, who’ s still rocking her trademark red waves at 54, are back with a bang this year. And actually so are long bangs – eye-length fringes are the way forward, being versatile enough to pin to the side or create more height with a quiff. Whether you want a one-length blunt cut, or a bouncy feathery tumble of curls is entirely up to you, but the longer the better is this year’ s mantra.
Bling nails
Bling as in any form of stick-on jewellery, from little diamantes to pretty hefty gems, is what you need to be adorning your nails with this year. Doesn’ t matter if the nail is long, short, real or acrylic, what matters is that they’ re bejewelled – and you don’ t have to fork out a fortune on precious stones either as you can source colourful, sparkly gems from most craft shops. To achieve the look, polish your nails as normal then stick your stone in place with either nail glue for bigger bling, or topcoat for smaller. Dry, then set with more topcoat.
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