2016 Beauty Trends: Cruelty-free style Vol. 1!

So far, I’m finding 2016 to be fairly underwhelming.

From the tragic, loss of Alan Rickman who made me love his villains as much as his heros, to the trifling, like the fact that all of us here at beautyforgood.net have been dealing with various aggravating illnesses and injuries.  My computer, included.

But, now that we’re all back in the swing of things, I’m ready for things to start looking up!  Some of the beauty trends for 2016 are just the ticket, and they can all be interpreted with an eye toward the over-30-beauty 🙂

First up, blue eye shadow.  Yes, you read that right, and yes, I know what you’re thinking.  The 1960s (or, heaven forfend, the 1980s) are calling and they want their shadow back. While you’ll not spot me sporting the  fluorescent and electric blues, I do think there are blues that can be both subtle and sophisticated.  In a word, navy.

For a dramatic take, I think a navy smoky eye is a stunning alternative to black, especially on brown eyes.

For the blue in this look, I used Starry Night from the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Celebration Palette.

While I’ve found that navy can a be a bit of a challenge to find in a single shadow pan, there are some great cruelty-free options for gorgeous deep blues, from drugstore brands like Milani and ELF to the spendier  Illamasqua.

For those looking for a more subtle approach you could do just a navy liner, like I did in this look, using the Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Black Blue.

Other options for great navy liners include another from Pixi and one from ELF!

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Another trend I couldn’t be happier about is the return of glitter.  Now, you know I am a firm believer that we over 30s are quite capable of sporting some sparkle!  For those of you who want to jump on this bandwagon with me there are, for example, the gorgeous wares of Lit Cosmetics.

 

And, let us not forget my recent discovery of the Liquid Metals Eye Liners by Eye of Horus!

Again, for those looking for a more subtle effect, I think shadows that have a metallic sheen to them give a similar look, and in pressed form, are a bit easier to manage than loose glitter.  The pop of light in the navy halo smoky look above comes from Makeup Geek’s High Wire… as you may recall, I’m fairly obsessed with their whole Foiled Shadow line.

Other economical brands that offer a huge variety of hues from which to chose are ELF (yes, ELF, again) and Colour Pop!

Then we have the slightly spendier end of the spectrum.  For example, Illamasqua’s Vintage Metallix.  I’d been dying for Bibelot, and finally got it for my birthday!  And, these Trish McEvoy 24-hour Eye Shadow and Liners are probably one of my holy grail products for the 1-shadow wonder look.

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Ok, this blog is getting a bit out of hand.  Soooo, stay tuned for the near future when I reveal my other two picks for the best 2016 Beauty Trends: Cruelty-free style Vol. 2!

 

*These are only my opinions, formed through my personal experience as a consumer.  I am not a doctor, an aesthetician or a professional makeup artist.  I cannot guarantee what effect, positive or negative, these products may have on anyone else.

**All products were purchased by me from brands that, to the best of my knowledge, are cruelty-free.