What Are Some the Most Embarrassing Beauty Trends of the Past?

Everyone loves to feel hip, trendy, and in with the "in-crowd" when it comes to fashion and beauty. But where do these trends start? Usually, a celebrity appears on the cover of a magazine or the red carpet with a head-turning new look that quickly becomes all the rage. Sometimes new looks appear on the runways as the fashion industry establishes what the latest craze will be. Soon after, you start seeing that look everywhere. People follow trends to fit in, no matter how odd they are. But then they are left with embarrassing photos when the trend fades away.

Body Glitter

This beauty trend was made famous by the likes of pop singers like Britney Spears. It was not only a trend in the 90s but also the 00s with small glitter tubes you could keep right in your purse for an extra dash of sparkle whenever you might need it while on the go. There's no telling if this trend will make a comeback in the future with a show called "Shimmer and Shine" popular among young kids right now. For some, you can never have too much glitter.

Dark Lipliner

Lipliner was sparsely used in the 60s and 70s, but it came back with a vengeance in the late 80s and 90s. Naomi Campbell was the first to sport the look, and it spread like wildfire. Who wouldn't want to look like Naomi Campbell? Unfortunately, only Naomi Campbell could look like Naomi Campbell. Many of the followers of that trend probably aren't too proud of any photos they have lying around that show how trendy they thought they were being.

Blue Eyeshadow

Although blue eyeshadow seems to reappear every decade in one form or another, none will be ever as embarrassing as the chalky-blue eye shadow of the 70s. It was not a flattering look on anyone, celebrity or not. To make matters worse, chalky-blue eye shadow was often paired with another embarrassing eye shadow trend to make your walks down memory lane as cringe-worthy as possible.

Eyeshadow To The Brow

This trend involved taking the main color of your eyeshadow from the lid up to the brow in one solid, monochrome swoop. This look especially became popular in the 80s, where excess was the name of the game in everything from finances to fashion. Eyeshadow in the 80s didn't just enhance your eyes; they overpowered them. Now just imagine if that swoop was chalky blue. You can't have too much of a good thing, right? Well, yes, it appears that you can.

Too Much Blush

Unsurprisingly, wearing too much blush was another trend from the 80s. And it wasn't just the brown contouring blush we see today; it was red, pink, or some variation of a tone representative of an exaggerated literal definition of the word "blush." Imagine looking back on photos and feeling embarrassed that you look so embarrassed in the photo that you blushed a lot!

Too Much Make-up

It's bad enough when you have too much blush, eyeshadow, or lipstick alone, but in the 80s, it was a trend to have too much of all three at once. Our modern approach is to emphasize one feature, either eyes or lips, and downplay the other. But in the 80s, women emphasized everything by putting heavy make-up on eyes, lips, and cheeks almost to the point of looking like they were wearing clown make-up.

Tadpole Eyebrows

Tadpole eyebrows get their name from the shape being reminiscent of, you guessed it, a tadpole. A small, round patch of the eyebrow was left near the inner corners, and the rest of the eyebrow was plucked away until all that was left was a very thin tail along the eyebrow ridge. This trend didn't last long, probably because people took photos and everyone saw how they looked.

Pencil-Thin Eyebrows

Pencil-thin eyebrows can be found on and off for decades dating back to the 20s. Celebrities of the 20s, 30s, and 40s sported variations of this look by down-turning the outer or inner corners of their eyebrows. Despite the shape, eyebrows were always unnaturally thin and over-plucked. This trend has come and gone since then, with Rhianna seeming to try to get the trend started again recently. Eyebrow trends tend to go from thick to thin, but a super-thin, barely-there eyebrow looks so unnatural that anyone seeing a photo of themselves with eyebrows that thin would likely be glad the trend doesn't stay for long.

Big Hair

The eighties can be called the decade of big hair. It didn't matter if you were a celebrity, lead singer of a glam rock band, or a school teacher; everybody had big hair. Hair was permed, teased, and hair-sprayed to stand extra tall and demand attention. You can easily identify photos from the 80s because of the big hair. Thankfully, this look went out of fashion, but you never know when it might come back. In the meantime, you might feel a little embarrassed if you found a photo of yourself with big hair from this period, even though it was trendy at the time.

The Mullet

The mullet is far and away the number one embarrassing beauty trend of any decade. It's embarrassing enough on men, but women started wearing this hairstyle as well in the 80s. This look is not only dated but just all-around unflattering. Some women wore short, spiky mullets and some very long in the back, but nobody looked good with one.