NOCTILUCA February 2017

CULTURE

Appleton, Wisconsin February 2017 Volume XXII

Issue IV Page 10

Things have changed be-

cause of the Internet, from

the way we listen to music,

to the way we share memo-

ries, to the way we do our

homework. But those are

the tip of the iceberg when

you look at the miniscule

things in our life that will be

forever different because of

this digital age.

Makeup has never been

more easily accessible and

widely understood than it

is right now. There are four

vital parts of the makeup

industry that need to be un-

derstood in order to fully

grasp the shift being wit-

nessed pertaining to the

public’s consumption and

view of makeup: YouTube,

Twitter, Instagram, and the

drag community. Guessing

the first three subjects’ play

in the makeup industry may

be easy, but drag culture has

more to do with makeup to-

day than anything else; peo-

ple of the drag community

are just not given enough

credit.

The initial change to

makeup culture that acted

as the catalyst for the easi-

ly-accessible, easily-under-

stood makeup trend was the

invention of YouTube. For

years now, viewers have

had instant and free access

to beauty tutorials, result-

ing in an entire generation

of people trained in the

makeup techniques used,

and then, taught by profes-

sionals.

Now that YouTube has

gathered a community of

beauty gurus such as Mi-

chelle Phan and Bethany

Mota, looks and tech-

niques have rapidly become

streamlined. Certain prod-

ucts have grown from noth-

ing to a necessity within a

few years’ time because of

the promotion companies

and goods received through

videos and tutorials. Mi-

chelle Phan was one of the

first makeup icons of You-

Tube, starting with simple

videos about Halloween

looks and everyday makeup

application from within her

own home.

After ten years of building

her beauty empire, Phan has

over 8.7 million subscrib-

ers and has started her own

makeup company, Ipsy,

which is based around the

idea of sharing new makeup

with customers consistently.

Each person who sub-

scribes to Ipsy gets a

monthly package with five

personalized makeup prod-

ucts picked through a ques-

tionnaire they receive at the

beginning of their subscrip-

tion. The entire business is

all made possible by Phan’s

ability to freely build her

beauty empire and reach

millions of people over the

Internet, particularly via

YouTube. She, and make-

up bloggers like her, em-

phasized and ingrained in

young adults and teens both

the importance of perfecting

techniques and owning cer-

tain products. They equated

this consumerism with mas-

tering makeup itself, shift-

ing the way our society ap-

proaches makeup today.

Social media and it’s ever-

growing hand in the fash-

ion industry has taken the

consumeristic, streamlined

mentality of the makeup

community on YouTube

and obtained an even larger

audience through Instagram

and Twitter. Each look hosts

the signature “Instagram

brow” which is identified by

the color and solidity of the

eyebrow increasing from

the center of the face out-

ward. Though the color pal-

ette and eyeshadow is often

changed up, the look con-

forms to a certain formula

specific to the social media

platforms: heavy contour-

ing, smokey eyes, sharp

winged eyeliner, shimmer-

ing highlight, and a clean

but over-exaggerated brow.

This formula is exhibited

by not only beauty bloggers

but also by many influential

celebrities: Kylie Jenner,

Lilly Collins, and Zendaya,

to name a few. Kylie Jenner

brought relevancy to the In-

stagram formula and forced

mainstream fashion outlets

to acknowledge the trend.

Though Kylie Jenner

brought the look to themain-

stream media, she didn’t

create it; drag queens did.

Drag stars have been using

techniques such as the fade-

in eyebrow for decades, and

only in the past few years

have women started using

it as their own. Trends such

as extreme contouring are

used by drag artists to cre-

ate the illusion of an exag-

gerated, heightened woman.

The contouring of the face

to achieve an impression of

high cheekbones, thin noses,

and intensely light under-

eyes is a technique that is

needed to transform men’s

facial features into softer,

feminine ones. Smokey and

acute eyeshadow cut off by

extremely distinct liquid

eyeliner exaggerating the

cheekbone even more has

been used in drag for many

years.

With the Internet available

at every turn, these tech-

niques have been shared

over and over, and it’s about

time the makeup world ac-

knowledges the ingenuity

of drag culture. Though

some may argue that these

techniques need to be dilut-

ed on a feminine face, or in

extreme cases, claimed the

style should be completely

eradicated, they cannot ar-

gue that drag artists and the

Internet have both opened

up an era of self expression

unlike any other.

By Sophie Plzak

Millennials and the changing face of makeup

Modern makeup

artists influenced

by Internet and

drag community

Senior Addisyn Kohlbeck exemplifies the heightened interest

and complexity in the makeup styles of modern teens.

Photo by

Maddy Schilling

What’s on your playlist?

Sophomore

Taylor Strauch

•“Something about You”-

Majid Jordan

•“Alaska”-Maggie Rogers

•“La Mordidita”-Ricky

Martin

•“Weight in Gold”-Gallant

Junior

Caleb Sites

•“Both”-Gucci Mane and

Drake

•“Maybe”-Social Club

Misfits

•“Too Cold”-Triplee

•“24K Magic”-Bruno Mars

Senior

Abbey DesRochers

•“The Weight of Lies”

-Avett Brothers

•“Agape”-Bear’s Den

•“In the Long Run”-The

Staves

•“These Days are

Numbered”-The Head and

the Heart

By Maddy Schilling

Staff

Mr. Eastman

•“The Monkey and the

Engineer”-Grateful Dead

•“Hold On”-Wilson Phillips

•“Dancing Nancies”-Dave

Matthews Band

•“Alberta (acoustic ver-

sion)”- Eric Clapton

Freshman

Nick Rodriguez

•“Take Your Time”-Sam

Hunt

•“Baby”-Justin Bieber

•“Chains”-Nick Jonas

•“I Got a Feeling”-Black

Eyed Peas