Chillin’ by the pool sans makeup
After all the time I spent auditioning different makeup bags and thinking about what makeup to bring on this trip, I barely wore any makeup at all, which was kind of a big deal for me.
Things were different on my last trip to Hawaii a few years ago. I was even filling in my brows, curling my lashes and putting on tinted moisturizer and blush before going to the beach.
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This time, though? Nuh-uh. most of the time it was just copious amounts of sunscreen and a hat. and that’s about it.
I did wear makeup a few times — once to a nicer restaurant for dinner (one of those places you wear your nice muumuu and your fancy dress up slippers to, LOL!) with a friend I met on the blog (hi, Fern!), and I had some of the best food I’ve ever had in Hawaii.
So I put on some makeup that night, but I did, like, the bare minimum going-out makeup for me. Brows, MAC next to Nothing, a little concealer, a hint of powder, the BECCA X Chrissy palette on my eyes and my cheeks, mascara, a quickie coral lip, and that was about it.
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I’m definitely much more comfortable wearing less makeup than I used to be, and I feel that if I’m staying up late and I’m going to look tired anyway, or if I have dark circles, or if my skin tone looks uneven, eh…I’m fine with it. As long as I’m wearing sunscreen and a smile on my face, I’m doing OK, haha!
Poolside cuties
Even though I didn’t wear a lot of makeup myself on this trip, I still paid attention to the makeup the people around me were wearing. I “people watched” pretty hard at the beach and the pool, and I even met an MBB reader (Hi, Myrna!) at the beach. She happened to be wearing a beautiful shimmery bronze eye shadow on her lids. She also introduced me to Clio, a brand she called the Korean version of urban Decay, and I can’t wait to get on that, ASAP!
I scanned eyebrows SO hard on this trip because of a local phenomenon El Hub, who was born and raised in Hawaii, calls, “Hawaii eyebrows.” many local ladies rock super thin ’90s-style brows, and I did notice a little of that going on, but I also noticed more people than ever sporting full brows at the beach and at local places like the Foodland (went for some ahi poke and a chocolate haupia pie) and Long’s (the best place to get Kona coffee, macadamia nuts, crack seed, kaki mochi and local souvenirs).
I mean, most people still weren’t rocking Instagram brows or anything, but overall, it did seem like the local style was toward fuller brows than the pencil thin brows I remember.
Time for a quick dip? Sure, why not!
Some things haven’t changed. Like, I saw many local ladies wearing stacks of Hawaiian bracelets, lots of gold jewelry/bling, and wearing a beautiful hibiscus or plumeria flower behind one ear. I saw a lot of that happening, too. I also saw lots of lovely, long hair pulled up into a high ponytail or bun. Didn’t see a lot of local braid action, though.
OH! — and I don’t remember seeing quite as much crisp black cat liner (both thin and thick varieties) on the upper lash line as I saw on this trip. It was generally crisp without any smokiness on the edges or the wings. and I saw very few smoked-out, smudgy lower lash lines or jet black liner on upper and lower water lines, too.
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Do you pay attention to local style when you travel? What are some of the places that have the most memorable makeup styles you’ve seen?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
