Some thoughts on local Hawaiian makeup trends

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cats & makeup Sweatshirt ??

$42

Shop Now

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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

Published by xndub

Leave a Reply