Maybe it’s a bit of a weird title for a post on a style and beauty blog but for the most part, I really hate beauty trends.

Hmm....what color should I paint my face this month??

Sure, I write about beauty trends for magazines, online and for my blog too. But, there’s an extent and there always has been.

For the most part, beauty “trends” are somewhat stagnant. No matter what color is “in” this season, neutral shades on the eyes, a pretty lip and soft overall look will NEVER go out of style. Maybe you want to embrace corals or pinks or purples for “what’s in” but most of us don’t cycle out our beauty loot every few months to only sport the latest hot color. It isn’t practical. And unless you’re in the pages of a magazine, the trendy colors hardly ever look good in real life.

Let’s look at bushy eyebrows, for example, one of the latest beauty trends. Unruly, unkempt grown-out eyebrows have been popularized by models like Arizona Muse on fashion magazine covers. In real life, however, it takes a certain look, a certain face shape, a certain “je ne sais quoi” to actually pull this off without looking like you’re growing a small bush on your forehead.

This is how you pull off a thick, natural brow

Take, Leighton Meester, for example. I can’t tell you how often I’ve screamed at the TV while watching Gossip Girl in efforts to tell her that she’s in desperate need of an eyebrow wax. It looks terrible. And even though she’s an actress and on the cover of magazines, it’s one look that she really can’t pull off.

Leighton meester with soft, pretty brows and now her bushy, unruly mess. Get a wax, girl!

Why the rant? I was reading this article in the New York Times about how rolling out of bed is the “new” beauty look.

First, it’s hardly new. Looking like garbage is a trend that’s been circulating forever. Don’t pretend to forget the days of junky boyfriend jeans, bedhead hair and purposely wrinkled clothing. Hundred-dollar jeans with strategic tears and holes all over them? There’s a reason our parents called us “nuts” to want such a thing.

Don't lie, you paid for distressed designer denim, too.

In the article, Director of Makeup Artistry for MAC Cosmetics, Terry Barber, says the look is “coming home from the party” not “going out to the party.”

That’s somewhat fair. It’s never stylish to look “too” perfect. It’s the same reason you no longer match your clutch to your belt to your shoes and the same reason celebrities hit the red carpet in free-flowing hair and purposefully messy locks: you never want to look like you’re trying too hard.

But doesn’t the line need to be drawn somewhere? Are we really going out makeup-free and buying products to make our hair look “bedhead chic”?

Pancake makeup is long gone. If you have the skin for it, sure you can ditch the foundation (I do it daily, actually). But telling women to leave the mascara at home is downright dumb. It’s one item to never leave the house without as most of us don’t even look alive without it. And for any working woman, it’s hardly professional to show up to the office without a smidge of makeup on your face or looking like you’ve been up all night partying your brains out.

Trendy or not, it isn't cute (or professional) to run around sans mascara

The rest of the article tells us to ditch the smoky eye look this season and try metallics instead. Oh and in case you do swap out your colors for the latest trends, you’ll want to pick up some mauves for spring and aquas and grey for the summer.

Tell me, are you a slave to beauty trends or do you feel the same way?

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