Ahhh 15, the strange, undefined time before you hit 16 (and feel slightly more adult as you’re now officially able buy a lottery ticket and apply for a provisional...) but feel older than the more tender age of 14. Sleepovers, movie marathons and prank calling boys were what weekends were made of. Add to that a crazy mix of hormones and your first baby steps into the beauty sphere... What a time! To celebrate Cult Beauty turning 15, we caught up with our content team and asked them about their make up mishaps, and what they’d say to their 15-year-old make up bags...
Learn To Blend That Blush!
"With my first foray into make up being dabbing some colour to my cheeks, it became apparent to me that I needed to make sure everyone knew how much I loved make up, and just how good I was at applying it... By that I mean I must apply as much blush as possible and powdery blushes from Barry M really weren’t going to cut it.. so, I said hello to lipstick smeared over cheeks and liiiightly blended.... safe to say I looked more clown than chic. So, 15-year-old Rina, kudos for thinking of multi-tasking beauty products, but this time less really is more!" - Rina, Junior SEO Copywriter
Leave Your Lashes Alone
"Before fake eyelashes and eyelash extensions became the ‘it’ thing, to achieve thick, long lashes, we (I say we, because I definitely wasn’t alone) had to make-do with the humble mascara — one with a thick, round brush to coat lashes in as much product as possible. The result? Deliberately spidery, stuck-together lashes that not only made it difficult to blink but was impossible to wipe off come nighttime. Now I know better... and three coats of my favourite mascara is more than enough!" - Alice, Senior Copywriter
Lip Liner Is Your Friend, Not Your Enemy!
"Long before the phenomenon of nude lip glosses, glazes and lacquers, my heart (and beauty bag) yearned for dark matte lipsticks. From eggplant purples to deep reds, my fifteen-year-old self was somewhat adventurous. One might assume that I had an endless supply of lip liners at my disposal, right? Wrong. What an interesting time to have undefined lips. If I could travel back in time to gift myself the Charlotte TilburyLip Cheat in ‘Pillow Talk Intense’, I would."- Precious, Junior Copywriter
Ditch The Dazzle Dust
"My devotion to Dazzle Dust eyeshadows knew no bounds — I bought a new shade every fortnight with my pocket money (for the princely sum of £2.95) and used it indiscriminately. Lime green with gold glitter, peacock blue with purple shimmer, duochrome pink and champagne... all applied from lash to brow bone with impressive, panda-esque effect. I was — and remain — a magpie for anything bold and a little too trop, but I’ve thankfully learned a few skills about blending (and fallout) — my cheeks are no longer continually sprinkled with sparkle and I'm able to dodge manifesting a Christmas tree (I hope)." - Verity, Content Editor
Keep The Concealer For Your Complexion...Not Lips!
"While everyone loves a multi-tasking product, there are some things that should be left to do what they say on the tin. A case in point? Concealer. Rather than hiding my teenage spots, I decided to blend in my lips. Let’s just say the overly bronzed complexion and ghost-like lips weren’t the best fit. Nude lipsticks are now my go-to and I haven’t touched a concealer lip since, well, I was 15!" - Trifonia, SEO CopywriterHair Spray Is Not The Same As Setting Spray!
"You can picture it… I've spent two hours perfecting my caked-on Dream Matte Mousse, electric blue eyeshadow, and sticky clear lip gloss before my glamorous night out... (okay, a sleepover at my bestie’s house, discussing our current crushes!) But, I couldn’t risk that masterpiece fading! So, I closed my eyes and coated my poor face in a veil of Elnett hairspray so thick it was a wonder I could open my eyes again. Did I immediately break out in spots? Yes! But did that stop me? Of course not! These days I still couldn’t consider my make up finished without a little spritz but, to my complexion’s endless relief, it’s setting spray in my hand rather than hairspray." - Lisa, Marketing Communications Assistant
But, not all is lost dear reader... We may have had a range of questionable beauty products, placements and techniques, but there have been some make up must-haves that really have stood the test of time. We cannot talk about nostalgia without mentioning a few cult classics. From Benefit and their Benetint Lip and Cheek Stain (and yes, of course I was a fan!) to NARS’s OG glow giving Laguna bronzer and finally, the brand that made us blush while shopping on a Saturday with our mothers — Too FacedBetter Then Sex Mascara! We know these still have pride of place in our make up bags, how about you...?
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