The 2020s: A new era

We’ve made it to the current decade after a year of exploring makeup trends of the past century-plus and revisiting historical events and celebrities that influenced the looks of each time period.

It’s hard to think of the year 2020 without thinking about COVID-19. Can you believe it’s been nearly five years since the pandemic began? Here’s a refresher from the period when it seemed like the world turned upside down.

• Jan. 7, 2020: Public officials in China identify the coronavirus as the cause of the outbreak.
• March 11, 2020: The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic after more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths.
• March 15, 2020: States begin to implement shutdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Schools and restaurants were the first to shut down, according to cdc.gov.

I’m sure everyone reading this remembers how the rest of the pandemic played out. Some continued to work at physical workplaces, some were able to work from home — and some lost their jobs.

Those of us who could, stayed home. From my perspective in the trenches, we were revisiting old hobbies or finding new ones, like becoming plant ladies or experts at making whipped coffee, because we had the time.

Another common focus involved taking the time to invest in our own health and reassessing how we maintained our appearance. Women who’d chosen to regularly “cover the grays” no longer had that option, with salons closed, unless they wanted to use box dye. People who wore makeup to work or school every day no longer needed to because they were doing it all from home. Makeup consumers came to realize maybe their skin was happier without foundation, and their skin didn’t break out as often when they started investing in skin care.

TikTok trends brought us not only whipped coffee and viral dances but deep dives into skin care regimens. Influencers shared homemade, natural face mask remedies to cure “maskne” (acne caused or aggravated by wearing a mask), and many people seemed to be asking: “Why am I wearing makeup if my skin looks this much better without it?” “What is in makeup products that causes acne?” It seemed the number of people actually caring about what they were putting on their skin and the ingredients in their face products was at an all-time high. Now, you can’t walk into an Ulta or Sephora without seeing signs along the lines of “Be kind to your skin” and finding foundations infused with skin care.

Most of us went months during COVID-19 shutdowns without wearing a full face of makeup, and many got out of the habit of wearing makeup altogether, even when it came time to get back into the world, embracing a more natural look not widely seen since the 1960s and ’70s.

Not only is the trend toward natural, but also low maintenance. Why buy tubes of mascara for $15-$30 apiece when you can get more dramatic results by having eyelash extensions applied every two-three weeks or getting an eyelash lift and tint? Why buy a similarly priced eyebrow pencil when you can get your eyebrows microbladed or tattooed and not have to worry about it for three-plus years? Paying for more permanent and low-maintenance makeup procedures while investing in skin care and skin procedures is what we are doing in the 2020s.

Maygen Carlton, of Lewiston, was my model for the final look in this series. In a nod to the skin care-forward trend this decade, we started with a mini-facial at my studio, including a double cleanse, exfoliation, moisturizer and SPF, to give her skin a healthy glow.

I penciled in her eyebrows lightly and applied a clear brow gel, then went a little heavier than usual on the cheeks, per this year’s blush trend, and applied a lip oil for a bit of color.

Since the focus so far this decade has been about keeping it natural while subtly enhancing your favorite features, I let Maygen’s eyelash extensions (a service she provides at her business, Belle Âme Studio in Lewiston) shine in this look.

For the photo shoot, I teamed up with Patrick Brown-Hayes, whose Lewiston Orchards-based Killer Clothing Collective specializes in upcycled, vintage and custom-made clothes. I wanted to show that looks — in makeup and apparel — from the eras I covered over the past year can be combined into something modern, distinctive and relevant today. Maygen and I perused Patrick’s store for the outfits she’s wearing here, drawing on an ’80s vibe that appealed to her, with some ’90s influence thrown in for good measure.

If you haven’t taken the time to shop at Killer Clothing Collective, at 519 Thain Road, you definitely should. Look for the cool mural on the side of the building, which you might find familiar from photos for this and previous columns. Patrick’s store embodies another 2020s-era trend that also was influenced by the pandemic years: examining our tendency toward overconsumption and rethinking fast fashion.

Johnson, of Lewiston, created makeup looks inspired by different decades in U.S. history over the past year. She can be found on Instagram @blackmagic._beauty.

Thank you, readers, for going on this journey through the decades with me this year, as we explored Makeup by the Eras.

I’m grateful to my models for making the time to participate in this series. Thank you for working with my schedule and for being willing to put yourself out there. It’s all fun and games getting your makeup done, and then the photographer (thank you, August Frank), comes to take your picture for the paper and it all gets real.

— Jacey Johnson