makeup memory lane #2
Buckle up, because we're going back to the Emo Years.
In my first Makeup Memory Lane post, I took you all the way back to my Confirmation in 2004 to talk about the enduring power of olive green eyeshadow. At that point, I was already dabbling in the ‘alternative’ look — Converse, black eyeliner, baggy pants — but as I entered my teenage years, I decided to fully transform into a goth/grunger/insert whatever nickname was screamed at you in the street because you wore ‘weird shoes’ here.
In the early 2000s, nu-metal and pop punk were all the rage and, as you might have guessed from the Confirmation outfit, I harboured tween obsessions with Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, and Green Day. But then I found My Chemical Romance, and it was as if my eyes had been opened. Eyelinered nerds who made concept albums about vampire gangsters?! Now that was something an angsty, musical theatre-loving teenager could get behind.
I threw myself into the emo subculture, learning everything I possibly could about the boys in the bands — and the token girl Hayley Williams, whose flame-red hair I coveted. To find fashion inspiration, I studied scene queens like Audrey Kitching (who is hawking crystals now) and Kiki Kannibal (who talks about ‘energy’ on Instagram… this scene queen to woo-woo wellness pathway must be examined further). There was a very specific style I needed to emulate, and it involved layering a confusing amount of clothing and accessories: T-shirts over long-sleeved tops, necklaces upon necklaces, neon tutus over colourful skinny jeans, and multiple belts, for some reason.
Unfortunately, as I was 13 and living in Co Mayo, I did not have a ton of access to the accoutrements of emo-dom. I had seen the kids at Central Bank on my rare trips to Dublin and wondered, “Where do they get all the stuff?” You know, the stuff — Nightmare Before Christmas messenger bags, MCR t-shirts, hot pink clip-in hair extensions, fishnet tights. Being emo required a lot of stuff.
I did not have Asha or any sort of ‘goth shop’ (bar the cobbler in town that sold knockoff band hoodies for some reason, shout out to Harry) but that only made me resourceful. The black Dunnes ‘skate pants’ from my Avril Lavigne era would work, along with the aforementioned Confirmation Converse, on which I dutifully scribbled song lyrics with Bic biros.
I already had black eyeliner — all I had to do was apply more of it. A questionable red blush from an off-brand makeup kit could double as an eyeshadow (Gerard Way wore Gash from Urban Decay, a factoid my brain has clung on to for oh, 15 years now). I had yet to acquire a fringe that could cover half my face, but I did find a hairband with a twee little bow on it in Penneys AND a studded belt in H&M. I collected colourful beaded necklaces and wore three or four at a time over similarly layered t-shirts.
If this makes it sound like I looked a mess, that’s because I looked a mess. Here, have evidence!
You will be relieved to observe that I eventually got a fringe that covered half my face, as well as a sort of choppy layer situation in the back that I fluffed up with styling wax. Just the ticket for hanging around the laneways in town for hours on end!
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I still really love a red eyeshadow look. It came back into fashion a few years ago when a glut of warm-toned palettes arrived on the scene — Anastasia Beverly Hills’ Modern Renaissance, Huda Beauty’s Rose Gold, and Charlotte Tilbury’s Vintage Vamp, to name but a tiny few. Reds and burgundies look great on green eyes. They look even better when you actually wear foundation, mascara, and blush with them, as opposed to drawing rings of red and black around your eyes and heading off on your merry way.
My 2021 interpretation of the emo beauty look is a little more grown up (if you ignore the decidedly teenage-looking spots on my chin). It’s inspired by an old Katie Jane Hughes #KJHAcademy look and leans more ‘editorial’ than ‘conjunctivitis.’ I packed the very bright red from the NikkieTutorials x Beauty Bay palette all over my lid and patted the metallic red shade from the Pat McGrath Mothership V: Bronze Seduction palette on top.
For foundation, I reached for the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation for the first time in ages. I don’t tend to go for it often because it’s so full coverage, but my skin is aggy at the moment and with a bit of Flawless Filter mixed in, it gave me exactly what I needed. Also, here’s an absolutely mental idea: If your base is looking shite all the time, which mine has been, consider changing your beauty sponge! I couldn’t figure out why my foundation was streaky and weird and it’s because my Beauty Blender needs the bin. It’s not me! It’s the damned sponge.
Just in case you were wondering: Yes, that is a My Chemical Romance t-shirt. Yes, I bought tickets to their sadly postponed reunion gig. There is no such thing as a ‘former emo kid,’ just a dormant one. It’s not a phase, Mom.
Thank you for reading Vanity Project! You must now go and listen to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in full. See you again soon!