GRUNGE GLAM – MY NEW OBSESSION!

It’s *giving* Cleopatra vibes.

Grunge glam, punk rock glam, edgy glam – the list of names for this aesthetic go on and on. In this post I decided to dabble in it a little, seeing whether I can pull it off! Whilst I am focusing on the beauty aspect of this aesthetic, I will defo be creating outfits and sewing new pieces that really scream grunge/punk glam in the future. Although its not really shown much in this article, my outfit consists of a mixed tone heavy chain, a simple bandeau, and it features the skirt I sewed in the third look for my spring summer capsule this year. I layered a heavy gold chain on my hips to add a little pizzaz, and to match with the makeup of course! You can see the full look on my instagram post!

I couldn’t have achieved this look without this stunning Kiko Liquid Eyeshadow!! I’ve been meaning to try liquid eyeshadow for a long time because I think it is such a GENIUS concept! It’s a tube full of magic – you simply sweep the wand across your lids, blend it out with a brush (or with your fingers if you’re a bit more hands on like I am), and you’ve instantly got stunning eyelids that pop! I personally adore eyeshadows with shimmery textures and finishes, but it’s quite hard sometimes to find the right ones in powder form. There have been way too many times I have soaked my eyeshadow brush with a mist and dented the crap out of my palettes in hopes to pick up enough shimmer to show on my eyelids. They are so misleading! On first look it seems like it’ll give you super glimmering eyes, but in reality the glitter is just in the pan for decoration. Such palettes (I was going to name names but let me not) really put me off eyeshadow, but thankfully, makeup brands like Kiko come in and save the day with their liquid eyeshadows! I bought it ages ago back in March this year when I raided the physical store in the Bullring centre. I won’t lie, I was a little intimidated of its liquid form, but really it is much more easier to create shapes than it is with powders (in my opinion).

SO, for the eyes I am wearing the Kiko Liquid Eyeshadow ‘Mood Boost’ in shade 03, and I literally used the wand to apply the shape (unintentionally creating a slight Cleopatra vibe). I revisited the technique I discovered when I tried out the stacked liner look; I used a black heavy liner to clean up the liquid eyeshadow line. Just as I did in my last beauty post, I used a black eyeliner pencil heavily on my bottom lid and dragged it up, then smudged it out with a cotton bud. I wanted to exaggerate this part a bit more to make it more grungy so I went over it with a black eyeshadow using a smudge brush. I also went in on top of the gold part and blurred the top lines of the gold with a bronze metallic eyeshadow (one that I didn’t have to plough the sh*t out of ! Thank you Morphe for delivering on your palettes xx – I used the 350 one!).

As you can see I didn’t sharpen or clean up the black liner edges with concealer. I wanted to emphasise the contrasting elements of the golden shimmery metallic texture, and the smudged heavy smoky black liner. I did say I was doing grunge glam!

Oh wait! I’ve not even fully explained what I even mean by grunge glam! You’re probably thinking “slow TF down Desola” – my bad, I just wanted to dive straight in the makeup look!

Right! As I was saying, grunge glam can also be referred to as punk rock glam and so on. Whenever I mention the term, I am not largely referencing the die hard type “every inch of my body is either a tattoo or piercing and I’m literally going to shave my hair into a mohawk” type of style (although it’s super cool, I’m not at that level yet… and don’t think I ever will be). Don’t get me wrong, the grunge glam style I’m talking about would be nothing if it wasn’t for this main style, but it’s more like a subcategory. It’s mainly glam, with added elements taken from the main source that is punk rock.

I like both worlds, and the grunge glam style allows me to combine them. Whilst I’m a sucker for glam and the glitz it has to offer, I love to give it more depth and personality with the abrasive and heaviness that grunge has to offer (I am using punk rock and grunge interchangeably in this article – hope its not too confusing!xx).

I tried to incorporate the style into every aspect of my makeup – not just the eyeshadow! I went for a straight(ish) unrefined eyebrow. I achieved this look by lightly filling in the ends of my brows with a black pencil (I know you’re probably thinking wtf – my brows are too dark to use the brown pencil I had in my kit!). I only conceal the ends of my eyebrows to keep the front bits as natural as possible; I like to have the hairs visible and spiky! I used the Benefit clear brow gel to set them and make them stand up straight (so they’re not tempted to curl back up after I used the brow comb).

When I finished my eyebrows I realised that I didn’t switch anything up in particular for this makeup look – I’ve already started to do my eyebrows like this in all of my recent makeup looks (an updated everyday makeup look post is highly overdue). I really like this method because it’s super easy. Rather than forging a completely new shape I just fill in the gaps and enhance what I have! 2021 was quite a journey for my eyebrows. I started off the year with ultra thin brows (well, as thin as I could get it) as I was constantly plucking and cutting them, but now I have left it to revert back to its mini forests and I am loving it!

You can see a contrast by looking at my everyday makeup look post from March this year, and comparing it with my more recent posts!

Ever since I personally discovered how to do my base in the dewy makeup beauty post, I have not changed the method! So, I won’t bore you with the details because I’ve already conducted a deep dive explanation on it in that article! However, I did change the products used because I wasn’t really going for dewy sun kissed summer skin. I used a powder bronzer instead of a liquid contour, and I swapped the setting spray for the Morphe Continuous Setting Mist so I could get more of a neutral finish. I also did NOT use any of my beloved Maybelline cream blush! Crazy? I know! I didn’t want to add much warmth to the look I wanted it to be quite harsh. I do love a good sweet glam with dewy skin, rosy cheeks and bright glitter on the eyes, but it just didn’t match the golden theme for this look.

I’ve just noticed how I haven’t said “I’m obsessed with this look” yet in this post… so let me say it now. I am literally obsessed with this makeup look! Apologies if for a second you believed I had changed and made progress – that is simply not the case. I *literally adore* how it came out! I was rereading the Charli XCX inspired makeup look post and I remember thinking to myself “well where is the glitz in this?”. Thankfully, I’ve brought it back – and (as painfully cliché and cringe as it may sound) it’s here to stay! I can’t wait to play around with it more and create more looks with different colours (I’m thinking blue), textures (like more metallics less glitter – but knowing me I’ll find a way to do both) and finishes (dewy soft grunge glam? I’m here for it).

I definitely think that this grunge glam style has permanently infiltrated its way into my personal style, and the overall DNA of XDESFAN! Not complaining at all though! As mentioned at the start, I will be adding more articles and creations based on this aesthetic, so keep your eyes peeled in 2022! Will be posting it all for you to see on the website!

I hope you enjoyed this post – it is honestly one of my favourite makeup looks I’ve done in 2021! If I never started my blog this year then I would have never developed half the techniques I’ve established in my beauty posts, and I’d have never been able to create a look like this!

Thank you for reading! XX