2008 Beauty Trends We Tried, Tested, Loved, and Hated

StyleList has an über-glammy wrap up of all the pretty things in 2008 that we snapped up, slathered on, buffered down, and even electrically charged (oh stop, you dirty thing. We're talking about mascara).

Beauty & The Blog has called a few trends that have waxed between being gorgeously worth it, and fodder for snide, "Did you seriously wear that?" from future offspring. Here's a peek at the trends we at least tried on and tried to love. What were your favorites of 2008?












1. Neon peeled itself out of the 80s and showed back up on runways as early as February. If you didn't love construction zone cone shades then, you probably took a pass on the brief revival of hyper-color shirts....but even the most devoutly neon-fearing took a polish to hot-hued nail color.









2. Man makeup was a category once solely populated by Jack Sparrow, Pete Wentz and the scariest looking member of the Rolling Stones, but 2008 proved to be the year men started needing their own makeup bags with concealer tricks, eyeliner lessons, and even celebrity-inspired wax jobs. Things began looking pretty...at first. Regrettably, this trend got scary fast. Mantyhose, anyone?










3. Mascara, it seems, is always up for reinvention. Every 11 minutes, a new formula comes out that promises to plump, voluminize, feather, lift, separate, and do your taxes. But how often do you hear about revolutionary wands? First Givenchy came out with a wrecking ball-shaped wand that works miracles (warning: You'll want to practice on a few lashes first, ladies), followed by Lancome's vibrating wand. Talk about buzz!












4. Hair always makes the list, but it's usually for cut or style. 2008, however, will be known as The Year We Discovered How To Skip Showers. Dry shampoo poofed onto the market and into our bathrooms, forever giving us ways to stretch a blowout, freshen up post-gym, and otherwise claim to be "conserving water." Further aiding and abetting our dirty habits: Oscar Blandi's honeysuckle-scented formula. Admit it: Dry shampoo that smells better than deodorant, soap, or even perfume is a better invention than the automobile.












5. High Definition Makeup is the best thing that's happened not just to newscasters, actors, talk show hosts, pageant queens, etc, but also for anyone who owns a hi-def TV. Like your talking heads with a side dish of pores and a dash of wrinkles? No? Frankly, neither did we. Plus, now that we have makeup that can handle the 6x magnification of hi-def, even the non-televised can be ready for a close up any minute.

STAY TUNED! Tomorrow: Trends of 2009

Hair pic courtesy of Gas 13