Celebrities are often the vanguard of
fashion and makeup trends, with the bold, daring looks they present as they walk along catwalks and down red carpets throughout the world are often immaculate designed, presented and hugely influential.
At its best, you get looks like Nicole Kidman’s 1997 Oscar dress by John Galliano, which was a revolution at the time, but they cannot always be winners.
Angelina Jolie, one of the most stylish women in Hollywood, recently had something of a faux-pas with her unblended, uneven hair extensions, leading some to wonder whether she or her team need a hair and makeup course.
She’s far from the only one, however, and for all the influential looks we have seen over the years, here are some lessons on what not to do with hair and makeup from some noteworthy blunders.
The Flashback Phenomenon
Powder makeup is a revelation for busy, balmy events, as it can reduce the shine caused by sweat or oily skin types. However, you do need to be a little more careful with them than Miley Cyrus was in 2013.
On a night where she was crowned Maxim’s Hottest Woman of 2013, the big talking point was the white, chalky look of her skin, caused by too much powder being used on her chin and cheeks, being picked up by camera flashes in a phenomenon known as the
flashback.
Nicole Kidman, a style icon in pretty much every other respect, is a serial offender in this regard, having been caught with a powdery nose at the Monte Carlo Gala in 2019, Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in 2015 and a 2009 event in New York.
The Tanning Problem
We all love a sun-kissed look, but with how often tans go wrong, it may be worth letting the sun set on excessive use of fake tan.
Lindsay Lohan, star of cinematic masterpiece Herbie: Fully Loaded and the remake of Freaky Friday, loved the spray-tan look, but often took it too far, often appearing at red carpet events with overdone and uneven looking tans.
The most interesting recent example, however, comes from Selena Gomez, who made the rookie error of putting too much on not realising that tanning lotion increases in intensity as it dries.
As a result, it went from a beautiful, even tan to an orange look so bad she
ran away from the event. She took it in her stride and now rocks styles that suit her skin a lot better in recent years.
Hardly Bob On
Halle Berry is a master of the pixie cut, and few people have worn shorter hairstyles better than she has, with one infamous exception.
When she headed down the red carpet at the Oscars, her ear-length bob looked like it had been cut with a hedge trimmer, and social media were merciless in their response.
Much like Gomez, a few days later
she’d emerge
with a smile, a joke and some long extensions that suited her style far better.
Bob haircuts are exceptionally difficult to get right, with a lot of care needed to avoid a pageboy look.