Do you remember the 90s and Y2K looks? If you don’t, let me give you a refresher: our jeans were either bell-bottomed or super-skinny, our foundation was cakey and mismatched, our clip in hair extensions had obviously visible tracks, and last but not least… Our eyebrows. Oh, our poor, poor eyebrows.
Let’s not run to assumptions, the 2000s thin eyebrows (also known as skinny brows) weren’t all that bad. Many people (including celebrities) actually rocked this look, capable of making them look elegant and edgy. Those who weren’t blessed with the perfectly wing-shaped brows could actually get them done accordingly to give the illusion of a different shape, maintaining that razor-thin, trendy look.
2022 has been the year of Y2K Renaissance, a phenomena that has bled well into 2023 with trends such as butterfly-everything, low-rise jeans making a timid comeback, pearl lipstick and vivid eyeshadow – I wonder how comes nobody has petitioned for the return of MSN yet? – and it was only a matter of time before someone decided that razor-thin eyebrows had to crawl their way back from where we left them.
1. Are Thin Eyebrows Back?
Yes and no. The beautiful thing about the world of beauty and fashion is that nowadays it’s extremely variegated and offers a roster of possibilities to everyone, becoming at all effects a much more globally-aware, inclusive industry. This means that those that favour the more traditional look we’ve experience throughout the evolving years after the initial Y2K boom can still rock bushy eyebrows and get their occasional brow lamination if they want, whilst avant gardists and fashionistas are free to experiment with looks from the past and find inspiration for the future.
About skinny brows, are thin eyebrows coming back? Let’s see together in more detail.
2. 2023’s Skinny Brows Are Different
Although around the end of 2022 there has been a significant increase of interest in the skinny eyebrows trend, put your tweezers away: trust me, we’ve all done this to our precious eyebrows before, and now the microblading industry is earning big money because of our youth mistakes. The latest trend to achieve that edgy Y2K look is all about trendy Y2K hairstyles, strategically placed hair extensions and last but not least, simulation brows. No, it’s not a makeup look from the Matrix, but an eyebrow-friendly technique that allows you to switch from thin to thick eyebrows whenever you’d like, without over-plucking. Do I have your attention?
3. How To Get Thin Eyebrows
If you’d like to get that 90s trendy look made popular by icons such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Gwen Stefani and Pamela Anderson, all you’ll need will be good skills using concealer, brow gel (or even eyelash glue for coarser, thicker eyebrows) and tweezers, yes – but not to pluck everything out. Once again, the viral trend roots somewhere in the depth of TikTok’s beauty side, where users can get very creative. But how does it work?
Simply put, the technique relies on the glue to hold your eyebrows hairs together, which you can style accordingly with a spoolie to make them look thinner. Then, you can minimise the visibility of the roots left outside with the aid of concealer, which also serves to bring brightness to your brow bone. Bonus points if you finish with eyebrow pencil and highlighter around the tail, to enhance your look in true Y2K style.
4. Understanding The Trend: What Is Y2K Aesthetic?
If you’re left puzzled by all the rise in interest in what some might describe as one of the darkest times in fashion, don’t worry: you’re not alone. As a millennial myself, I often remembered the early two thousands in a mix of horror, probably biased by contemporary trends and fashion. So what’s so fascinating about the early 00s aesthetic, and what is Y2K fashion?
First of all, Y2K was the boom era for permanent hair extensions, which now reflects on today’s trends revolving around extra long, sleek hairstyles. If in 2006 everyone wanted Adriana Lima’s hair, now people like Kim Kardashian and Lourdes Leon have set the bar even higher – but the upside of it all is, the hair extensions industry has made significant progress, guaranteeing your products such as nano ring hair extensions and tape in hair extensions to achieve big transformations without them being obnoxiously obvious.
Last but not least, makeup trends and clothing were kinda flashy back then, something that is now projecting on today’s fashion with a huge cultural impact. Heavily influenced by gossip and magazines, pop culture in the early 00s idolised individuals with a rather unstable lifestyle and behaviour, becoming kind of problematic per se. With its natural nostalgia flavour, the Y2K resurgence in 2023 is a somewhat healthier version of this, focusing on items that defined a generation’s childhood and teenage years, which many often recall with a warm, fuzzy feeling.
On top of that, Y2K fashion nowadays relies a lot on the technologic boom that we experienced back in the days, focusing on cutesy accessories such as flip phones, video games, rom-coms, cheesy action flicks, and the influence of movements such as Japanese alt-fashion and vaporwave.
5. Need More Inspo?
If you love everything Y2K, find your perfect hairstyle to go with your latest outfit creation and your brand new thin eyebrows: with the aid of clip in hair extensions and the right accessories such as claw clips and butterfly clips, you too can become a true Y2K icon. Find out more on our dedicated blog: That's So Fetch! - What Is Y2K Aesthetic And How To Achieve It.
6. Conclusion:
In order to get that peppy 00s baddie gaze, good news: you don’t need to damage your eyebrows anymore, plus you are now allowed to switch back to your natural eyebrow shape whenever you want! Simulation brows is the latest TikTok trend, and it’s Cliphair approved!
