By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Fashion – Mon, May 2, 2011
Neon lips, blue eyeshadow, shimmering glitter, and golden bronzers:
This spring, some of the most dramatic looks we saw on the runways are
making their way onto our faces. But not everything we dabble on pleases
everyone. We had a hunch that some of our biggest beauty obsessions
might be turn-offs for guys...so we went ahead asked. Prepare yourself:
brutal honesty ensues.
1. Heavy foundation and powders: "The inch-thick powder is a huge turn-off," says
Maxim senior editor Nick Leftley. "No guy wants to kiss a girl on the cheek and then find he¹s wearing foundation himself." A
flaking face
is one thing, but when your cheek becomes a palette of skin-tone
colors, men pay attention...and not the good attention. "I'm always
amazed to see women with two-tone faces, two apparently different shades
of skin on the face, as if they apply makeup in the dark," says James
Oliver Cury, the online editorial director at Maxim. "I'd rather see one
greasy face than some sort of melanin imbalance. The nose should match
the cheeks."
2. "Bumps": "I never liked, or knew of any other guy who liked, the Gwen Stefani "bumpit" look," says Henry Belanger, an editor at
The Good Men Project. "Be wary of anything that makes your head look unnaturally large."
3. Neon lipstick: Most of the fashion world agreed that electric
pouts were a beauty "do" this season. Some men, however, beg to differ.
"Orange lips are definitely a departure from what we're used to and not
necessarily something a lot of guys I know really respond to just quite
yet," say fashion blogger John Januzzi of
Lucky and the fashion website,
Textbook.
4. Too-thin brows:"My pet peeve is overly plucked eyebrows," says David Swanson, Maxim's
Features Editor."I mean, really? It's basically an advertisement that naturally you're hairier than Robin Williams. If it looks natural, we'd never have to wonder."
5. Bold eye-shadow: "I don't understand the revival of
bright blue eyeshadow," proposes Maxim's Cury. "Is it retro? Is it
purposefully over-the-top? To my eyes, it just looks tacky no matter how
you wear it." Lucky's Januzzi isn't as bothered by color as he is by
application. "Smoky eyes--when done right are great--very sexy and
attractive but when done wrong they look a total mess," he says. "Seek
professional guidance before trying at home."
6. Rosy cheeks: "As far as make-up goes, I think rouge is for
old ladies," adds Good Men Project's Belanger. "I think guys generally
prefer the kind of make-up you don't notice is there, and since there's a
lot that guys don't notice I think women have a lot of leeway."
7. Two-toned lips:Remember
Kim Mathers? She was almost as famous for her lip liner issues as she
was for being defamed by Eminem. According to our dude survey, the
pucker problem was more serious. "When I see thin lines drawn around a
pair of lips, I think: Is this part of some gang initiation rite?" says
Cury.
8. Glitter:"Women need to be judicious with it," says Cury. "It¹s
like any good seasoning. You shouldn't shake it all over. It can
overwhelm the main course." That being said, he's not opposed to a heavy
sprinkle of cleavage glitter. Figures.