It seems like every week there’s a new beauty trend plastered all over our social media feeds. Celebrities usually start them, but to us they seem kind of ridiculous. We don’t see them catching on, so we dismiss them and move on with our lives. But then suddenly everyone we know – our friends, sisters, colleagues and even some parents have splurged on clown contouring make-up, had lip fillers, got eyelash extensions and threaded their eyebrows. We’re surprised at first, but then more and more people join in. Eventually, it seems just as normal as brushing our hair every morning. We give in to our initial reservations, and laugh at ourselves for again underestimating the power of beauty trends.

Here are some trends that seemed crazy at first, but now we’re super into them.

Face contouring

Smearing make-up all over our face so much that we resemble clowns – who knew this trend would take the world by storm? Many beauty bloggers initially received slack for their state of the art contouring techniques. The way they placed the make-up before blending it made the process look so simple, yet still so far-fetched. Fast forward a few months, and suddenly we were pressed to find someone who didn’t know what contouring was. While it seemed difficult at first, many of us are now just as well-equipped as the professionals. The results are amazing, our skin is flawless and it doesn’t even take that long. This is one trend we definitely don’t think will go stale.

Eyebrow microblading

Eyebrows never used to be this important, but thanks to Cara Delevingne, they’re now arguably one of our most regarded features. Women once had their eyebrows waxed to oblivion and those with super thick brows were teased relentlessly. Now, the tables have turned and these women are the centre of everyone’s envy. If we don’t have the eyebrows we always dreamed of, it’s not a problem – we can just get our eyebrows tattooed. Yes, it’s painful and it’s a bit of a weird concept to wrap our heads around – tiny needles literally tattoo eyebrow strokes on the face. But it lasts a long time, and it looks so damn good.

Lip fillers

Plump lips have been desirable since the beginning of time. Angelina Jolie was one of the first celebrities to invoke ‘lip envy’ due to her big, natural pout. However, in recent years huge lips have become even more popular. Last year, Kylie Jenner created a lot of controversy when she decided to plump her lips with fillers. The Kylie Jenner Challenge was subsequently born, as many young women decided they wanted to look the same. In the past, we would have thought someone was crazy for wanting fat injected into their lips, but now we wouldn’t even bat an eyelid!

Eyelash extensions

Gone are the days of just applying some quick mascara before leaving the house – now it’s all about faking it ’til you make it. The idea of having someone insert lashes one by one into your eyelid was once daunting, but now it’s a trend we can’t get enough of. They last for months and are relatively low maintenance, so what have we got to lose? Although the process can be uncomfortable and a bit pricey, it saves precious ‘getting ready time’ every morning. We can’t think of anything better than being able to sleep in instead of administering endless amounts of mascara.

Hair chalking

Hair dying has been around for hundreds of years, so that’s nothing new. But we never thought hair chalking would be a thing, and we were understandably a bit wary at first. Smearing chalk in our hair and then using a flat iron to set it seemed a bit unusual, but hey – we’re willing to try anything once. Another thing we love about hair chalking is that it’s not even permanent, so if things don’t go according to plan, we can just wash it out and start over. It’s quick, easy and inexpensive – something that many trends are not.