A mere couple of years ago, I had never applied so much as mascara, and some occasional concealer on my teenage acne. Right before my seventeenth birthday, during my senior year of high school, my family took a relaxing beach trip to Jamaica. Unfortunately, while the resort was wonderful and Jamaica is amazing, it rained for the majority of our stay. After devouring the only novels I had brought, I ended up reading several beauty/fashion magazines cover-to-cover to pass the time. Somehow during that week, a love of beauty and makeup was born. Since I can have a rather obsessive personality, it didn’t take me long to find the online beauty community, both blogs and YouTube videos. Nowadays, several peoples’ livelihoods are being made by sharing their passion for cosmetics on the Internet, which means there is a whole lot of content added daily! Through reading several blog posts and watching tons of YouTube videos, I have learnt a whole lot about a whole lot pertaining to these beauty themes (makeup, skin care, body care, fashion, etc.) and my thirst for knowledge has only grown over the years.
Many people do not understand how/why I devote so much of my free time to learning about beauty, and I don’t expect them to, nor do I try and justify it (because I honestly don't know the answer myself). However, I know a lot of people who have turned to the online beauty community, either to search for specific information (a product review, a particular tutorial, etc.) or out of general interest, but have become overwhelmed and discouraged by the confusing terminology and customs that the virtual community assumes is general knowledge. I know that I would have greatly appreciated some sort of guidebook/dictionary/FAQ to help me out along the way, so that is precisely what I have chosen to write. Without further ado, I present: Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries. Unfortunately, if I tried to cram all of the weird aspects of the online beauty community in one blog post, it would still be very overwhelming. Therefore, I have decided to divide my guide into a three-part series, and today I present
Lesson #1 - Vocabulary
GLOSSARY: the most commonly used terms/abbreviations/acronyms of the virtual beauty world
Well class, that’s all the time we have left for today's lesson (since it’s almost 3:00am and I have actual class tomorrow, oops). Remember that Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries is only intended to serve as a helpful resource, and that these are not actual dictionary-defined terms.Thank you for your attendance and attention in today’s lesson, and I’ll see you next time for Lesson #2: Traditional and Routine Topics.
Many people do not understand how/why I devote so much of my free time to learning about beauty, and I don’t expect them to, nor do I try and justify it (because I honestly don't know the answer myself). However, I know a lot of people who have turned to the online beauty community, either to search for specific information (a product review, a particular tutorial, etc.) or out of general interest, but have become overwhelmed and discouraged by the confusing terminology and customs that the virtual community assumes is general knowledge. I know that I would have greatly appreciated some sort of guidebook/dictionary/FAQ to help me out along the way, so that is precisely what I have chosen to write. Without further ado, I present: Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries. Unfortunately, if I tried to cram all of the weird aspects of the online beauty community in one blog post, it would still be very overwhelming. Therefore, I have decided to divide my guide into a three-part series, and today I present
Lesson #1 - Vocabulary
GLOSSARY: the most commonly used terms/abbreviations/acronyms of the virtual beauty world
- OOTD: “Outfit of the Day” - the clothes I wore today and where I bought them from
- FOTD: “Face of the Day” - the makeup I wore today (and sometimes how I applied it)
- NOTD: “Nails of the Day” - the nail polish I had on today
- MLBB: “My lips but better” - refers to a lipstick whose color is very similar to the natural lip shade that you possess
- HG: “Holy Grail” - a beauty product that cannot be lived without (or that you would really rather not live without)
- VIB: “Very Important Beauty Insider” - a Sephora acronym/title that you can receive when you sign up for a membership account with the company
- VIB Rouge: special Sephora membership status attained once you spend a certain amount annually on products (next step after having a VIB account and you get some added benefits)
- Cult product: a product that has a significant cult following of fans and is usually well-known to most of the beauty community, such as NARS Orgasm blush (though many people awkwardly do not like this) and Urban Decay Naked Palettes, which reminds me…
- Naked Palettes: Eyeshadow palettes by the brand Urban Decay that contain twelve full-sized neutral colors. These palettes are extremely popular, and Urban Decay has just released their third “Naked 3” version for this holiday season
- GRWM: “Get Ready With Me” - usually in the form of a video that takes the viewer on a journey of someone getting ready for the day or night out (clothing and/or makeup and/or body care)
- Swatches: what a makeup product looks like swiped on skin’s surface, usually on one’s hand or more likely on the inside of one’s arm (this is to show you a more accurate representation of how a product looks, since it often varies from how it looks in its packaging)
- Haul: to haul (verb) essentially means to buy; a haul (noun) refers to a shopping trip
- Dupe: a substitute of a cosmetic product that provides an identical effect to another; often used to showcase a cheaper drugstore alternative that can be used in place of a higher-end product
- “Creasing”: Our skin happens to actually have tons of little wrinkles and crevices, no matter what age you are. Creasing occurs when a product settles/clumps into the natural creases of your skin, which most usually occurs under your eyes (with concealer) and in the fold of your eyelid (with eyeshadow)
- DIY: “Do it Yourself” - an easier/cheaper way to substitute the benefits or effects of using a beauty product, often with household ingredients or items (this is an acronym that you probably should know already)
- “Hitting Pan”: when you have used so much of a product that you have hit the backing (or actual metallic pan, for powder products) of its packaging, which can feel like quite the accomplishment (you go Glen Coco)
- Beauty "Guru": When girls started making videos about makeup on YouTube, the only classification for their YouTube channels that made any sense was "guru," and thus many beauty vloggers/bloggers still follow the title of "beauty guru"
- High Street: British term that technically refers to the concept of the primary business street of a town/city. In beauty terms, this usually refers to what North American's refer to as "drugstores," or where you can buy cheaper makeup and cosmetic brands
Well class, that’s all the time we have left for today's lesson (since it’s almost 3:00am and I have actual class tomorrow, oops). Remember that Megan’s Guide to the weird world of talking about beauty products on the Internet and other related inquiries is only intended to serve as a helpful resource, and that these are not actual dictionary-defined terms.Thank you for your attendance and attention in today’s lesson, and I’ll see you next time for Lesson #2: Traditional and Routine Topics.
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