‘Tis the season for reflections on the year we’ve had and 2019 was a doozy. We saw J. Lo get engaged—and spent countless hours tracking down the exact shade of nail polish she wore when it happened. We knocked down doctors’ doors to get the story on the FDA’s safety hearings on breast implants and BIA-ALCL, and watched when a major implant manufacturer issued a voluntary recall of a line of textured implants, citing ties to cancer.
Meghan Markle welcomed a royal baby and beauty bosses like Lady Gaga, Tracee Ellis Ross and Victoria Beckham blessed us with product collections. On a global scale, Google’s 2019 Year in Search team was hard at work, compiling worldwide data on the trending topics that saw the biggest spike of traffic in 2019. Without further ado, we give you the “how to” beauty queries the world asked Google. And our responses.
How to apply…
1. Color Street nails
NewBeauty: The polish strips that your cousin was selling on Facebook really blew up this year. If you didn’t get around to donning the at-home nail solutions, may we also recommend our favorite nail launches from 2019 for foolproof application.
2. Fake lashes
NB: Celebrity makeup artist Dahlia Warner broke it all down for us—the key is getting “cozy” and stocking cuticle sticks—and blessed us with the 8 best falsies of all-time.
3. Blush
NB: 2019 was the Year of the Cream Blush and these innovative, top picks couldn’t be easier to apply with a sponge, brush or fingers!
4. Toner
NB: We talked to eight dermatologists this year and they had some serious thoughts on the merit of toner. They did not mince words.
5. Liquid foundation
NB: We learned directly from Naomi Campbell herself (but we still apply foundation to our foreheads—we can’t all be supermodels).
6. Individual lashes
NB: An editor who never left the house without mascara dove deep into the world of individual lash extensions and told NewBeauty everything. The first application was so comfortable, she fell asleep during it.
7. Coconut oil to hair
NB: New York City colorist Tiffanie Richards recommends her clients sleep in a coconut oil hair mask—and do it at least once a week, by combing a dime-sized amount through hair and massaging into the scalp.
8. Self Tanner
Celebrity tanning expert Meredith Baraf told us that her clients spent hundreds of dollars on personal tans, only to “ruin them” by forgetting moisturizer. For more of an at-home application, here are the 17 best self tanners of 2019.
9. How to apply mascara
NB: Two coats of these best-in-class mascaras for thicker lashes should do the trick.
10. Primer
NB: Celebrity makeup artist Mai Quynh explains how much to use, how to apply and where to apply it (and more!) here.
