5 January 2024 |
It’s time to put on make-up, it’s time to dress up right, it’s time to raise the curtain on… the Janice look tonight. You know Janice, the left-handed lead guitarist and back-up vocalist in Muppets band Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Based on a combo of Joni Mitchell and Mick Jagger, with the name pilfered from Janis Joplin, she’s pretty hard to miss, and I don’t just mean her groovy flower child personality, man.
No, I mean she’s supersizing it on every beauty level possible: lips, lashes, foundation (or self-tan? Or both?). And if the Janice puppet had nails then surely they would be of the impossible-to-miss, feline claw-like variety.Yes, that’s Janice: a puppet, a parody, a ridiculously exaggerated appearance for comedic effect…
Except, wait just a G-string plucking moment.Nowadays, at any given moment, there’s a real-life Janice lookalike not far away. If she isn’t sitting close to you at the pub then she’s on your TV screen (tune in Love Island), staring out at you from a celebrity magazine or gaining major influencer traction on TikTok (calling Meredith Duxbury). Somehow, against all odds, Janice has become the cosmetic version of a bottle of Pepsi:the choice of a new generation.
The pros and cons of the rise of The Janice could be debated ad infinitum. It isn’t just the overall aesthetic that some call into question, but also application skills that can seem lacking: foundation put on so heavily it looks like the wearer has been entombed in a mask of goop (full-coverage foundation only; tinted balms need not apply) or in self-tan that’s only been applied to the bits of the body that are on show (if a Janice gets lucky of a night who cares? She just turns out the lights and no-one’s any the wiser. Not until morning anyway). “It’s an intriguing concept I once dubbed ‘fashion tan’, that practice of tanning strategically around one’s outfits to create distinct tan lines,” says tanning expert James Read, a key figure in upgrading the sector from being known as fake tan to the more lux-sounding self-tan. Many, including his mum,“proudly showcase it as form of self-expression and a testament to their love for tanning”.
But what to make of the full-volume Janice look? “Asa make-up artist I’ve always had a love of a big lash/nude lip combination, but the current extremities have turned it into caricature,” muses Terry Barber, one of the supreme artists of our times and director of make-up artistry at MAC Cosmetics. “I’ve always stood by the rule that if you do something big on your face then everything else should be pulled back. They understood this well in the Sixties. Exaggerating every feature to inflatable proportions tends to go from beauty to comedy. It’s like you’re aiming for supermodel but end up with Steven Tyler.”
Of course, make-up is an established and easy access route for both changing perceptions and self-expression. “There’s always been a fascination with transformative beauty, especially when you’re young,” agrees Barber. “In the 1980s/’90s it was probably music and subculture that were references. Celebrity culture working hand in hand with social media changed everything in terms of how young people view themselves. It became the beauty Olympics. A craving for perfection to a competitive level based on one ideal of beauty. It’s Kardashian, with a bit of Love Island and a touch of Drag Race. Being cool, effortless, tasteful or chic suddenly became irrelevant.”
This chimes with the views of leading names in the tweakment world. “There are always beauty trends and, in this case, lips can look distorted, faces overblown and it appears very unnatural,” says Dr Surbhi Virmani of Cosderm, an expert in aesthetic and regenerative medicine. “The new wave of reality TV stars have opened up cosmeceuticals to everyone and it’s impacting the younger generation they feel they want to look; many begin to morph into a very similar face and overfilling has almost become normalised.
But talk to some young Janices and they’ll tell you part of the point is that their filler looks obvious: it’s a status symbol among their peers, something to be shown off like a quilted Chanel 2.55 handbag, proof they’ve spent a lot of money. Say what you like, but this is a generation that’s taken on the ethos of successful, uber-wealthy women like the Kardashians: if you don’t like it, just tweak it.And let’s face it, that’s somethingHollywood has been doing to its screen idols for close to a century. They’re just following a different cookie-cutter aesthetic.
It could also be because the pressures on personal appearance nowadays are different. “The older generation did not have to endure the constant bombardment of these images from reality shows and social media,” says Dr. Wassim Taktouk, who is sought out by in-the-knowers for his natural-looking tweaking skills. “They would go and buy a magazine or see ‘normal’ people on TV. Now, you only have to look at your Instagram and search ‘lip filler’ and theAI/social media platform bombards you with content suited to your interests. The downside is it exposes you repeatedly to unnatural overfilled faces, maybe so much that this becomes the norm to you.”
Janice, lead guitarist in The Electric Mayhem on The Muppet Show; photograph courtesy of Nicole Wilder/ Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
It’s worth remembering, though, that Janice isn’t unhappy. She’s having a great time, a party girl happily living it large – and she’s ready for her potential Love Island casting close-up any time, Mr. DeMille. And though it’s Janice who bears the brunt of taste judgementalism, modern beauty has been supersizing it for some time.
“Beauty trends can become mainstream really quickly, especially if a celebrity is doing it, or the internet tells you it’s what you should be doing,’ says make-up artist and friend of 10 Andrew Gallimore. “I’ve noticed false lashes steadily becoming longer, thicker, fuller for years now. I think the lash extensions trend aided this, then all of a sudden everyone had long luscious lashes.” And a mood shift clicked into gear. “For years, [even] mascara advertising has always been about ‘longer, thicker, fuller, 99 per cent more volume’– now anyone can have that, regardless of what they’re born with.” Janice is beauty’s Liberty on the Barricades, an egalitarian redrawing her birthright.
The practicality of being your own version of Janice has its challenges, though. Those long nails make daily tasks like using a smartphone into a game of tactical skill, or lots of finger stabbing. Nails Inc’s recent collaboration withWhite Claw Hard Seltzers came complete with a special can-opening manicure-safeguarding gadget to protect both polish and nails/acrylics from breaking. A sign of the times.
Just as generations before them are now aware of the beauty damage they did – those ’70s and ’90s overplucked eyebrow victims, for instance – modern-day Janices should beware of potential repercussions down the line. Nail guru Leighton Denny MBE warns that “anyone who has had ultra-long nail extensions, and has broken/chipped one, knows that it works well for fashion shows and photoshoots but day today the risk and the damage is not worth it”. Trends are cyclical, he affirms, so why risk long-term harm? In the meantime, however, the latest nail trend shape resembles headstones. “The ultra-glam more is more look has become more extreme,” notes Denny. “Coffin nails, which actually originated in the Egyptian era, have become one of the biggest trends. What started as nail extensions and nail art have developed into complex– and oh-so impractical – acrylics. There are similar warnings for those sporting arachnid-level lashes.“I turn away 95 per cent of clients requesting lashes because they want Russian layering, aka volume, lashes. Some salons offer up to 16 extensions to one natural lash,” laments Edyta Kurowska, known in the beauty world as Edy London and one of the most natural individual lash technicians in the business.
“The lash follicles are way too delicate to carry that volume and one day they will give up and stop reproducing,” she warns.“You should only extend your lashes one by one,” which is, of course, what she does. Or for good strip falsies most make-up artists love Kiss.
Although many experts say a more natural look is set to return, the maximal Janice look shows no real sign of abating. Technology may change this. Dr Virmani, for instance, has a new lip service treatment, “which harnesses PRP power with exosomes as opposed to filler. This is the new beauty frontier: by promoting our own bodies to signal cells to behave more youthfully we are able to get beautiful, elegant results.” Or maybe, at least for some, concepts of beauty have changed forever. Perhaps “seeing the transformative power of filler, the befores and afters for the rich and famous, makes it more desirable,” suggests Gallimore. “I don’t think these beauty ideals are realistic. But I am all for ‘if it makes you happy/feel good and you’re not harming anyone’ then go for it. You do you, babe.” Or do Janice.
GET IT OFF!
Andrew Gallimore recommends Bioderma Sensibio Eye remover for longwear/waterproof eye and lip products. He also likes Bioderma Sensibio H20, the original micellar water. And Augustinus Bader’s Foaming Cleanser “feels like you’re washing your face with moisturiser”. I agree, but would add Drunk Elephant’s Slaai Makeup Melting Butter cleanser fora great, slippy, cleansing fest and Jane Scrivner’s Purifying Cleanser, gel to milk, for squeaky clean but hydrated skin.
To even out self-tan lines, James Read recommends using a wash-off tan. To correct or tone down, make a solution of lemon and lime juice mixed with water, heat it up slightly, then rub over your skin. To even out his faux tan he uses Biologique Recherche Lotion P50, which exfoliates and hydrates.
Taken from 10+ Issue 6 – VISIONARY, WOMEN, REVOLUTION – out now. Order your copy here.
