The evolution of Khaleeji makeup in 16 photos

Since the early 90s, with the explosion of women's magazines and beauty salons in the GCC, Khaleeji women started to become more comfortable about putting on more makeup and experimenting with new colors and trends, especially in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Khaleeji makeup has come a long way since the days of rainbow colors and bright neon shades. To explain this more, here are 16 photos that sum up the evolution of Khaleeji makeup since the 90s until today.

Flipping through the pages of Zahrat al Khaleej magazine, one couldn’t miss the beauty pages filled with images of models caked in what is now considered an abomination of makeup. GCC-based makeup artists in this era were inspired by clowns, peacocks, rainbow cakes, mulukhiyah, Star Trek and basically anything with color or glitter.

The heroes of the 90s look were:

• Glitter and crystal stones
• Buckets of green eye shadow
• Extra thin eyebrows
• A whole lot of geometric lines and angles achieved by complicated mathematical equations and algorithms

This is the era where singers and models in music video clips started to influence makeup artists and women in the GCC. Many Khaleeji ladies wanted to get Halima Boland’s look or Mayssa Moghrabi’s eyebrows. The makeup remained very colorful, but more subdued and muted. The eyebrows started to get slightly thicker and colored contact lenses were a must have!

The heroes of the early 2000s look were:

• Contact lenses in almost any color
• Arched eyebrows
• Purple and pink eye shadow
• Contoured lips
• Gallons of lip gloss!

Social media exploded in this era. Instagram influencers became the new celebrities. Women copied their looks and followed their Youtube tutorials to the T. Makeup became more natural and softer, à la Haya Abdul Salam and Ascia Akf. But there was room for experimenting in darker shades of lipstick, dramatic eyeliners and daring eyelashes as demonstrated by some Khaleeji Instagram beauties such as Sondos Al Qattan, Fouz Al Fahad and Alreem Saif.

The heroes of the 2014 and beyond look were:

• Thick eyebrows that can be seen from space (mostly tattooed)
• Different shapes of fake eyelashes named after Las Vegas exotic dancers such as Monique and Cherry
• Winged eyeliner (the longer and thicker the better)
• A smart phone, a tripod and a selfie stick
• Instagram and Snapchat filters (preferably the one with the flower tiara and dewy eyes)
• Kitchen utensils and household devices (spoons, duct tape, pot brush…etc.)
• Eyebrow kit, contouring kit and baking kit (not to be confused with the cake baking kit)