Missy Elliott is the queen of camp. So when she dropped a new video for her single “Cool Off” we expected nothing less than exaggerated hair, outlandishly dope makeup and other over-the-top beauty.
What we didn’t expect was Teyana Taylor, who made a brief cameo at the end of the video, to make an old trend that was supposed to go the way of pencil thin eyebrows (in other words, it was never to re-enter the beauty space) look like the shiny new thing we want to play with for the summer.
Most Black women 30 and older remember the era of lining our lips with jet black pencil, and leaving the center nude or coating it with a pinkish hue. We loved it then, but realized later that the stark contrast in colors was not complementary on the face.
In the fun video, Taylor’s throwing it back to this trend with a twist. She wears the thick black outline and pairs it with a bright metallic pink lipstick. And it looks fantastic.
Of course in the context of the music video it makes sense, especially alongside her vinyl skirt suit. It’s not an every day look unless you have Teyana Taylor levels of confidence. And it certainly looks like something we’d see in a 2020 version of The Wiz.
But it’s a fun look to try when you want to go extra bold or do it up with the glam for a special occasion. You can even make it more modern by trying a dark liner color other than black and using variations of the same hue for the inner part of the lips.
Sometimes lipstick is the only makeup you want to wear when the sweltering summer heat threatens to melt everything else away. Why not make it as impactful and unique as possible with a new twist on an old trend?