Make-up
35 Grunge Makeup Ideas for a Bold and Edgy Look
Are you ready to rock a bold and edgy look that screams grunge? If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry! We’ve gathered 35 grunge makeup ideas that will inspire you to embrace the inner grunge goddess within you.
Remember, the grunge look is all about making it your own. It’s about drawing inspiration from different sources and molding them to fit your unique style. So, don’t take these ideas as a strict set of rules. Instead, let them guide you towards discovering your own grunge aesthetic.
And if you’re into a darker, goth-inspired look, we’ve got you covered too! Check out these aesthetic goth makeup looks that will add a touch of drama to your makeup routine.
Makeup is a powerful tool that can transform your fashion looks and take them to the next level. So, let’s dive into these awesome looks and get inspired to create something truly unique and beautiful.
Grunge Makeup Basics: Winged Eyeliner, Smokey Shadows, and Easy Lipstick Ideas
Before we dive into the world of grunge makeup, let’s cover the basics.
While grunge has no hard and fast rules, there are a few fundamental looks that are worth exploring.
From winged eyeliner to smokey shadows and easy lipstick ideas, these simple yet stylish looks can help you achieve the perfect grunge makeup finish. So, let’s explore some of the key techniques and ideas that will help you create a bold and edgy look that’s uniquely you.
Achieving a grunge eye makeup look can be as simple as using eyeliner.
The winged eyeliner effect is a favorite in the grunge scene, and the Maybelline New York Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner is perfect for creating that bold and fierce finish.
Its smudge-proof and waterproof formula ensures your look stays intact all day long.
Another fine example of a well-executed winged eye liner, so simple yet so effective.
It’s enhanced even more by having a defined brow, with different angles and styles producing different yet measurably great results.
This shows how you can combine the winged lashes with other features for a more complete and extravagant look.
The lustrous lashes add fullness to the eye, and I simply cannot get enough of full and plump lashes — can anybody?
This soft grunge makeup look showcases how you can bulk up your eyelashes just slightly, and combine it with a light eye shadow to have a totally chic and picturesque appearance.
This look features a full and thick lash game that when combined with the striking eye liner really does make the eye pop and stand out.
The black shadow is not overdone, but adds a little extra touch to the look. This one would be perfect for summer months — simple, easy, but well and truly enough to get the job done.
Using platinum hair as a tool to create cool and edgy looks
Hair is always there to compliment your makeup choices, so don’t be afraid to work with it and incorporate it into your look. Here are some of my favorite looks that go so well with the platinum color, or otherwise known as the “granny” hair trend that I just love to see rocked with a fierce makeup combination.
Rich and deep eye shadows match platinum hair styles really well, and colorless to even potent color schemes can all work. This particular look sports a black smokey eye finish on the eye, which really brings them out to seem powerful and bold — accentuating the platinum’s statement. The lusciousness of the Batalash eyelashes is paired with the lusciousness of the curly high pony style, and I also love the bright inner corner spot on the eye: it really adds a different dynamic to the look.
This style is more of a mix between grunge and goth — dare I say, a match that needs to be made more often? Yes, I dare. The platinum blond stands out starkly against the gothic makeup, but the makeup isn’t too gothic to the point where it’s bordering the darkness, as the grunginess brings it to the equilibrium. The eyes are bold and defined, which just about sums up this great hybrid look.
Another intense eye combination with platinum hair, but this one is a little different in that it throws in some pastel lipstick which is really brought out against the black and white backdrop. The hair is also platinum faded, which brings a whole other layer to the look.
This platinum hair style is accompanied by a host of stylishly excellent features that you simply have to try (if you have the granny look, of course!). The lipstick is almost a dark wine color, and the eye shadow is of an ash orange sort of hue. I love this look, and once again, the platinum hair simply begs to add oomph to your makeup choices.
Red lipstick can almost look too good on a paler canvas, and if you dont believe me, just take a look at this image. Really loving how creative people get with platinum hair styles, and this one is certainly hard to beat!
Red as a Key Feature: From Hair to Grunge Eyeliner, Shadows, and Lipsticks
This makes for a perfect segue to my next point — red, everything red. Because, who doesn’t love red? I know I know, it can be a little tacky, especially if you’re begging for attention in your status symbol car, but if you do it right, it can elevate your look from mediocre to near perfection.
This grunge egirl makeup idea features red dyed hair, red smokey eye shadow, and stark red lipstick, this look works so well, and the red certainly doesn’t seem overdone. I also love the winged eye liner and full lashes.
A simple winged eye liner look – perfect for those days when you’re a bit bored of the grunge makeup classic black, and want something that will stand out a bit more. An easy yet effective technique, if you don’t own red liner, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life, because I own bag loads of them! Not really, but still.
Red lipstick goes great with bright red hair, as shown here, and the intense eyeliner makes everything seem utterly fierce. Love the reds, and this look does it oh so correctly.
If you really want to use red, but you don’t want to be too out there, a more faded red is the perfect solution as seen here. The ash red eye liner when combined with the shadow makes for a wonderful makeup choice, something new, something fresh, and something grunge. The color is almost reminiscent of autumn months.
This K-Pop inspired look is so cute, and I think it would go even cuter with a fringed haircut. The Cherry Bruise lip gloss gives a glossy red look, with all the shine and potent coloring you’ll ever need.
Retro 90s grunge look resonating with a pale glow, the red lips, red blush, red hues around the eyes captivate the beauty of the face excellently. Working with the bone structure in unison, to create a simple, yet beautifully a 90s grunge aesthetic makeup look.
Pastel Color Ideas for a Variety of Looks: From Pastel Grunge Makeup to Hair Color
The pastel color scheme, drawing inspiration from other trends like pastel grunge, is a great way to inject some oomph and color into your makeup look.
Love the colors in this one. The pinky purple pastel eye shadow is really unique, and even the eyebrows and lashes are colored. This would go excellent with almost any hair color, even something just as extravagant as the makeup.
Pastel pink lipstick and faded pink eye shadow, this particular look is a perfect example of a grunge/pastel goth hybrid.
Pastel grunge inspired water color hair in aqua, proves to be an excellent addition to this look, and goes great with the ashy eyeliner and full lashes. It really brings out the eyes. Also love the dark lips.
Bursting with Life and Energy: Adding Glitter to Your Look with Lipstick, Eyeshadow, and More
Don’t be scared to add more than just color to your look, and glittery elements can add new dimensions to your makeup that other things can’t. This job is usually left up to jewelry, which has been brought more and more onto people’s faces to achieve this result. I say just drop the hassle of piercings and go for makeup, at least it rubs off! Which may not be a good thing if you’re in the rain, in which case, stick to those septums.
To achieve this stunning ocean-inspired glittery look, you can use a glitter primer like the NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Glitter Primer and add some NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Face and Body Glitter.
These products will ensure that your glitter elements stay in place and add an extra amount of extravagance to your grunge makeup look.
For a glittery and bold look, try using the Beauty For Real I-Line Metallic Gold Waterproof Gel Eyeliner and the Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid Eye Shadow, which comes in a variety of shades including gold.
These will add some sparkle to your makeup look and are perfect for experimenting with your makeup routine.
This glittered eye look goes great with the pastel pink hair, and would probably go even better with a pastel colored lipstick. Either pink or apricot, but lime or mint could also work (although this would be a little out there!).
For a glittery holographic lip look, try using the Almay Goddess Gloss Cosmic. This product will give your lips a mesmerizing holographic effect that’s perfect for any occasion.
For an extra dose of sparkle, add some stars glitter above your lips.
Embracing blacks and darker shades are great for a whole host of looks, and can go especially well with certain hair styles
Don’t be afraid to embrace the darker shades in your new grunge makeup look, and you’d be surpassed by how much life can be brought out of a look sporting darker shades, if you rock it correctly.
Black lipstick here goes excellent with the chalk black hair, and I’d have to say, it’d probably be even better with dark eye liner. Not to take it over board, but just to add to the foundation for a more intense appearance.
Black on black on black. This look inspires me to get the dark shades out and start going to town. The winged eye liner really brings out the eyes, and the dark shadow follows suit. Of course, the black lipstick can’t be ignored, because it simply injects so much into the look. An example of how well black lipstick can look.
This black lipstick almost has a purplish hue, and this hue goes excellently with the greyish smokey grunge eyeshadow — they just match so well! Again, I love when eyes are really brought out, and the beauty in them is enhanced, which this makeup style certainly achieves.
Love the dark red Occ lip tar this look sports, which is contrasted by the bronze grunge smokey eye yet matches up to create a completely unique and cool feel.
The contouring also accentuates the bone structure, something that I simply love to see.
Multicolored Lipsticks: Injecting Color and Uniqueness into Your Look
Multicolored lipstick is a favorite of mine, and any time I’m feeling like I want to take my look to the nth degree, and I’m tired of played out looks, I crack one of these bad boys open.
You may think it’s a thing that should have stayed in a kid’s pencil bag in the 90s, but I’m here to tell you that it’s actually really cool, which will be demonstrated visually below.
This multicolored lipstick has almost a goth makeup feel to it, and I would feel would go excellent with a brighter hairstyle to offset the goth.
Platinum hair would go great, as too would red. It would also be excellent in a look that has ashy eye shadow and full lashes.
These luscious multicolored pastel lips simply glow with vibrancy.
I love the pastel look ordinarily, but a multitude of tones really makes it seem almost completely unique.
The Complete Look: Perfectly Synchronized Hairstyle, Eyes, Lips, and Cheeks”
Here is an assortment of complete looks that I personally think embody everything there is about grunge, from head to toe, and from top to bottom.
To get an idea of how things can go together and really work towards creating a fluid and complete look, look at the way these have been put together for reference.
It will really help you get an idea of how it can be achieved.
This first one features a slight pink eye shadow, defined eye brows, and full lashes.
It also displays an excellently executed eye liner, which makes the yes come to life.
I love the way this look flows together, with every element intricately adding to the overall appeal.
This look is one of my personal favorite, with the Mauve smokey eye really taking this look to the highest degrees of aestheticism and utter style that humankind can ever reach.
Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but just look at it, it’s stunning.
The voluptuous lips in crimson red are deep in color and full in size and shape, which is complimented by the slight bluing on the cheeks that add definition to the cheek bones.
These are a mix mash of different looks, with each one displaying how flexible this fashion trend is. You’ll never be bored by the bland and bleak, because it’s absent with grunge.
The first displays how ashy can complement platinum hair almost seamlessly, how smokey and defined can bring together a look featuring darker hair, and how beauty with dark shades can be accomplished.
