2016 Fads

The year 2016 was full of great new discoveries in the Science, Entertainment, and most importantly Fad’s. The amazing trends that fill up your social media feed then get replaced in an instant. As 2016 comes to a close it is crucial that we look back on these internet sensations to remember just how much of an impact millennials can make with their smartphones (for better or for worse). After much research, I have compiled the most popular trends from this very eventful year.
Youtube sensations such as Jaclyn Hill and NikkieTutorials have grown quite popular within the last 12 months, gaining interest in the makeup world. Beauty trends have been widely advertised through social media, causing unusual uses of of makeup and new takes on old styles. Graphic Eyeliner, Rainbow Highlight, and Faux Freckles went viral this year causing major competition on achieving the desired looks. Graphic Eyeliner is a technique used to create shapes with liners and shadows on your eyelids. Rainbow Highlight is a take on the “glowy” look that was very popular this year, it was a combination of colored sparkly pigments pressed into a compact and sold on Etsy. This product currently has a long waiting list and people are still waiting so achieve this trendy look. Faux Freckles takes a different approach to creating a natural makeup look by pretending that you naturally have freckles. This look is created by taking either a brow pencil or eyeliner and making dots on the nose and cheeks. These Beauty trends might begin to fade as 2017 begins but after this years interesting trends, I am not sure what to expect from the Beauty world in the upcoming year.

As Social Media begins continues to develop, a new form of entertainment was extremely popular this year. Memes ruled the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook world. The 2016 Olympics brought forward a couple memes including the now iconic “Phelps Face”. Classic puppet star Kermit the Frog was also one of the top 2016 memes with a mirrored picture that portrayed his “Evil” side. The Presidential Election that took place this year was a rollercoaster of mixed emotions but one thing we know to be true is, we received amazing memes from the political figures appearances. Ken Bone, a regular man at the second Presidential debate stole the show with his bright red sweater. The Joe Biden-Barack Obama memes also gained traction this year. People made memes comparing him to cartoon characters from the Disney Movie Toy Story 2 and constantly discussing his red sweater. While all these lighthearted memes were circulating a first tragic then hilarious meme came into the spotlight, the death of Harambe. This began when a 3 year old climbed into a Gorilla enclosure and was dragged around by Harambe a gorilla that called that enclosure home. Harambe was killed in order to reassure the child’s safety, his death became a media frenzy and which turned into many memes. RIP Harambe.

Although all these memes were very popular one stood among them all, “Damn Daniel”. This one phrase was the star
of Josh Holz’s snapchat story, he walked around and saying “Damn Daniel, back at it again with the white vans” to his friend Daniel Lara everyday at school. The two received instant fame after the compilation of videos were posted to twitter. A snapchat filter was created in honor of the video and the two high school students were sent to meet Ellen Degeneres on her show. On the show Daniel received a lifetime supply of vans sneakers which you could say were the real stars of the video and Josh received a skateboard that says “Damn Daniel I was on Ellen!”. With nearly 4 million views on youtube alone, this meme might just be one of the most popular memes this world has ever seen.

DJ Khaled  was a star who grew in popularity through popular social media app Snapchat. Through these “stories” DJ Khaled brought some new vocabulary words to the collection used this year. He repeatedly states “Bless up” and “Major Key”. Along with these phrases, more short, irrelevant words were commonly used such as “Lit” and “Fire”. Many new words were used this year but these are the most common.

It all started with a simple talent show at Ardrey Kell High School,  Mike Senatore walked up to the table and pulled out his water bottle, the world was not ready for what came next. Senatore began to flip and eventually land the bottle to make the whole auditorium and future internet go crazy. It became known as the “Bottle Flip Challenge”. Challenges have become very popular in recent years and 2016 had some very memorable ones. The Mannequin Challenge is also one that went viral fast. The point of the Mannequin Challenge is to freeze at a random time while “Black Beatles” by Rae Stremmurd. People have done this while cheerleading, working out at the gym, and even at The White House. Other Challenges have risen through youtube beauty sensations, such as the “100 Layer Challenge”. This consists of youtubers applying 100 layers of any beauty product. Nail Polish, Foundation, and even lashes have been applied 100 times by youtubers which started a viral sensation.

As 2016 comes to an end hopefully most of these trends do too. This years trends have been very interesting to some but most would be disliked by responsible adults. Beauty, Meme, Vocab, and Challenge trends have ruled the internet this year. This upcoming year is going to bring even more technology and use of youtube to have viral videos. Hopefully despite all odds, 2017 will be a better year than than 2016.