Here Are the Quick Answers to the 10 Most Googled Beauty Questions Of 2016

How to do a fishtail braid

While this mermaid look has been around for a while, it seems that it's one of those evergreens that is not one of your in-and-out trends. Why are we not surprised? It's just so pretty. And also super easy to do yourself if you want a side braid - which you have admit looks uber chic. The only downside is that if you want one down your back, you need to call on your bestie to help. But then, any excuse for some chill out girl time is always a good thing...
 

How to make hair grow faster?

The bad news? Your genes determine the growth rate of your hair - so you can blame it on your parents. The rate of growth can vary between 0.6cm but doesn't reach much more than 1.3cm per month. And it's pretty close to impossible to speed up a natural process - so for this one the key is patience. The good news? If you look after your hair properly with regular trims, proper shampooing and conditioning together with a few other insider tricks, you can achieve longer, healthy and bouncier tresses in no time at all...
 

How to shape eyebrows?

Brows are still one of the biggest beauty trends (and yes, they are still huge this coming winter) so it's not surprising to find them on the list. Shaping has to be one of the most challenging of all of our brow duties as our own tend to veer off in different directions with a mind all of their own. Not all of us are able to visit a brow specialist (however if you want a good shape this is an excellent place to start), so the next best thing is to learn the three-point pencil trick. And then you will want all the gen on how to keep your eyebrows on point. A little work but oh so worth it...

Related: 8 Tricks You Need to Know to Get Your Eyebrows on Point
 

How to curl hair?

Having been 'blessed' with dead straight hair, I feel the pain. All of us girls want to break out every now and again and go-for-glam with big, bouncy and oh so pretty waves. The downside? We just don't want to spend an hour doing our hair. The good news is that here are many quick and easy tricks you can use to rock those waves. Most of them use curling irons or hair straighteners and by choosing a technique based on your time constraints, you can be done in 5-10 minutes. And for those of you who are a little wary of heat damage, try the overnight bun sock trick - really cool.

Related: The Top 19 Tips and Tricks For Anyone Who Uses A Hair Straightener

View Video. How to Curl Your Hair in 5 Minutes

How to remove gel nails?

Are you like us and cannot resist peeling off nail polish when it starts to chip? It's just like so addictive. Okay, so this is a big red alert - this is an absolute no-no for gel nails if you want to keep your nail bed in any sort of healthy shape. Don't pick or peel - no matter how much you are drawn to do so. The good news is that with a little patience its pretty easy to remove gel nails at home. All you need is a nail file, cuticle oil, cotton balls, acetone, foil and a cuticle stick - and after half an hour, all gone...

Related: What You Need to Know Before You Get a Gel Manicure
 

How to clean makeup brushes?

You know you need to clean your makeup brushes once a week - right? Leaving them any longer just creates a wonderful breeding ground for all sort of bacteria - and germs lead to breakouts and all sorts of other skin problems. But if you are anything like me you probably find it a total grind to get them really clean - even with suds. This is when we turn to the real pros. Mario Dedivanovic's (AKA Kim K’s makeup artist) advice: combine baby shampoo (real gentle on your precious tools) and a few drops of tea tree oil (great bacteria fighter) with water, wash - et voila, squeaky clean and germ free...
 

How to apply concealer?

Have you always applied a few dots of your concealer under your eyes and just blended it in? Turns out that all those clever makeup pros apply it in the shape of a V under your eyes. Not only does this hide those under eye circles but it brightens up your whole face. And always wondered how to use those colour correcting palettes to hide those nasty pimples and blemishes your normal concealer just doesn't really conceal? Hint: Green tones down the redness of a pimple, lilac negates yellow tinges and yellow/salmon/peach wipes out those nasty dark under eye circles (you will need an orange/orange red for dark skins). For the full concealer inside story read this.

Related: How to Avoid 6 Concealer Mistakes You Might Be Guilty Of
 

How to get rid of bags under your eyes?

It's time to blame the parents yet again. Those wretched genes play all sorts of tricks on us trying to look our best. Although we are also to blame - too little sleep, too much alcohol and smoking - even the way you sleep - can make matters worse. And if you are allergy prone, it just makes those baggies even bigger. The good news? With a few lifestyle and dietary changes you can say bye-bye to them forever. In the meantime, DIY with a cold compress using ice cold tea bags sprinkled with a few drops of lavender oil to reduce all that puffiness and try a little colour correcting...

How to fill in eyebrows?

Brows again. We said they are big beauty news so it's not surprising that they appear twice in the top 10. But we all know that the tiniest mistake can have you mimicking a clown in one easy step. Hardly a look anyone wants. The biggest slip-up most of us make is to use a brow pencil or powder darker than our natural colour. The key is to successful brow colour is blending - and more blending. If you use a pencil, mix it up with both short and long strokes. Or you can use an angled brush and powder to fill in the gaps. And don't forget to finish off with upward brush strokes to make them look more natural. We have the full inside brow story for you here. And if you have the time, you can follow the long but stunning Kim K's eyebrow routine.
 

What is balayage?

If you have always been into foil highlighting but absolutely hate the hassle of regular touch-ups, balayage - meaning to 'sweep' or 'paint' in French - is made for you.  A hugely popular natural highlighting technique where the colourist paints the hair by hand, starting mid shaft and then scattering the highlights all about for a more sun kissed look. It blends in far better with your natural hair than its big sister, ombré, and - a big bonus for us time starved girls - requires a lot less maintenance.

Related:  The Latest (and Greatest) Beauty Buzz Terms You Need to Know

 

We also saw a lot of 'wow' (and some very intriguing) products hit the shops in 2016. For those beauty aficionadas who want to keep ahead of the pack see InStyle's '10 of the Buzziest Beauty Products on Instagram in 2016'. And for some of the most genius tips we've learnt during the year, read The Zoe Report's '5 Life-Changing Makeup Hacks We Learned This Year 2016.'