From beauty to fashion, TikTok is the place where trends are born these days. People flock to the app daily to share product reviews, try out unconventional hacks, and open up about their biggest insecurities. And yet, very few saw its latest trend coming: Faking under-eye bags.
Since the start of the New Year, the makeup community on TikTok has embraced a new trend of painting on under-eye dark circles. At first, many were hesitant to come on board, as under-eye bags have long been huge insecurity for many, and one that’s often hidden with the right amount of concealer. But now, they’re apparently “hot” and “cool,” at least according to the TikTok teens. (So, if you naturally have them, now is the time to flaunt them?)
“Give Gen Z a few more years and they won’t need to fake dark circles,” commented one user under a video of Danielle Marcan taking part in the trend. On Twitter, many were just as conflicted. “dark under-eye circles becoming a trend on TikTok …. it’s my time to shine,” said one user, while another wrote, “People on TikTok are drawing under-eye circles on when I try everything to get rid of mine- pls.” (Sara Carstens, one of the people that went viral with the trend, later explained her intention was to embrace her own under-eye circles and show they can be beautiful too.)
This new eyebrow-raising TikTok trend is not to be confused with the “aegyo sal” trend popularized in Korean makeup since the early and mid-2010s. Korean makeup artist Cat Koh told Byrdie that “aegyo sal” is the Korean term used for the little pocket of skin that forms under your eyes when you smile. Rather than highlighting hollows caused by actual under-eye bags, this aims to emphasize one’s natural facial muscles using a bit of highlighter above a darker concealer or shader for a “cuter” look.
Now that under-eye bags and dark circles are officially a beauty trend, who truly knows what TikTok will come up with next?
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