Not even a week goes by without the emergence of new viral make-up hacks on the internet that promise you an easier life and a prettier face. Most of the times these tricks elicit gorgeous results—hence, the viral status, I guess—while some simply give off whimsical 2012 ‘5-Minute–Crafts’ vibes and turn out to be flops. But when it comes to make-up, experimenting is fun, no matter what results you get. It’s therapeutic and teaches us about beauty practices, diverse cultures, and current trends across the world.
Since it can get a bit daunting to keep up with all these nifty quick-fixes, we’ve curated a list of 5 trends you can easily replicate at home, without having to purchase anything new. Dug from the depths of our FYPs (for you pages)—from the douyin blush hack to the water-in-foundation trick, here is your monthly fix of the viral make-up trends you might have missed.
Mixing Foundation With A Cup Of Water
It’s time to switch up the way you apply foundation, at least if TikTok and Instagram creators have a say in it. The great beauty minds of social media have unearthed an ingenious way of achieving a dewy, ‘no-make-up’ make-up base. The hack involves dumping a few pumps of your regular foundation in a cup (yes, you read that right).. an entire *cup* of water. Also mix in the tears you’ll cry over potentially wasting your expensive foundation and hope for the best.
Give the mixture some good swirls and dig out the watered down foundation with a brush or a make-up sponge. Apply the concoction like you normally would, and there you have it! Make-up gurus have us believing that this hack, albeit messy, definitely sort of works. Even make-up mogul Huda Kattan of Huda Beauty has given this hack her stamp of approval, and if the countless Instagram reels are anything to go by, the foundation blends out easily and gives you the dewy, hydrated-looking skin of your dreams. It supposedly makes it transfer-proof in comparison to your normal application as well. Go give this a try, stat!
The Douyin Blush Trend
Originating in China, the douyin blush trend is taking over TikTok and Instagram with over 10 million views to its hashtag. Fun fact—Douyin is the commonly used term for TikTok in China and the blush trend has now made its way all over the world. The douyin blush focuses on multiple points on your face and strategically places the blush on the high points, giving you a youthful, sunkissed look. All you have to do is apply a cream or liquid blush on your cheekbones, nose, outer corners of the eyes, undereyes and the chin to achieve a doll-like look. Etch a small ‘V’ shape with your blush applicator on all the spots mentioned before and dab it out with a damp beauty sponge. You can also use your fingers to blend it out just as nicely. We’re loving this cute and feminine make-up look, and you will too!
Invisible Eyeliner Trend
A very editorial and professional-looking make-up trend doing the rounds on the internet is the invisible eyeliner hack, a blessing in disguise for people with darker eye areas. To recreate this subtle look, make sure you apply a darker shade of eyeshadow as the base first to contrast the barely-there concealer-toned liner. Then, grab some concealer onto the back of your hand, and use a slanted/square brush to take some of that and “paint” the outline of a wing shape from the outer corner of your eye as you would draw with a black liner. Once you’re done, gently blend around the edges to diffuse the colour and achieve that ‘invisible’ effect. If your eyelids tend to become oily, gently buff it with a translucent powder and you’re good to go. And if you fumble, don’t even sweat it, just use micellar water to clean up your lines.
Douyin Lips
Another one from the Chinese TikTok beauty bible, the douyin lips trend is the hottest new entry on the block. To get this adorable look, apply a swish of a lighter shade of concealer around the upper and lower outlines of your lips, mostly at the outer corners. Next, put the same product along your philtrum and cupid’s bow and blend this all out to create a reverse-contoured effect. Then, apply a cherry coloured lip stain or liquid lipstick in the centre of both your lips and dab it out with your fingers. Use a black eyeliner to deepen the colour in the centre-most part and drag the same black tip along the ends of your mouth (along the smile lines), to give the illusion of a longer smile, similar to the siren lips trend. Finish the look off by dousing your lips in clear lip gloss and voila!
Bat-Winged Eyeliner
If the very idea of drawing on a pair of eyeliner wings breaks you out in a sweat, this bat winged eyeliner is no help either, just kidding! If you’ve been blessed with hooded eyelids, this eyeliner trend is perfect to emulate a perfect cat eye that caters to your eye shape, lid space and crease shape. Most people with hooded eyelids cannot, for the life of them, achieve the perfect cat-eyeliner look thanks to their limited lid space. The liner ends up getting smudged or the wings simply disappear in the abysses of their creases. Bat-winged eyeliner, on the other hand, bypasses this issue, with the help of strategic liner placement and a bit of optical illusion.
To draw on the bat-winged liner, take a black liquid or gel eye pencil and slide on the tip normally along the upper lash line, right up to where you’d usually start placing the wings. Then, instead of painting on the liner in a single stroke, etch a wing separate from the rest of the liner and drag it down to attach it to the liner on the lid. This will make the eyeliner perfectly visible even on hooded eyes. Instagram beauties seem sold, and we’re definitely hooked on this trend as well!
