The beauty world has become a really weird place lately. In it’s defense, the beauty industry has always been an environment in which experimentation and lightening fast innovation is most often considered to be the key to success but, the past few months have taken things to a new (and some might argue), frightening level. How exactly? Well, let’s start at the beginning.
Makeup and beauty hacks have always been a popular way for all members of the beauty world to come together and to provide a valuable service to the community. I distinctively remember the first time that I went to a makeup counter and was told about color correcting. I am a lifelong sufferer of facial redness and uneven skin tone so, finding out that you can use different colored concealers (think green or yellow shades) to neutralize some of the redness on my cheeks was a godsend! This trend of providing makeup/beauty tips and tricks to the masses became even more popular when social media and beauty blogging became a staple in our modern everyday lives. And if you follow any of the many well known and highly successful gurus like Wayne Goss, Jeffree Star or Tati Westbrook (just to name a few), you will know that they are keeping their followers updated on a daily basis with the newest products and techniques via social media such as: Instagram and Youtube.
But, with the huge success of social media endorsed MUAs has also come a momentous shift from just providing readers and viewers with practical, safe and useable techniques or “beauty hacks” to a new culture of “pay per click” viewers that are mostly interested in content based on shock value alone. And beauty content providers are cashing in on this viral trend by coming up with the most shock worthy articles and videos possible. And what do I mean by shock worthy? Well, let’s backtrack to April 2017 when a girl posted a video of herself using her boyfriend’s balls as a beauty blender. His Balls! And while you may think that this was just some form of entertainment and not representative of the industry, I am going to list just some of the most odd and slightly disturbing trends that actual beauty gurus have promoted on their channels over the past year.
- Applying your makeup with food: Yes, you read that right. I said, food. From hard boiled eggs to potatoes and tomatoes, some beauty insiders swear by these but, I think this is just used for shock value. A tomato? Really?
- Silicone Sponges-This trend may actually have some justifiable and it definitely caught my eye in a positive way whenever I first read about it. These clear, jelly-like sponges are similar to regular sponge beauty blenders in that they promise to provide flawless, almost air brushed quality foundation application. So on the scale of weirdness, this isn’t very far up on the list. But, of course someone had to take this particular trend up a notch on the scale by applying their foundation with silicone bra inserts or how many women lovingly refer to them as, “chicken cutlets.”
- Sock Blenders-FYI, please make sure that you are using a clean sock. Same premise as the sponge base beauty blender except you will be using a cotton or terry cloth applicator.
- Beauty blender covered with a condom-This grosses me out in so many ways! A viral hit on Instagram, beauty gurus are actually placing wiped off condoms on top of their beauty blenders to apply foundation. Yuck!
- Oreo Eyeliner-Safety Check Alert! I’ve read about people who have crushed oreo cookies, combined it with cream and then used it as an eyeliner. Please don’t do this! Oreos are made to eat, not put on your face.
- Elmer’s glue/charcoal face mask-This particular DIY beauty mask left me both in shock and horror. The basic premise of the mask is to mix Elmer’s glue with crushed charcoal tabs in order to make a charcoal based pore cleansing mask. Japan and South Korea popularized these types of beauty masks as a way to instantly and efficiently remove all blackheads from your skin. The problem with the DIY version is that neither ingredient is made for skin application and most people that have tried out this mask (even well known Youtube stars and bloggers) have said that the mask is extremely painful to remove and can cause a lot of redness and irritation afterwards. I cannot stress enough the dangers of applying these kinds of products onto your skin! Please don’t do it!
- Using Scissors to Contour -made popular by Celebrity makeup artist Jose Martinez, the technique boasts of super sharp contouring lines by opening the scissors and using them to draw your contour lines. The dangers of this technique (ummmm, like cutting your face with a sharp object) should not be surprising to anyone involved.
- Ball Sack Beauty Blender-This went viral a few weeks ago and people still can’t believe that it actually happened. A girl on Instagram posted a video of herself using her boyfriend’s ball sack to apply her foundation. She now claims that the stunt was supposed to be a joke but, it is just the most current example of how weird the beauty world has gotten over the past 2-3 years.
And while the vast majority of us average beauty consumers might hope and pray that the madness that has overtaken the industry might come to an end soon, just talk to anyone involved in the beauty industry online and they will probably tell you that it is not about to go away anytime soon. Bummer.
