Beauty Trends Born from TikTok Challenges
Remember when beauty tutorials meant sitting through a 20-minute YouTube video just to learn how to apply eyeliner? TikTok changed all that. The app turned beauty into a fast-paced playground where a 60-second video can launch a trend that sells out products worldwide by morning.
What started as dance challenges and recipe videos has evolved into the most influential beauty platform on the planet, where everyday people become trendsetters and makeup artists overnight. These aren’t your typical magazine-inspired looks that trickle down from fashion week runways.
TikTok beauty trends bubble up from real users experimenting in their bathrooms, often sparked by playful challenges that dare people to try something different.Some trends are genius hacks that makeup artists have used for decades, while others are wonderfully weird experiments that somehow work.
The magic happens when millions of people jump in, put their own spin on it, and suddenly the aesthetic inspired by celebrities like Bella Hadid becomes something anyone can recreate. Here is a list of 14 beauty trends that went from quirky TikTok challenges to mainstream obsessions.
Soap Brows
Forget spending money on fancy brow gels when a bar of soap does the trick better. This technique actually comes from drag queens and professional makeup artists who’ve been using it for decades, but TikTok brought it to the masses starting in 2019 to 2020.
Creators like @westbarnco popularized the method, which later became a trademarked product called Soap Brows®. The glycerin in soap coats each hair and locks it in place all day long, giving you that fluffy, brushed-up look without the price tag of salon brow lamination.
Fox Eye Makeup
The fox eye look swept across TikTok with beauty creators and makeup artists recreating Bella Hadid’s signature lifted-eye aesthetic using strategic concealer placement and sharp eyeliner wings. The technique involves applying concealer in an upward diagonal line at the outer corners of the eyes and keeping inner corners bright for an elongated effect.
While the trend gained massive popularity, it faced significant criticism in 2020 for eye-pulling gestures that evoked harmful East Asian stereotypes. The conversation sparked important discussions about cultural appropriation in beauty trends, leading creators to focus purely on the makeup techniques rather than problematic gestures.
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Strawberry Girl Makeup
Hailey Bieber’s viral strawberry makeup tutorial dropped in August 2023 and launched a trend that had everyone reaching for pink blushes and berry-toned glosses. The look captures that sun-kissed flush you get after eating fresh strawberries outdoors, complete with faux freckles dotted across the nose and cheeks.
Pink cream blush gets applied generously to the apples of the cheeks and even the bridge of the nose, paired with peachy highlighter and glossy lip products. Her own brand Rhode’s blush and peptide lip tint in Strawberry Glaze sold out almost immediately after the tutorial went viral, with the hashtag racking up over 3.6 billion views.
Jamsu Technique
This Korean beauty hack sounds absolutely insane but works like magic for long-lasting makeup. The term jamsu means “submerge” in Korean, and the method first appeared in K-beauty YouTube tutorials around 2016 before resurfacing on TikTok in 2020.
Users apply their foundation, concealer, blush, and bronzer as usual, then dust translucent powder over everything before dunking their entire face into a bowl of cold water for 15 to 30 seconds. After patting dry, the makeup sets into a sweat-proof, melt-proof finish that works best for oily skin types, though it’s not ideal for dry or textured skin.
Heatless Curls Challenge
Tired of burning your fingers on curling irons at ridiculous hours of the morning? TikTok users discovered you could wrap your hair around a bathrobe belt before bed and wake up with gorgeous Hollywood waves. Creator @beautyby_lyss sparked the bathrobe belt version in 2020 with a video that reached over 20 million views, though earlier versions used socks or flexi rods.
The technique requires zero heat and gives you bouncy curls without any damage to your hair. The only downside is trying to sleep comfortably with a belt wrapped around your head, but many found the results worth the temporary discomfort.
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2016 vs 2021 Makeup Challenge
This hilarious challenge circulated widely in early 2021, having people draw a line down the center of their face and create a split screen of makeup styles. One side featured the heavily contoured, blocky Instagram brows, and over-bronzed look that dominated 2016, while the other showcased the softer, more natural glow aesthetic that took over by 2021.
The stark contrast showed just how dramatically beauty trends had shifted in just five years, becoming a nostalgic trip for many who cringed at their old makeup photos. The challenge was revived again in 2023 as “2016 vs 2023 makeup” with a new generation of creators joining in.
Latte Makeup
Food-inspired makeup reached peak deliciousness with the latte trend coined by creators Rachel Rigler and Tanielle Jai in 2023. The look mimics the creamy caramel shades of your favorite coffee drink, using browns, taupes, and soft bronzers to create a monochromatic bronzy effect with creamy textures.
Users would blend these cozy tones across their eyes, cheeks, and lips for a cohesive look that aligned perfectly with the clean girl aesthetic. The trend emphasized dewy, dimensional skin rather than the matte finishes that dominated earlier years.
Magnetic Lashes Hack
False lashes got a major upgrade when magnetic eyeliner and lashes, which first launched in 2018 by brands like Ardell and MoxieLash, experienced a mass resurgence on TikTok in 2020 to 2021. Instead of dealing with messy glue, users simply swipe on magnetic eyeliner, let it dry, and click their magnetic lashes right onto the liner.
The process takes seconds and keeps lashes in place all day without the frustration of traditional falsies. While results vary and some users experienced liner flaking or lash lift issues, the convenience factor made it wildly popular for quick transformations.
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Pixel Makeup
This bizarre trend emerged from creator @artsymadeline in 2020, inspired by digital filters that had users drawing dozens of tiny squares all over their face in different colors. Each box gets filled in for highlight, contour, and blush placement before blending everything together with a makeup sponge.
While the finished result looks normal and actually quite flattering, the process itself became entertainment as people couldn’t look away from watching colorful grids transform into perfectly contoured faces. The unblended pixel version also became popular for cosplay and gamer-inspired looks.
Broccoli Freckles
TikTok took food-inspired beauty to wild new places in mid-2021 when creator @bethgilmore popularized stamping broccoli florets dipped in cream bronzer or contour product onto cheeks to create faux freckles. The technique actually works surprisingly well, creating natural-looking sun-kissed spots that mimic real freckles better than trying to draw them on individually.
The randomness of the broccoli texture creates an organic freckle pattern that looks convincingly real, though it works best with cream formulas rather than powder for the most realistic texture.
Tired Girl Makeup
In a refreshing rejection of perfectionism, the tired girl trend embraced smudged eyes, pale skin, and an overall undone aesthetic. Also known as hangover makeup or undone beauty, this deliberately messy look was popularized in late 2022 to 2023 by creators like @sarcasticbrunette.
The trend features slightly smeared eyeliner, minimal coverage, and a kind of beautiful exhaustion that feels authentic. It represents a backlash against clean girl burnout, proving that makeup doesn’t always need to be about looking more awake or polished.
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Sunset Blush
Blush placement got a dramatic makeover with the sunset blush technique that originated from East Asian beauty creators, notably Chinese and Korean makeup artists, before going global on TikTok in 2022. The technique blends shades of coral, orange, and pink across the high points of the cheekbones to capture the gorgeous gradient colors of a vacation sunset.
Users would layer these warm tones in a sweeping motion from the apples of their cheeks back toward their temples, creating a bright, naturally flushed appearance that adds dimension and photographs beautifully.
Project Pan Challenge
This trend flipped beauty culture on its head by challenging people to actually finish their products before buying new ones. The Project Pan movement started on YouTube beauty communities around 2010 but TikTok revived it in 2021 to 2022.
Users would film themselves showing their massive collections of barely-used makeup and skincare, then commit to using everything up. One creator went viral with 96 shower gels, 19 bars of soap, and 13 body scrubs she needed to work through.
The movement was influenced by sustainability concerns and no-buy challenges, representing growing awareness around overconsumption in the beauty industry.
Drugstore Shampoo Comeback
High-end haircare brands got a reality check when the return to drugstore hair trend gained traction in 2022 and peaked in 2023. TikTok users started comparing ingredient lists of salon brands versus budget options, then raving about their results from affordable shampoos from brands like Pantene, Herbal Essences, Tresemmé, Aussie, and OGX.
Influencers with millions of followers showed off their luscious locks after returning to these reliable products. The trend shifted conversations from prestige branding to actual ingredient transparency and real-world results, proving that price doesn’t always equal quality.
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The New Beauty Democracy
TikTok demolished the traditional beauty hierarchy where trends came from celebrities, magazines, and high-end brands. Now anyone with a phone and an idea can start a movement that reaches millions overnight.
These challenges prove that the best beauty discoveries often come from everyday experimentation rather than polished marketing campaigns. Whether it’s using soap on your brows or stamping broccoli on your face, TikTok beauty culture celebrates creativity, accessibility, and the willingness to look a little ridiculous in pursuit of something that actually works.
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