Next time you’re crying (we can guarantee this will have you sobbing), take a moment to appreciate your beauty – puffy lips, blushed nose, glistening lashes, sparkly eyes, plump face, and all. Cry-face is having a moment within the beauty industry, and I’m here for it. After years of seeing Kim Kardashian’s tears memeified and mocked, we’re seeing people appreciate emotions in a more positive way, which is great because I’m crying all the time.
BUT, if you’re not quite welling up at the drop of a hat like I am (I’m a Cancer, OK? Leave me alone), then you can fake it ’till you make it with TikTok’s trend: crying makeup.
Undoubtedly inspired by the raw, vulnerable, teary-eyed images posted by celebrities in recent years (Bella Hadid’s candid selfies from Nov ’21 spring to mind, as well as Dove Cameron’s intimate view into her struggles with identity in May ’22), the crying makeup trend has exploded after TikTok user and makeup artist @zoekimkenealy posted a how-to video.
Addressed to “the unstable girlies”, the video has racked up a phenomenal 607.5K likes and over 2000 comments, with some viewers commenting on the similarities between this trend and Korean makeup trends; some giving shade advice for the unstable girlies with deeper skin tones; and some asking for more seemingly outrageous makeup looks like “post-nap” makeup. The positive response is overwhelming.
Via Instagram @bellahadid
Via Instagram @dovecameron
Personally, I think it’s a good thing that crying and showing emotion has become more normalised and accepted. In an age of “socially-prescribed perfectionism” (a term coined by Dr. Thomas Curran – assistant professor of psychology at LSE – to mean the expectation we have that others expect us to be perfect, lest we be judged), surely, being accepting and understanding of emotional outbursts can only be a good thing? Rather than labeling such things as dramatic or immature?
Journalist Celia Walden – known for her controversial and frank opinions – thinks otherwise. According to Walden, us millennials and Gen-Zers “have fetishised emotion to the point that [we] speak in therapese, Kleenex box at the ready”, and I must admit, this trend does make me wonder if we are indeed fetishising crying.
Whatever you might think of the trend, Zoe’s now-famous video demonstrates some undeniably gorgeous makeup techniques – the goal is to achieve effortlessly dewy, gleaming skin; shimmering eyes; and softly blushed cheeks and lips. Zoe begins by showing us how to achieve a “puffy, soft lip” by applying a swipe of the Soft Spoken Velvet Lip Crème by EM Cosmetics, blurring the edges with a brush, and then applying a slightly darker liner. She finishes with Item Beauty’s Lip Quip, which she swears will “change your life”. While we can’t yet get this in the Middle East (*big sigh as life remains unchanged*), an icon like the Too Faced Lip Injection Maximum Plump will give a similar juicy effect.
Dhs148, Shop here.
The next step is easy; Zoe uses just one palette to give her eyes, cheeks, and nose a flushed, I’ve-just-been-sobbing-but-I-look-sexy-as-hell look. The Double Cheek’D Up palette by Fenty Beauty is your best friend here – apply the same shade on your lids, under your eyes, on your cheeks, and on the tip of your nose.
Dhs150, Shop here.
Next, Zoe advises us to use the AMTS Webtoon True Beauty Makeup Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow under your bottom lash line to give the illusion of glimmering tears still clinging to your skin. Genius. Next up, Zoe liberally applies About-Face’s Vinyl Effect gloss to… well… everywhere.
She slathers it onto her cupid’s bow, lids, cheekbones, chin, nostrils – you name it – to make her skin look wet and plump. For the Middle Eastern unstable girlies who can’t their hands on About-Face’s viral gloss, we recommend the Éclat De Beauté Effet Lumière Gel Face Gloss by Gucci Beauty instead.
Dhs80, Shop here.
To finish, Zoe completes the look by curling her lashes with a simple lash curler – the finished look is so simple, yet so dewy and ethereal-looking, and it’s a true celebration of raw emotion.
Crying makeup trend or not, you’ll find me with copious amounts of glitter under my eyes for the foreseeable future. Oh, and gloss. All the gloss.