TikTok Wants You To Wear Mascara Anywhere But On Your Lashes

Whether you’re a makeup novice or a longtime beauty pro, all can agree that mascara is the one no-brainer product that can be found in basically everyone’s makeup bag. Mascara is beloved for its ability to make everyone look better, more polished, and more awake by darkening, lengthening and adding volume to the eyelashes, but we wouldn’t call the go-to product in your makeup bag versatile per se. But turns out the only limit really is our imagination. A beauty creator who goes by @divinamuse on TikTok has recently created a series of viral videos showcasing what she calls “anti-mascara” looks— using mascara in creative, unusual, and edgy-looking ways.

The anti-mascara makeovers, where she uses mascara alone to create full eye makeup looks, involve creating smudges, patterns, and shapes with the mascara wand, product itself, and occasionally an eye makeup brush Q-tip. Her first “anti-mascara” video immediately went viral with nearly one million videos, and she’s since posted a part two.

The creator has sparked a fan base across the internet who are eager to use their mascara wand in a new way. Huda Beauty founder and makeup artist Huda Kattan posted a video responding to multiple requests from followers for her to try the trend. "The trick here is you need to find a good mascara wand because that's what you get the style with," she said in the video. Kattan then dabbed off excess product and applied the wand to her eyelids to create a similar grunge pattern. She even added blue mascara for her own twist on the trend.

With goth makeup currently making a triumphant return, taking over the 2022 MTV VMA red carpet, the anti-mascara trend is an easy way to create something dark, messy, and creative with a product you (most likely) already have in your makeup bag. Giving us hundreds of new ideas on what to do with mascara, we may never look at another mascara wand in the same way again.