Viral TikTok Beauty Hacks: Five to Try and Five to Avoid

14/04/2022

Beauty enthusiasts can always be grateful for a new hack. Whether it’s to find multiple purposes for your favourite products, save time in your morning routine, or simply to improve your skincare regime – there’s always something circulating the internet, particularly on TikTok.

Beauty is the second-highest ranked industry on TikTok, so it’s no surprise that many users share their tips and tricks on the platform. Here, we explore five of the best TikTok beauty hacks, as well as ones to avoid.

Five beauty hacks that are taking TikTok by storm

Lipstick as a replacement for blush is taking over the TikTok beauty hacks for this year, despite it being an old make-up trick. Whether you’re using a pink shade or even red to be slightly daring, lipstick is extremely pigmented, so only a little bit of the product is necessary. It’s certain to give you that creamy texture too, making your skin look as dewy as ever. And a quick tip: using your fingertips rather than a brush will blend it nicely into your skin, and save you more room in your make-up bag.

Lipstick isn’t the only multi-purpose product, with eyeliner now being used for nose contour. TikToker Amina Keita shared the hack as an alternative for cream contour products, after initially discovering that it was better suited to her skin shade. Although this is one of the benefits for darker skin tones, it proves useful for anyone who is drawing fine contour lines that look neater and are easier to blend.

False tan freckles are circulating TikTok. For beginners, you may want to try using a very fine brush to gently dab them around your face. And the best part is that you can use tanning water as a base first, then add your freckles to complete the sun-kissed look. It’s much more efficient than using make-up – not only will it last longer, but it saves you the hassle of repeating the process as often as you do your make-up routine.

Spraying your blender with a setting mist is a hack that many of us might be shocked not to have discovered earlier. Using setting spray once your look is complete does the trick, but the real secret to a flawless, long-lasting look is spraying your blender. During the routine, this clever hack will set each layer of make-up that you add to ensure it doesn’t budge.

Creased concealer is one of the many issues we can run into when wearing make-up. But TikTokers are sharing the simple hack of using eyeshadow primer underneath your eyes before applying concealer to combat this. Regular primer doesn’t seem to do the trick, even when we set our make-up with powder. Luckily this is a simple solution to a common problem.

Five beauty hacks to avoid

Skin-icing was shared as a beauty hack last year and is still prominent in 2022. Essentially, it involves rubbing an ice cube on your skin. And, although it is considered to control blemishes, reduce redness, and exfoliate, it can actually cause damage for people with sensitive skin. According to dermatologists, this TikTok hack can cause irritation and redness, as well as the risk of delicate capillaries breaking which can lead to headaches. Are these risks really worth taking?

TikTok users have discovered that many household items, like lemon, sugar, coffee, and honey, can be used for DIY face masks. And while it’s great to be resourceful with these items, is it really helping our skin, or is it potentially making it worse? Well, some of the products don’t always contain anything harmful, but they can be harsh for your skin. The granules can contain rough edges which just leave your skin red, and so you’d be better off without them.

At-home dermaplaning has surged in popularity thanks to TikTok. This is essentially skin shaving to get rid of fuzz on your face, while also being exfoliating. Though popular, dermatologists have advised not to try this as it can irritate your skin, especially if it’s sensitive, acne-prone, or prone to ingrown hairs. So maybe save this one for the professionals to avoid any unwanted irritation.

Slugging is a Korean beauty trend taking over the platform. In an attempt to prevent moisture from leaving the skin, TikTok users are smothering their faces in petroleum jelly. The result is supposed to be extremely moisturised and hydrated skin – but should you really be trying this? If you have oily skin, this hack can clog your pores and lead to breakouts, as well as greasing up your pillow case and causing discomfort while you sleep. So slugging might not be worth ruining your bedding for.

Spots and blemishes are always unwanted visitors, and they often appear at times when our skin needs to look flawless. So toothpaste was revealed to be a solution on TikTok where users shared that it acts as a quick spot-shrinker. But while it can dry out your blemishes, it can lead to irritation that might be particularly severe for those applying it to their whole face which we have witnessed on the app. It might be a better idea to be patient and use make-up to cover them up.

Have any hacks been useful?

At the height of the pandemic, many people were picking up hobbies or learning new skills. But on the beauty side of TikTok, people were discovering hacks during their time locked in their homes. One that has stuck around is swapping your curler for a dressing gown belt. Users were sharing videos of their hair wrapped around the material and flaunting their bouncy curls. With no concern for heat damage, it was inevitable that this hack would stick around and is still shared by many people across the platform.

Some hacks have not been so successful. Many TikTokers uploaded videos demonstrating how to contour with sun cream, by placing it on the highpoints of your face, such as cheekbones. But this was quickly shut down by professionals, as sun exposure with no protection can cause burns. And while some skinfluencers were tackling the criticism by suggesting the use of a lower SPF on the highpoints, with the rest of your face consisting of a very high SPF, it was still criticised as it isn’t made for cosmetic purposes.

We can always trust the TikTok algorithm to show us new trending beauty hacks. But we must be careful when trying them out – especially skincare hacks – as they might cause more damage than good. However, many tips that circulate on the platform have come in handy and have stuck around. Which game-changing hacks have you recently discovered?