8 Bizarre Internet Beauty Trends Millennials Are Obsessed With
There are some seriously strange skin care, makeup and hair hacks floating around the internet—like buffing out foundation with a condom.
Overview
There are a ton of beauty hacks we can get behind. Using tape to draw on liquid eyeliner straighter? Check. Slapping cucumber slices over our eyes to de-puff? Check. But there are some seriously strange skin care, makeup and hair hacks floating around the internet — like buffing out foundation with a condom — that we just don't get. Here are eight bizarre (and, in some cases, downright disgusting) viral beauty hacks that you won't be able to look away from. Spoiler alert: One involves Cheetos. Our advice? Don't try these at home!
1. Blending Foundation With Testicles
It's one thing to blot your foundation on with a sponge; it's another thing entirely to apply your makeup with your BF's balls. But that's exactly what Johanna Hines, an 18-year-old from Florida, did. Hines tells Buzzfeed that her boyfriend put his scrotum on her head to mess with her, so she joked that she should use them as a makeup blender. The result? A very NSFW video of Hines doing just that — which has racked up more than 20,000 retweets. "I'm getting DM after DM from girls telling me I'm inspiring for being so carefree and confident, and so many people love how comfortable my boyfriend and I are together, it feels really good TBH," Hines tells Buzzfeed.
Read more: The 12 Best Foods for Healthy Hair
2. Wrapping a Makeup Sponge in a Condom
The Beautyblender — an egg-shaped makeup sponge — is a cult-favorite makeup tool for good reason: It allows for incredibly smooth foundation application. One beauty vlogger, Laila Tahri, attempted to upgrade her Beautyblender by wrapping it in a condom. In a YouTube video (which has been viewed more 474,000 times), she explains that she wanted to try this to see if the condom would prevent her sponge from absorbing products. "It blended out my foundation so beautifully," she says in the video. Go figure!
Read more: 11 Warning Signs Your Skin Is Sending You
3. Plumping Lips With Wasabi
Fact: A little wasabi goes a long way. If you've ever accidentally put too much on your spicy tuna roll, then you've felt the burn that comes along with it. But what if we told you women were slathering their lips with the spicy green stuff in an effort to make themselves look more like Kylie Jenner? "This one trick is a great way to get plump lips that look like you've had fillers," writes beauty vlogger Farah Dhukai on Instagram. Her accompanying video has gotten more than 13 million views.
4. Faking a Hangover With Eye Shadow
If you've had a little too much to drink, chances are you'd reach for a tube of concealer the next morning to hide the evidence. Not so for some young women in Asia, who are using makeup to make it look like they're hungover — just without any of the enjoyable cocktails. According to Buzzfeed, this makeup technique (known as "aegyo sal" in Korean) involves applying a dark eye shadow in the crease under your eyes to create the appearance of puffiness. YouTube superstar Michelle Phan Americanized the concept, doing a tutorial for puffy eyes that has more than 2 million views. "It makes your eyes appear more cheerful, giving you a youthful look," she says in the video.
5. Treating Skin Conditions With Semen
Who knew male genitalia would have so many uses in your beauty routine? In a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 2 million times, London-based vlogger Tracy Kiss describes how applying semen to her skin has calmed her rosacea. "I use the semen facial to look after my skin, to rejuvenate it, give it some refresh," says Kiss, a single mom, who explains that she has a friend deliver his semen to her in a plastic container. Now we're all for doing whatever you want to do in the bedroom — but applying some dude's sperm to your face for clearer skin may not be the wisest skin care strategy.
6. Curling Hair With Cheetos
Cheetos can be addicting (especially if you've knocked back a few adult beverages), but did you know that their round shape might make them a solid replacement for hair curlers (if you are down with the orange tinge and can resist eating all of them first, that is)? YouTube personality Bunny Meyer wrapped her hair around Cheetos and then sat under a heated hair cap in a video that has been viewed a cool 1.9 million times. While she was left with tight ringlets, she also had tons of cheese residue in her hair. So at the end of the day, maybe not the best beach wave strategy.
7. Removing Blackheads With Charcoal and Glue
Charcoal is having a major moment in the beauty world because of its detoxifying properties. But now beauty vloggers are mixing it with glue to make a face mask that they say gets rid of blackheads. One such vlogger, Josie K, posted a video to YouTube (that has more than 34 million views!) showing how to create a DIY charcoal mask using activated charcoal pills along with Elmer's glue and peppermint oil. After half an hour, she peels the mask off her face, saying her face is smooth and that her blackheads are gone. Of course, like many of the other techniques mentioned in this list, we'd advise you to take caution before trying this trend yourself.
8. Swapping in Food for Makeup
There's no doubt about it: Butter makes everything taste better. And beauty blogger Raychel Newton took that thought to a whole new level with her #FaceFullofFoodChallenge on Instagram, which has received more than 44,000 views. Yep, she dipped her makeup brush into a tub of butter and used it to tame her brows. She also filled in her arches using cacao powder, applied mac-'n'-cheese powder as eye shadow and grabbed a Snickers bar to contour her face. Impressive or too outside the (macaroni) box? You decide.
What Do YOU Think?
Would you try any of these zany beauty hacks? What are some less risky beauty tricks you use daily? Share your thoughts in the comments!