In the relentless hamster wheel that is TikTok beauty trends, one web fad seems to have piqued the interests of the anti-establishment girlies: the “tired girl” beauty trend.
Think Jenna Ortega on the red carpet for the premiere of Wednesday or basically any episode of Gilmore Girls before Lorelai has a cup of coffee.
The “tired girl” trend emerged as a response to the endless parade of expectations for young women to pick their favorite flavor of viral perfectionism and stick to it. The “clean girl” aesthetic pushed slicked-back buns and *tasteful* gold hoop earrings, while “cottagecore” romanticized the idea of quaint, quiet beauty. The “tired girl” trend, on the other hand, throws caution to the wind (caution, in this case, being concealer) and embraces eyebags and other so-called imperfections.
In theory, the idea of just allowing yourself to look tired seems pretty damn good — especially at a time when exhaustion feels like a default setting.
But how did a trend that was meant to be so much about “coming as you are” result in more than hundreds of videos titled “Tired Girl Makeup Tutorial?” And why are those videos racking in hundreds of thousands of views?
I get the appeal. There’s something liberating about not chasing a “glass skin” glow 24/7. “Tired girl” promises an escape from the endless pressure to look polished, and replaces it with a look that says, “Yes, I stayed up doomscrolling ok TikTok til 2 am… what about it?” For a generation living in constant burnout, that can kind of feel almost radical.
But the reality is that we never got off the hamster wheel.
In a TikTok video with more than 286,000 views, creator @nerulera takes you through a 12–step beauty routine to achieve “tired girl makeup,” one of which is to apply eyeshadow beneath your eyes to replicate the look of dark circles. Are we gentrifying eye bags now?!
@nerulera #tiredmakeup #makeup ♬ original sound – nerushimav
The problem is that the “tired girl” trend is not a revolutionary concept that pushes to eradicate the patriarchy and help women accept themselves. It’s just another (poorly-packaged) cog in the same beauty-industry machine we’ve been feeding since the dawn of time — one that encourages us to spend our money, time, and energy fit into a curated club.
Now, this isn’t some sort of anti-makeup feminist rant — I, too, have a multi-step makeup routine that I employ whenever I want to look “better.” Do whatever makeup makes you feel good. But when we label things like the “tired girl” trend as “groundbreaking”, we’re doing nothing but kidding ourselves — and pushing a dangerous message that “embracing our flaws” means piling on makeup to make it look like we have more.
The job market is abysmal. Food is unbelievably expensive. Housing is a nightmare. And every day we wake up to President Donald Trump pushing the United States further and further into authoritarian territory. We are tired in the deepest sense of the word. We don’t need a makeup trend to help us pretend. We need a nap, a living wage, and maybe a revolution.
Oh, and these eye bags and dark circles? They’re earned, baby.
