People Are Drawing On Dark Under-Eye Circles Because of This TikTok Trend

In a surprising turn of events, prominent dark under-eye circles are part of a new TikTok trend. That's right — if you've been sleep-deprived and have the eye bags to prove it, you've been unintentionally pulling off this recent trend.

Believe it or not, some TikTok users are actually using makeup to mimic the appearance of dark under-eye circles. For example, in one post that now has over 7 million views and numerous spin-offs, user @sarathefreeelf uses a brown lip crayon to draw on under-eye circles. They later shared their intent in a response post to a comment that read "suddenly my insecurity is ✨trendy✨." "I wasn't trying to make fun of your insecurity, because I have the same insecurity," they said. "I wasn't trying to make a trend out of it, I was just bored." (Remember the days when people were tattooing their under-eyes to cover up dark circles?)

Regardless, it seems that dark circles are in fact trending RN. While some TikTokers have been drawing on natural-looking under-eye circles, others have been decorating their under-eyes with colorful eyeshadow or drawing on designer bag-inspired symbols to play off the cliché, "The bags under my eyes are designer."

In a separate but related trend, some TikTok creators are showcasing their *real* under-eye circles — sort of, anyway. In posts tagged #eyebagtrend, people are using the time warp waterfall filter, which creates a descending horizontal stream effect in the lower half of the screen, in order to show how dark their under-eyes actually are.

FTR, this isn't the first time that accentuated under-eyes have been part of a trend. A Korean makeup trend called "aegyo-sal" (the Korean term for charming/baby eye fat, according to Soko Glam) involves using highlight and contour to create the appearance of eye bags in hopes of giving off a more youthful look.

All of this might seem like a weird flex if you've always wanted to hide any hint of puffy under-eye dark circles with concealer, eye creams, or filler. But if you're committed to staying on top of TikTok trends, why not flaunt — and even accentuate — your dark circles?