I Tried the Bronzer Undereye Hack From TikTok
I Used Bronzer to Cover My Dark Circles, Because TikTok
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Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Jessica Harrington
I tend to do my makeup the same way every single day (and I don't think I'm the only one), but every once in a while, I come across a new hack or technique on TikTok that inspires me to shake things up. This contour undereye hack was one of them. In a viral video posted by user Sierra Cannon, instead of applying concealer under and around the eyes to disguise dark circles, they used a cream bronzer. It sounds counterproductive, but the results were pretty convincing, so I decided to give it a try.
It seemed straightforward enough: armed with a stick bronzer, swipe the product onto your eyelids and under your eyes, then blend. I wasn't sure exactly how this makeup hack worked, but then celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes shared her re-creation of the trend and gave a bit more context: it all comes down to colour theory. She explained that bronzers are typically warm and counteract any blue under the eyes from circles.
@katiejanehughes #stitch with @sierra cannon what do you think of this trend? #FYP #DarkCircles #BeautyHack #Interesting#stitch
♬ original sound - Katiejanehughes
Most days, I don't experience visible blue-ish dark circles under my eyes, but I admittedly stayed up way too late one too many times this weekend, so I did wake up with more discoloration in the area than usual, which was actually advantageous for this experiment.
To give it a try, I grabbed my Dibs Beauty Desert Island Duo (£35) in the shade 1.5 Bloom Service and Bronze Voyage. After giving my sunscreen some time to sink in, on otherwise clean skin, I swiped it directly onto my eyelids and under my eyes. At this point, I looked a little scary. The colour looked very harsh, but I persisted.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Jessica Harrington
In some videos, people used their fingers to blend; in others, they used a sponge. I opted for a makeup brush. I wanted to keep the colour concentrated around my eye area, so I grabbed a small-to-medium-size option to blend. I knew going into this endeavour that the Dibs contour stick blends easily, which I think is key to the success of this hack. The colour melted into my skin with ease, leaving behind a wash of subtle colour without being too noticeable.
That said, it still looked like I had some darkness around my eyes, so I couldn't just stop here.
Next, I grabbed my concealer (the Too Faced Born This Way Ethereal Light Smoothing Concealer (£25) to brighten up just the inner corners of my eyes where I had more darkness than I'd liked. Then I completed the rest of my makeup, including contouring with the same product, concealer, blush, brow gel, and mascara. I usually put a swipe of powder bronzer on my eyelids instead of eyeshadow, but with the cream bronzer there already, I was good to go.
Final verdict: I was surprised I liked the look of this hack as much as I did. It gave my makeup a slightly more glam, sultry feel than it usually has for daytime. That said, I'd probably only use this application method again for date night or drinks with friends rather than my work-from-home look.
