Why Does "Birthday Makeup" Make the Internet So Mad?

On TikTok, experimental glam is often met with resistance. Although beauty lovers have managed to carve out their own space on the platform, makeup content often inevitably reaches an audience outside of the community's target demographic. As a result, bold beauty trends like "birthday makeup" have become a meme for men on the app to poke fun at. "Your face is not a canvas, stop painting it like Picasso," one user says about the trend.

While birthday makeup isn't an easily-defined look, it's typically categorized by dramatic eye looks consisting of cut creases, glitter or bright shadow and high-coverage foundation. For makeup fans, birthdays are an opportunity to play with new techniques and elevate their otherwise simple everyday glam.

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After a multitude of creators began sharing tutorials of their own birthday makeup, men on the app quickly began to express their disapproval. Beyond just leaving negative comments, users began making memes and commentary videos in response to the beauty trend. "You know when girls say they don't wear makeup for guys? Birthday makeup makes me believe it," one podcaster says.

One of the main critiques of the trend is that it's overly-loud and unnatural. Men argue that if followers of the trend really did the look for their own benefit, they would wear it everyday – with some going as far as saying that it's self-indulgent to spend hours on your makeup only for it to look bad in the end. Furthermore, a few users claim that your partner not finding your makeup attractive is reason enough to abandon birthday makeup altogether.

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While much of the criticism urges beauty fans against executing birthday makeup, the trend hasn't slowed down. Instead, creators use the backlash as a motivating force for conceptualizing eye looks. Beyond that, the never-ending debate about whether or not beauty fans truly do their makeup for themselves has only further expanded.

"I’ve never accused a man of going to the gym for attention. It could be weight loss, self improvement, a hobby, etc. I have never accused men of doing things for my attention. It doesn’t even cross my mind. When women do makeup, we want attention? Its ridiculous," one commenter writes.

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While you're here, read about Le Monde Gourmand's newest scents made in collaboration with beauty influencers.

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