People started focusing on skin care more and makeup less, making this sudden societal hesitance toward concealer inevitable. They’ve been going hard on the eye cream and gua sha, and now they want to show off the fruits of their efforts, which they can do thanks to a heightened skill set. As Medhin says, “natural [skin] has always been in,” but historically speaking, the general consumer has never had as much access to free professional makeup advice as they do now, thanks to the internet. It makes sense that pre-TikTok makeup trends involved caking on heavy concealers and powdering to death—that method of coverage doesn’t require as much technical knowledge as something like color correction.
Honestly? I think all of this is a great thing. For one, wearing less makeup—especially in an area as mobile as the undereye—presents less chance of caking, creasing, and smudging throughout a day. I think we all got too comfortable doing makeup to be photographed but not to be worn out in the real world. The slow death of the impenetrably bright undereye is a sign to me that we’re all really ready to be out in the real world again, and as Medhin says, “Less makeup looks better in person.”
It’s also a sign, I hope, that people’s focus when it comes to beauty is shifting away from the manufactured perfection that’s been expected of us by capitalism and is shifting toward personalization and authenticity. Rodriguez certainly thinks it is, at least for younger people. “I’m seeing this trend within Gen Z and millennials; both are experiencing a renaissance that challenges the status quo of what it has historically meant for them to be this age and gender in society,” they say. “We’re all about decolonizing beauty standards and creating our own rituals that serve our true selves, and for a lot of us that includes trimming down our makeup routines.”
This downtick in brightening undereye concealer could even be a reaction to a widespread overuse of dermal filler and other cosmetic procedures that can erase the face’s natural definition when taken too far. The natural peaks and valleys that appear when light is cast on a face is what makes it unique and beautiful, and I think people are beginning to understand that covering up all the natural darkness underneath the eye can have the same visual impact as overdone undereye filler. That’s why many makeup artists have historically leaned into those shadows. “Truthfully, I’ve always loved having a little darkness on the bottom eyelid,” Medhin says. Even when she’s doing a heavier makeup look on a client, she’ll use darker eye makeup to create a shadow so the look reads as more natural.