When it comes to makeup—aside from a little foundation, concealer, and possibly some faux freckles or blush—our nose can be largely overlooked. Instead, we’re often taught to contour our noses so that it gives the appearance of taking up less room on our faces. TikTok’s latest makeup trend however, does the opposite of that. Nicknamed appropriately, “scrunch makeup”, the look is created by applying eyeshadow directly onto the nose, and then scrunching your nose and dabbing on powder, which leaves abstract impressions on the face. Creators are designing whole looks around the shape created through their own nose crinkles.
The idea was sparked online by makeup artist Mei Pang. Posting a TikTok video (that now has over 10 million views) on her account earlier this month, Mei said she was “experimenting with my nose crinkles”. “Don’t ask me why I did this – I think I’m having artist block,” she wrote in the caption. Mei first added pink, orange, and yellow eyeshadow pigments to her nose bridge, then scrunched her nose while applying white loose powder on top. Some people in the comments have compared the final result to “cat’s facial markings” or “tiger face paints”. Creative channels, unblocked.
Other beauty creators, like Iris Grace, have already used Mei’s video as major makeup inspiration. After a first attempt where people said Iris “didn’t scrunch hard enough” or “unscrunched too soon”, the creator has now posted three attempts at “scrunch makeup”. Clearly, it’s harder than it looks.
Mei herself often experiments with nose-centric makeup, including a recent look inspired by Northern Lights and flowers inspired by Japanese calligraphy. So even if you (like other creators) can’t fully master the art of “scrunch makeup”, the trend serves as a good reminder that your nose deserves a little love and makeup, too.
