When Doja Cat arrived at the Met Gala on Monday night, you’d be forgiven for thinking she was caught in the pouring rain. Her dress was soaked and mascara was running down her face. The look, which was revealed to be the work of makeup artist Pat McGrath, has since gone viral.
The American rapper wasn’t the only one who strayed from traditional red carpet beauty that night. Actor Amanda Seyfried dyed her blonde hair gray and her lips were painted a deep verbena-colored purple instead of the traditional red. Walking on the carpet not once, but twice, Zendaya’s eyebrows were so thin they almost disappeared.
Rejecting traditional beauty standards, these stars are turning to a trend known as “ugly beauty.” The practice, which has gained traction in recent years, has been thriving on social media and encompasses everything from deliberately unblemished foundation on jawlines to gradient-colored lips to the use of prosthetics to change the shape of cheekbones or create tiny forehead horns.
Unlike makeup trends like the “clean girl” aesthetic, where glassy skin appears poreless, or the “glazed donut” aesthetic, where cheekbones shine like the icing on a frosted snack, the goal isn’t to enhance attractiveness. Instead, she pushes the boundaries of beauty.
Emily Schubert, one of cinema’s leading makeup artists, sees cinema as an increasing blurring of the worlds of special effects and real-life makeup. The new book, Beauty of the Beast: A Make-up Guide, prepared by A24, the independent production company behind films such as Priscilla and The Zone of Interest, aims to share some tips on how to create the illusion of having no eyebrows. Learn how hair looks like it’s turning gray.
This might not sound like something to aim for in everyday life, but Schubert, who started thinking differently about makeup after seeing how gray her face was after scoliosis surgery at the age of 13, says makeup has become a kind of storytelling tool. “Especially because we are looking at screens now more than ever and seeing people in 2 dimensions.”
The term “ugly makeup revolution” was first coined by London-based visual artist Eszter Magyar in 2018. Six years later, the reason for this increase is because people are “bored by fake, filtered perfection,” Magyar says. Although he has mixed feelings about this trend, he still appreciates it as “a modern counterpoint to all the formulaic aesthetics”; character beyond perfection”.
Filters have gone from being a silly feature (remember the dog ears) to a tool used by the majority of young people sharing online – a 2023 study on smartphones and appearance by the City, University of London found that 90% of women in their twenties use filters in a selfie. This dominance has blurred the lines between our online and offline looks, as it consistently smoothes skin, lifts cheekbones, and even gives the illusion of a full face of makeup.
Some see the rise of ugly beauty as a reaction to these unattainable ideals of beauty, especially in an era when artificial intelligence continues to change the parameters of what is possible. “People are under more pressure than ever to adhere to unrealistic and ever-changing standards of beauty, whether through filters or ‘tweaks’, and to conform to homogenised ideals of what they should look like,” says beauty editor Alex Peters. At Dazed, where the trend resonated strongly with magazine readers. “I think ugly makeup acts as a pressure valve and, in a way, helps people release some of that stress.”
Editing blemishes and acne scars has become the norm on Instagram. Some spend hours hiding them with makeup, while others make them disappear with apps like Facetune. But Schubert again turns these to an art, using KY Jelly to give the skin a tactile effect while creating pimples. During a long film shoot, Schubert thinks about how a spot develops over time: It starts to ooze at first, but gradually it crusts over the character’s face.
Another topic that “ugly beauty” likes to play with is age. While social media is full of videos of (typically) young users asking viewers to guess their age, then getting upset when they guess right or higher, Schubert, who has worked with celebs like Dev Hynes and model Bella Hadid, has an entire episode on the subject. You are committed to making yourself look younger. And older. She uses facial tape to smooth out wrinkles, but can also use the same tape to create the illusion of sagging skin.
Historically, cosmetic improvements were a luxury limited to a group with high disposable income. Botox and fillers are now available as a “lunchtime treatment” in the UK, with prices starting from around £100. They’re so everyday that a recent article on Dazed even pondered whether “ugly” might ever actually be aspirational: “If we imagine a future where the majority of people smooth out their wrinkles with Botox and plump their lips with fillers, we’ll have to have their cheek fat removed, their cheeks suctioned, and veneers.” “After straightening your teeth, will you want to have natural features that are becoming increasingly rare; crooked teeth, smile lines and crow’s feet?”
Schubert cannot understand why people want to appear almost featureless. He has already seen the light: “Did you know that the left side of truck drivers’ faces ages more? You can see the patterns of a lifetime on the face and body. People need to think about this and not see it as a bad thing. Why would you take away your own past?”
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