The 'Eyebrow Blindness' TikTok Trend Is Calling Out Everyone's Makeup Skills

Chances are, if you're anything like us (or apparently, hundreds of people on TikTok), you have an eyebrow blindness story. Maybe you were the person who consistently bought dark colored brow pomade in 2015 because of a beauty tutorial. Or maybe you were someone who, against your better judgment, jumped on brow lamination trend in 2021, without considering if it actually suited your face. It's all good. It was eyebrow blindness.

To be clear, eyebrow blindness is not a medical affliction, but rather, a trend sweeping BeautyTok, and it involves people reminiscing (and in many cases, cringing) over long dead and buried eyebrow trends they once made part of their makeup routine. Set to the sound of a slowed version of Gnarls Barkley's 2006 song "Crazy,'" each video follows a similar format: It opens with a short clip of the person showing off what their eyebrows look like now, over a sound byte that sings, "I remember when; I remember when I lost my mind." After a few seconds, the video transitions to throwback photos that show how the person's brows used to look (or depending on how you look at it, how far they've come). And for many people, the difference is pretty striking. "How did I ever think this looked good?" reads the caption for countless videos. 

The hilarious videos are racking up millions of view and bringing together makeup lovers from all over the globe. They're serving as a reminder of how powerful social media's influence is on all of us, and how quickly makeup trends can become outdated. So if you've had some brow regret, you're certainly not alone. In fact, "eyebrow blindness" has 159.9 million posts at the time of writing!

Many cases of eyebrow blindness seem to have happened during mid-2010s, a time period marked by the reign of the super sculpted, dark 'Instagram brow' look. This was also an era where, thanks to the likes of YouTube beauty tutorials, many of us convinced ourselves we needed to learn how to do things like gradient brows, laminate brows, and even carve out contoured brows. It did not matter whether they actually matched your face; as everyone from your favorite influencer to Ariana Grande had them! A video shared by @raisinghonor, which has 1.7 million views, features snaps from when those super heavy, completely filled in, block brows were the big trend. "I can't even believe I walked around like that," she captioned the upload, which also showed her current, natural-looking eyebrows.  

@raisinghonor

I can't even believe I walked around like that 😆🫠 #eyebrows #irememberwhen #mom #foryoupage #foryou #fyp

♬ Gnarls Barkley Crazy Stephen Kramer Glickman – Gustavo Rocque

Meanwhile, a video from TikTok user @ellablaylock points out that some of us were rocking less-than-flattering brows even more recently than that, as the user revealed she only changed up her brown routine three months before posting the clip. In the video, they can be seen with over-the-top, feathered brows (nothing like the natural eyebrow look that's trending in 2024). "I really thought it looked so good too, forever crying over this phase," they captioned the video, which has almost 1 million views.

@ellablaylock

I really thought it looked so good too, forever crying over this phase 😭 #fyp #arizona #utah #gilbert #mesa #provo #eyebrowblindness

Advertisement

♬ Gnarls Barkley Crazy Stephen Kramer Glickman – Gustavo Rocque

It's not just the 2010s getting called out in the eyebrow blindness trend, though. Because eyebrow trends have changed so much over the years, many people have been sharing throwback photos that go back even further than the smartphone era. Some TikTok users have revealed that they were victims of A 90s trend we're praying never comes back: overly plucked, pencil-thin eyebrows.  "Can we get this trend going for the thin eyebrow victims?" TikTok user @jdmnart asked in the caption of their clip, alongside several photos rocking very skinny eyebrows.

@jdmnart

can we get this trend going for the thin eyebrow victims 🙋🏻‍♂️ #eyebrowblindness #thineyebrows #greenscreen

♬ Gnarls Barkley Crazy Stephen Kramer Glickman – Gustavo Rocque

One vital thing to remember when checking out this trend, though? There's no right or wrong way to do your brows. Or your whole makeup look, for that matter. If you love a heavy, thick, super filled-in brow, then rock it! If you prefer more natural brows with no cosmetics at all, then go for it! This trend isn't about shaming others or suggesting there's only one way to do your makeup. It's all about learning from our mistakes and finding the makeup look that makes us feel gorgeous and confident no matter what the current trend is.