Apparently the inspiration for this trend is that Korean actresses have eyebags, and some people actually think that these acresses look better WITH their eyebags, than without. (You can view a rather bizarre post on this trend here.) Thus, Korean-actress-fandom reasoning says, if their stars look better with eyebags, so will the average girl! In the blogpost I mentioned above, there are some photos of celebs with/without eyebags and the comparisons are made between them.
I don't know about you, but I've never been a fan of the "it-looks-good-on-a-celebrity-thus-it-would-look-good-on-me" line of logic. I mean, how many of us can pull off the runway fashions like the models? And in anycase, while I do agree that if you are an actress, sometimes eyebags give the character you're playing a certain realism, e.g. if you're playing a harried working mother-of-three, then I guess a flawless looking character won't look realistic. Still, I do think that by and large, most people look much better without eyebags than with. And I don't think I've ever seen a photo of a star with/without eyebags and thought "Man she looks much better with eyebags!" I think the whole trend arose because some girls felt that their eyes were too small, and that having those eyebags draws attention to them.
But in anycase, if for some reason you don't have eyebags but want them, here now is your problem solved! You can use double eyelid tape (yes, tape to stick on your eyes to fake that crease is quite commonplace in Korea already) to give yourself eyebags! Talk about double duty!
Blech. Seriously? This is the dumbest trend ever. First, I maintain that I don't think anyone looks better with eyebags than without, and secondly, keep doing this on a regular basis, and 5 years from now, your 30-year-old eyes will have 40-year-old wrinkles, thanks to all the pulling and tugging at the delicate skin around the eye area. Yucks.
In anycase, I am now at least on board with ONE trend. I've never been the trendy kind, but now I am, LOL! Yes, this is because yours truly has HUGE eyebags (blame the work schedules, and the little sleep). Look at the most recent photo of me on FB, taken at an event. Those eyebags, baby, are 100% real. No tape! (So are the pimples, I'm afraid - I do have problematic skin.)
Maybe I'm not a Korean actress, but you know, I kinda prefer myself WITHOUT those darn eyebags. But, hey, I'm totally fashionable now!
Of course, while this may seem a little strange, every country and every culture has their own crazy beauty trends - it's not just us in Asia! I just write about the Asian ones more because, well, I'm Asian, and I'm living in Asia, so this is what I come into contact with. But for what it's worth, the West sure has crazy beauty trends, and crazy people too - every now and then I come across news coverage on tanning addicts, and I always get a little freaked out. Now, can someone make pimples in fashion, so that my acne can be on-trend too? LOL.
I personally always loved the look of egyosal (it looks so cute!) I fake it on myself with makeup but I would never use eyelid tape, for antiaging and comfort reasons xD People are beautiful with and without egyosal, I think it is just personal preference :)
ReplyDelete@Julia: Thanks for your thoughts on the trend! :) Just curious, how do you fake it with makeup? Do you contour under your eye to get the effect? Agree - at the end of the day, beauty is really just personal preference!
DeleteI don't know if you've already seen, this (it is Michelle Phan, after all), but here's a tutorial ^_^. She makes it look pretty cute, actually. I think I might try it just to jazz things up.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKIXS_LGYcU
@Rachel Pham: I haven't seen the video, but I guess Michelle Phan just makes everything she does look cute because she's a very prety girl. I probably wouldn't want to try it myself though, but if you do, let me know how it goes!
DeleteGreat read!!! This is so crazy...but you are right...every country has its strange trends!! I can't even imagine what using the tape under your eyes will do to them in the long run...eeesh!
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are talking about true "eye bags", but the small fatty fold of skin that alot of asians have naturally. I have it too and it ends about where your eyeball and bone meets. It's supposed to create the illusion that your eye is bigger because of slight depth. I notice that alot of young kids and babies have the eye bag too.
ReplyDeleteThe unfortunate thing about "cute"natural eye bags is that the fat herniates and sags as you get older - this is NOT something you want to encourage! Can we spell Lower Blepharoplasty?!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I have to admit that the "designer bags" picture made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with fat tissue under your eyes. In fact this has nothing to do with Korean culture, it's ancient Chinese beauty standard for women. It's the under eye muscle contraction (orbicularis oculi) to create a swollen appearance under eye when you smile, please do not mistake it with the typical eye bag. Some people are born with this cute trait under eye even without smiling. It is considered charming and as if the person is always smiling. I think in western culture they fail to see the beauty in this and still mistake this as eye bags.
ReplyDelete@hustenbonbon2: Thanks for your comment. I'm curious though, where did you get this info from? I am Chinese, and I was born and raised in Asia, and now currently also live in Asia, and in all my life, I have never ever come across any "ancient Chinese beauty standard" for women that involves a protrusion under the eyes at all. In fact, throughout China's history, the ideal standards of beauty seems to have evolved with the passing of the centuries. In traditional folk tales, the Four Great Chinese Beauties (四大美女) were actually of different body sizes and had different features (e.g. some were thinner, some had fuller bodies and so on), as they lived in different periods of Chinese history where different features were perceived as being beautiful.
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