Lip Gloss TikTok Hack Gone Haywire

by Victoria Vallecorse

Published Mar 22, 2023

If your TikTok is full of makeup hacks, you’ve likely tried to recreate a handful and a half of the videos. Sometimes the trends work and other times not so much. When it comes to beauty, just pick yourself up, dust off the doe foot applicator, and try again (this lip gloss reference will make sense soon, I promise).

Here’s what happened when I tried 2 DIY gloss hacks. Spoiler alert: things went a little haywire. And then I offer hard-earned lip tips, plus some hassle-free tools and glosses.

HACK #1: Make your own tinted lip gloss with eye shadow

This TikTok video blew my mind. Tusha Ruffin aka @Shadesbuyslade makes great videos about normalizing beauty insecurities, plus tons of helpful hacks. I decided to try this eye shadow lip gloss hack with what I had—my favorite neutral eye shadow shade and a tube of clear gloss.

I dipped the doe foot into my shadow, then back into the gloss and mixed it up, repeating these steps a few times in an effort to create a rich-looking color. The result? A not so aesthetically pleasing nor pigmented clump of gloss, plus a goopy pan of eye shadow. Also, my go-to clear gloss was gone…luckily I had a backup tube.

Maybe not using the exact products in the video set me up for failure, but sometimes you just need to go for it. In this case, it might’ve been better to follow this tutorial to a T or find comparable products to test this trend.

If you decide to try, go for rich and vibrant shadows and glass-like, clear glosses. Also, it might be worth it to portion out the gloss into an empty pan and mix in the shadow with an extra lip brush. This way you can create a variety of glosses using multiple eye shadow shades without wasting a whole tube of gloss, dirtying your doe foot, or ruining your shadow Not to mention, it’s more sanitary.

However, if you’re looking for a glassy, neutral gloss without the fuss, try these:

HACK #2: Create glitter lip gloss

The TikTok algorithm brought to my attention yet another gloss hack video—surprise, surprise. @Youngcouture creates customized glitter glosses with loose glitter and clear gloss. Since I had an extra tube of gloss and some loose glitter, it was time for round 2.

I mixed my purple glitter and gloss, but my results weren’t as pigmented as I had hoped. The purple hue from the glitter didn’t distribute throughout the gloss—it was just straight up gloss with chunks of glitter.

Plus, pressing my lips together was a bit uncomfortable—definitely more editorial than a wearable look.

Want to try it for yourself? I recommend using small cut glitter, like this one from Lit Cosmetics (the S# refers to the cut size. The smaller the number, the finer the glitter). Add a sprinkle or two to your clear gloss and mix well.