Testing TikTok beauty hacks: do they really work?

TikTok has become the newest social platform to blow up and become immensely popular. I have been partial to a scroll through the 'for you' page, and have found myself deeply consumed by the creativity that's being uploaded, but something I've been really curious about are the beauty hacks. Some of them look like they're really beneficial and could work, yet I'm not so sure about others, so I put a few to the test to see work and if they'll be taking a winning spot in my beauty routine.

1. Powder before foundation

Now, this is a hack that has been circulating around TikTok for quite some time and one that many people have tried out. It seems to work for other people, but did I find it to be successful?

To really be able to see the difference, I did one half of my face as I usually would do it, and the other side the way that the TikTok user suggests will make my foundation look better.

My results:

What did I think?

I really didn't believe that this would work, but I actually saw a difference! The half of my face that I used powder before foundation (picture on the right) actually looked a lot smoother, and I felt my beauty blender didn't absorb as much of the product. It also gave a much more full coverage and hid my blemishes more. On the other side of my face that I did as usual (picture on the left), I noticed that the foundation had sunk into my pores more and didn't look as 'flawless' as the other side. I was pleasantly surprised by this trick, and will definitely use it when I'm attending a special occasion and want my skin to look perfect.

2. Soap brows

When I saw this hack I thought it looked amazing. I've always loved the perfectly-groomed 'clean' eyebrow look but never knew how to achieve it. This is one that I couldn't wait to try and really hoped would work.

My before and after results:

What did I think?

When I first tried this I really, really disliked it. I thought it was because I had bought a white bar of soap, and I could see flakes in my eyebrows once they had completely dried (not a good look). I also tried it after I had applied my foundation, and the soap mixed into it and created a really pasty line around my eyebrow. BUT, I tried it again because I was sure I could master the look with another try. As you can see from the above images, this hack made my eyebrows look a lot more full without even adding any actual makeup, they also look really well-groomed. My tips are: Use a clean spoolie and wet it with warm water; once it's wet, rub the spoolie across the bar making sure it's covered in soapy product; then, brush your brow hairs upward and into the shape you desire before they dry. My mistake at first was that my spoolie was too dry, and that's what made the soap look so flaky. I will be using this hack, but I think I'll save it for special occasions as it is quite time consuming.

3. Hot earbud eyelash lift

I'm someone who has the absolute opposite of curly lashes, so anything to try and combat the straight lash look I'm keen to try out. I use an eyelash curler every single day when wearing makeup, because if I don't, my eyelashes literally point down to the floor. For this hack, I copied exactly what it said to do and put a cotton bud between my straighteners to warm it up, then held it against the root of my eyelashes - *If you're going to try this hack please take care when putting the warm cotton bud near your eye.

What did I think?

This could not have been more of a fail. I kept putting the bud between the straighteners and to my lashes multiple times and I saw absolutely no difference. I'll definitely be sticking to my eyelash curler! I have no before and after pictures for this hack because there was honestly no difference at all.

4. Fingerprint faux freckles

I have freckles on my face already and I absolutely love them, however when I wear foundation they cover up really easily because they're so faint. I've tried faux freckles before, where I've used a brown pencil and dotted it across my face but I wasn't too keen on the finished result. This method looks a lot more natural and I'm really excited to try it out.

My results:

What did I think?

I thought this looked very natural and gave a really fresh look to my face. I took a small pointed brush and dabbed it into a dark contour shade before dotting it on my finger. I then printed them across my face where my freckles when I'm bare-faced, and it looked really natural!