The Internet has recently exploded with teens who have swollen their lips to unhealthy proportions in order to obtain the “Kylie Jenner” look. Instead of having plump, round lips, teens are left with bruises, swelling, tears, and the ability to resemble Lola from Shark Tales.
Seeing the drastic (and funny) results on Instagram and Twitter inspired me to do my own rendition of transforming into Jenner. However, I transformed junior Gianna Floria instead.
Floria was all for it, responding with a massive “I WILL” text when I asked who would be up for it. Her conditions were limited, requesting only that I do not blow up her face.
I could not make any promises.
Caroline Albert BEAUTY IS PAIN: Freshman Mackenzie Meyers tries the Kylie Jenner challenge, causing her lips to drastically increase in size. Meyers later said her lips were burning and stinging the whole time until the swelling went down.
We started off with light foundation and bronzer to add a look of stronger bone structure and even skin tone.
Next, we added to her eyebrows with a black pencil eyeliner, dramatically shaping up like Jenner does. This is when Floria started crying.
I went on and added dark eye shadows, eyeliner, and a heavy coat of mascara to her already thick lashes.
Last, and most importantly, were the lips. I tried to exaggerate them like Jenner does without using her method of swelling them. In order to do so, however, I needed to stretch lip liner down to the middle of Floria’s chin and up to her nose.
Floria and I were horrified with the results.
Looking scary rather than sexy, we washed it off and went back to the drawing board.
My next method involved actually trying the “Kylie Jenner challenge”.
Of course, I wasn’t going to do so on myself just yet. I let freshman Mackenzie Meyers be my guinea pig.
Meyers used an empty pill bottle instead of a shot glass. Going for a less swelled look, she held it to her face for around two minutes. The results were astounding. (See image above)
Meyers was left with much fuller lips and a red ring around her chin and up to her nose.
After seeing this reaction, I had to try it myself. Using an EOS cap, I was able to plump my lips up, but instead of plump lips, there was a big red ring around my lips, swelling, and some bruising. Not the look I was going for.
We came to the conclusion that without a team of professionals like Jenner uses, the faux plump lips just look like a medical emergency.
The failed attempts left me questioning why Jenner does this in the first place. Why are we all so desperate to meet society’s definition of beauty that we put ourselves through pain?
Some, like myself, like to experiment with makeup as a form of expression. Sephora is like a heaven filled with different pallets, tools, and colors. However, I do not feel pressured to do so and do not put myself through pain or something potentially dangerous.
Society has many contradicting definitions of beauty. Before I was able to understand that, I too wanted to be “beautiful.” I thought to fit into the definition, I had to be skinny and tall with perfect skin and long straight hair and act a certain way, etc.
Later on, I came to realize that everyone sees beauty differently. The most important thing is to feel comfortable with yourself.
If plumping your lips every day and fixing your hair and putting on makeup makes you happy and feel beautiful, then do it.
One anonymous student who tried the challenge said, “Once you get over it being ridiculously funny, it was strange to see how such a slight change can make a big difference on how you see yourself. I don’t like the fact that I have small lips; doing this experiment gave me self confidence, as funny as it is.”
If you don’t like wearing makeup or dressing up, and that makes you feel beautiful, then don’t feel pressured to do otherwise.
“I don’t like wearing a lot of makeup. It’s too much work. I don’t feel like I have to in order to be confident in who I am,” says freshman Lauren Pagano.
The first step to beauty is being comfortable in your own skin. Confidence is beautiful.
You should never be pressured to change your look to fit into society’s definition.
How do you feel about the Kylie Jenner challenge?