Within the Youtube community, there are different niches that most vloggers fit into. The beauty sector of Youtube is one niche that is interesting case because while many tutorials appear similar, beauty vloggers have the opportunity to uniquely represent themselves by posting their applied creative skills on a digital platform. Although Youtube has a large beauty community, Instagram is another platform that has become predominant in setting beauty trends, shown by the most popular products at Ulta or Sephora which reflect the items being used in Instagram tutorials. Within the online beauty community, I will be focusing on Youtube tutorials since they provide more artistic detail as there is no time limit on the videos that are uploaded, unlike Instagram makeup tutorials. So, looking up current eye shadow trends, one may expect to find a plethora of content that focuses on any eye shape since the premise of vlogs on Youtube is to act as a digital form of self-representation for everyone that chooses to participate. However, being someone that watches many eye shadow tutorials on Youtube, it appeared to me as if there were eye shapes that were greatly underrepresented when it comes to trending eye shadow looks.

While I am from a Chinese, German, and Scottish background, genetics have resulted in my eyes being monolid as well as hooded. A monolid is an eye without a double eyelid and often is without a crease where the eyebrow bone protrudes. Hooded eyes are eyes that have excess skin that makes the outer third of the eye appear to droop downwards, either slightly or dramatically. An example of such can be found below.

Naturally, I look for eye shadow tutorials that suit “hooded monolids” so that I can learn how to apply eye shadow on my own eyes. After trying multiple search results, I found that it was difficult to find eye shadow tutorials that matched the current makeup trends that I found so easily on Instagram. Although I did manage to find results, many of the tutorials did not feature eye shadow looks that reflected the current eye shadow trends such as warm-toned eye shadows, a “cut crease”, a halo eye shadow, etc. (refer to Figures 1-3).

Rather, the videos I found to be most relevant were from Padee Tina Kong, whose videos featured eye shadow trends that were suitable for hooded/monolids. Even though her content that was applicable to me, I had to scroll down significantly to even find her videos since she only has just over one thousand subscribers. Comparing her amount of subscribers to other beauty vloggers that have millions of subscribers, the vloggers with more subscribers generate the most popular videos because of the large amount of views their videos receive. Surely, there must be a reason as to why certain Youtubers have millions of subscribers and are able to produce content that becomes the first result when searched.

By looking at the first result that appears for “hooded monolid eyeshadow”, Tina Yong’s video features a hooded monolid that uses eyelid tape to create a makeshift double eyelid, in order to give the appearance that the eyes are larger. Another search term I have tried is “cut crease eye shadow for hooded eyes”, which yielded results that feature results with beauty vloggers that have double eyelids until scrolling down for over 30 videos to find Padee Tina Kong’s video, which currently has only over 400 views (compared to the first two search results, which have a combined 1.29 million views). Youtube and Instagram has illustrated a dominant normality when it comes to eye shape beauty standards. For those such as myself that do not conform to this commonality, what does this beauty standard suggest to those with hooded monolids?

While Youtube vlogs are ideally supposed to support self-representation for anyone, it appears as if there is a standard in the online beauty community that determines whose voices are heard over others. Looking at one of 2016’s most popular eye shadow palette – the “Modern Renaissance” palette from Anastasia Beverley Hills, the demonstrative video on the Sephora website uses models only with double eyelids; could this be suggesting that eye shadow is best applied to those with similar eye structures? On Youtube, the eye shadow looks that follow current trends and that also get the most views are vlogs that feature the dominant beauty standard which is having double eyelids. While there are many Youtubers that upload tutorials for monolids, the amount of views is substantially lower than videos that do not focus on double-lidded eye shapes. In theory, everyone has the ability to represent themselves through vlogs; but when put in practice, it appears as if groups are still made minorities because they do not conform to the dominant beauty standard. If this idea is applied to a greater scheme, not limited to the beauty community, there may be greater findings that suggest not everyone is as equally represented online as it may appear at first glance.

 

Works Cited

Finch, Michael. Google, www.i.ytimg.com/vi/dFgDEuPP7d0/maxresdefault.jpg. Accessed 26 February 2017.

Hill, Jaclyn. Google, www.i.ytimg.com/vi/txVqIGcvgPE/maxresdefault.jpg. Accessed 26 February 2017.

Kong, Padee Tina. “Neutral Cut Crease Eyeshadow Tutorial | Asian Hooded Eyes”, Youtube, 8 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYfkRvXppkU. Accessed 26 February 2017.

Nikkietutorials. Google, www.i.ytimg.com/vi/GAGi9tLMKlo/hqdefault.jpg. Accessed 26 February 2017.

Smashbox. Eyeshadow looks for different eye shapes. Makeup for Beginners, www.beginnersmakeup.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/monolid_hooded_double.jpg. Accessed 26 February 2017.

Yong, Tina. “Smokey Eye Makeup for Small/ Hooded/ Monolid Eyes | Tina Yong”, Youtube, 21 March 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=h55qClu8Rmw. Accessed 26 February 2017.