Gather around, besties. Apparently, Gen Z has decided that winged eyeliner is no longer a cute makeup look. It’s a birth certificate. According to kids on TikTok, the second they see a sharp, black wing extending from the corner of your eye, they immediately know you’re a millennial. Not because of your Tory Burch ballet flats. Not because you can quote every line in Mean Girls. Not because you still blast One Dance by Drake like it came out yesterday. No, the eyeliner is the giveaway. How dare you?!
So let me get this straight. First, you took away our skinny jeans. Then you came for our side parts. Now we can’t even have a goddamn wing? Where will it end? If they come for contouring, I swear I’m rioting!
For millennials, winged liner was way more than makeup. It was a whole mood – you just had to be there. Years were spent standing two inches from the bathroom mirror, stretching eyelids in ways that seemed physically impossible. Trying to make both razor-sharp sides match was the kind of pressure that most would crack under, but we practiced until it became second nature. That is what I call commitment!
Gen Z, on the other hand, prefers a softer look. Barely-there liner – if any at all – to allow their complete blush blindness to be the star of the show. Their beauty aesthetic tends to favor a fresh, flushed glow over a dramatic cat eye. They don’t appreciate, nor do they deserve to behold the winged eyeliner that somebody spent 45 minutes perfecting.
Every generation has beauty trends that instantly give away their age. The Boomers had their mod phase, the Gen X baddies had pencil-thin brows, and Millennials had winged eyeliner. This is simply the cycle of life.
But before anyone starts throwing their favorite liquid liner into the trash to appear cool, let’s remember something very important: trends are just suggestions. Your face, your rules…period! That’s the most freeing beauty trend of all. If a wing makes you feel cute, rock it with pride.
Overall, it’s a pretty mixed bag. I see some millennials have completely abandoned the wing, while others still draw on that flick every morning. I wonder how many of you have embraced a more natural eye makeup look, and who among us will make Gen Z pry the winged liner from our cold, dead hands. Leave it in the comments, besties.
XOXO,
Your Beauty Bestie
