But it wasn’t just Del Rey influencing that tired-yet-glamorous aesthetic—the British TV series Skins was another major reference point. The teen drama’s cult status on Tumblr can’t be overstate. The cool, detached Effy Stonem, with her patterned tights and lived-in blue eyeliner, became the poster girl for Tumblr’s signature soft-grunge vibe.
Those weren’t by far the only beauty trends Tumblr catalyzed back then. There was the thick brow craze inspired by Cara Delevingne’s meteoric rise (and that one specific photo of her by Matt Irwin that everyone had on their blog); matte plum lips à la Lorde; candy-colored hair had a moment thanks to the influence of people like Lime Crime founder Doe Deere (who initially gained notoriety on another microblogging platform, LiveJournal, whose users left in droves in the late 2000s before finding a new home on, you guessed it, Tumblr).
While some might say these looks are of a specific, bygone era, I’d argue they’ll never die. Trends don’t disappear completely; they just shapeshift. Trends of decades past shapeshifted to form Tumblr’s signature looks, and now Tumblr’s signature looks are shapeshifting to fit modern times.
For example, Euphoria, with its ever-viral makeup, is just today’s iteration of Skins. Effy’s aforementioned eyeliner and Cassie Ainsworth’s frosty eye shadow are the spiritual predecessors of Rue’s glitter tears and Maddy’s sharp double liner. It’s no coincidence that two of Euphoria’s stars were 2010s cool girls—Barbie Ferreira was a Tumblr it-girl, and Alexa Demie once modeled for the platform’s most coveted clothing brand, American Apparel.
The bright, cutesy Starface pimple patches adorning the face of every cool teen on the subway remind me of another Tumblr it-girl, model Joanna Kuchta, who wore sparkly star-shaped stickers in her makeup looks long before that was a thing. The brand recently launched a campaign for its Marc Jacobs collaboration starring a handful of artists including Grimes, another former Tumblr icon, wearing tiny tattoo-inspired pimple patches.
Today’s TikTok clean girls, armed with Rhode skin care, Laneige lip masks, and buns slicked back with Olaplex, owe a debt to Tumblr as well. Its beauty wasn’t always maximalist or experimental. There was a bare-faced coolness to it, too—a kind of minimalism that prioritized fresh, dewy skin over full coverage foundation and concealer, a barely-there flush on the cheeks, and once again, full, bushy brows. I’d argue this sensibility helped pave the way for the blockbuster success Glossier, which launched in the fall of 2014 and had a chokehold on me and every blogger I followed. On sunny weekends in New York City, you’ll still see lines forming outside the brand’s brick-and mortar-store in Williamsburg, a neighborhood that has managed to remain synonymous with hipsterdom despite its demographics looking more and more like the Financial District every day.