Brow Blindness Has Us All Cringing At 2016 Makeup Looks

The 2016 makeup era was rough for anyone with a brow pen and a desire for bold brows.

Sara Belcher - Author
By

Published June 5 2024, 6:59 p.m. ET

The popular makeup looks of the late 2010s have secured a place of infamy online. While everyone was raving over popular products like the Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade and baking their concealer before contouring to the high heavens, plenty of people were going through a bout of brow blindness.

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In this era, bold brows were the trend. But not everyone who partook in the trend had brows they're proud to look back on. In the rarely-serious realm of TikTok, people are sharing some of their moments of brow blindness as part of a new throwback trend, when they had eyebrows that were far from attractive.

James Charles at the height of his brow blindness
Source: Instagram/@jamescharles

James Charles's brows in 2016 are a good example of brow blindness

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What is brow blindness? Explaining the TikTok trend.

At the height of the 2016 makeup trends, brows were the centerpiece of most people's looks. A bold brow was necessary to achieve the full glam look, but despite the countless tutorials and how-to videos showcasing ways to find your eyebrow shape and make them look prominent but clean, there were some bad ones.

The brow blindness trend showcases some of the worst brows of this era. When things are trendy, it's easy to overlook unattractive qualities of the trend — and brows were no exception.

The brave souls partaking in this internet trend are airing their worst brow looks, sharing them in nostalgic videos for the internet to laugh at.

TikTok user Janell Hitch Garrett shared her low brow (pun intended) moment with the internet, setting a picture of her boxy overdrawn brows to the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.

"Why didn't anyone stop me[????]" Janell captioned her post. "It was a very short period of my life. BUT STILL!"

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"Your real brow peaking through like 'It's me! Jessica! I'm in here!'" one TikTok user commented on Jessica's post.

"WE TRIED," another joked in the comments, to which Jessica replied, "You should have tried harder!!! Break the brow pens... something!"

Plenty in the comments pointed out that it's not just the brows of 2016 that many were blind to. The thin brows of the 90s were also a common trend — one that many have said they regret years later.

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"I can't wait till people realize the eyelash blindness," another user commented on Janell's post, calling out the violently feathery eyelash extensions that are popular right now. "Imo it's worse than the eyebrow blindness."

Janell is not the only one to share her experience suffering from a severe case of brow blindness. The trend has taken off on TikTok, with hundred of videos set to the same sound sharing their poor brow choices.

If these videos still don't help you understand the trend, then think of controversial influencer James Charles's big brows as he started his internet career. James was one of the poster children of the bold brows trend, and though he no longer does them as intensely as he used to, his place in the 2016 makeup era is solidified by his brows, if nothing else.

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