The 'Karma' Meme Is The Strangest Makeover Fad To Come Out Of China
Updated Nov. 15 2019, 2:11 p.m. ET
There are few things more satisfying than getting "revenge" on an ex who dumped you by getting your life together.
If you manage to hit the trifecta of getting in shape, making more money, and dating someone who's better than them in every way, you've pretty much won the breakup. I mean, even more than that, you've won at life.
Those are a lot of things to go for, but at the very least if you can affect them on the shallowest level, which is checking out your new and improved look with envy, then you've succeeded.
And that's what I think is the logic behind the newest meme that's been circulating the web.
The idea is that you perform a superhero-like instant transformation on camera that makes it look like you go from plain to INSANE...ly good-looking.
Is it a bit bizarre? Yes, but aren't those the nature of memes?
Besides, people began pointing out that compared to some current US meme trends, the stuff they got going on in China is definitely way cooler.
People began submitting their own entries to take part in the challenge.
And there are tons different compilations popping up everywhere.
Now if you think that you've seen strange beauty trends coming out of China before - you're not imagining things.
Remember back when people started putting a bunch of coins in their collarbones and called it the Coin Challenge?
Apparently it was a way to boast about how skinny you are. Although some people have naturally more recessed collarbones than others (weight has nothing to do with it), it became a beauty trend nonetheless.
Then there was the Belly Button challenge, where people, again, flaunted both their thinness and arm flexibility by touching their belly buttons in this super weird way.
Then there was the underboob pen challenge, which is, well, pretty self explanatory.
The A4 Waist challenge to see if your waist could hide behind a sheet of paper.
The iPhone 6 challenge had people putting their smartphones over their knees to show how thin their legs were.
The lipstick challenge was basically the same as the Belly Button one, it just required a lot more dexterity if you, you know, actually tried to apply lipstick from such a weird position.
And another currency-themed body image challenge (there's a social commentary about the commodification of beauty in there somewhere) was the Bill Challenge.
Basically all of the challenges emphasized how thin they were, so at least this new one is more about caking on copious amounts of makeup and not how frail you can look.
But then again, makeup memes from Asia isn't really anything new.