Admittedly, I'm pretty terrible at being a millennial — I finally got Facebook Messenger for my phone, like yesterday, and I'm still not 100 percent positive how to post a video to Instagram. But even I knew something was up when I opened Snapchat today to send my mom a few selfies (as I tend to do on weekends — she's way better at using social media than I am, TBH), and discovered the Snapchat rainbow lens has disappeared. Can someone please explain to me how I am supposed to show my darling mother just how much I love her without the help of digital rainbow puke?
As terrible as I am at using technology popular with the rest of you kids these days, I was nevertheless pretty excited when the new Snapchat update rolled out earlier this month. As part of Snapchat's 9.15 version, users can now collect Snapchat trophies, purchase extra "replay" snaps, and most importantly, use a select number of creative lens filters to take their selfie game up a million notches. Sending your friends a silly face at 3 a.m. will no longer cut it in today's snap-happy world — the new lenses let tech-savvy Snapchat users transform themselves into heart-eye emojis, teary cry babies, and up until very, very recently, wide-eyed rainbow pukers who looked a little something like this:
But as anyone who has been on Snapchat this weekend can tell you, some of the original lenses have now been swapped out for brand new ones. Gone are your days of throwing up rainbows, looking like an old person, and morphing your face into that of a terrifying zombie-demon (shout out to my cousin for sending me this one in the middle of the night and straight up traumatizing me — good times). Instead, Snapchat has entered a few new lenses into the mix, including one that gives you a pointed mustache, one that lets you blow smoke from your nose (very important), and one that acts like a big ol' cartoon slap to the face.
Of course, as Business Insider reports, part of the new update is that Snapchat plans to rotate in one new lens a day, meaning you won't know what filters await you until you open up the app each morning. But the puking rainbow lens seemed pretty popular, especially among the Twitter crowd, which has been very busy mourning its loss:
Drama, am I right? It kind of makes me wish I had taken more screenshots of my rainbow-puking selfies when I had a chance. No use crying over spilled milk, though — there's always a chance that Snapchat will bring the rainbow lens back into rotation. In the meantime, there are plenty of other lenses out there to hold you over while you wait for it to come back. Here are your options:
1. First, get yourself ready for a selfie
An important first step, no matter which lens you choose. Fix the front camera so that it's facing you, and look directly at it. Tap your face on the screen, and a grid will appear. Make sure it's centered. A menu of different lenses will show up at the bottom — that's where things start to get interesting.
2. Show the world how sad you are now that the rainbow lens has disappeared
Through personal experience, I can say with confidence that doing full-blown puppy dog eyes is the quickest way to bring about positive change.
3. Alternatively, show the world how mad you are
Maybe rage is more your style. Hey, there's a lens for that too.
4. Not so subtly let someone know you feel like you've been slapped in the face
Ka-BOOM! Dang that emotion is real.
Sad as I am to see that the rainbow lens is on hiatus, I'm also pretty excited to find out what other lenses the future may hold. Filters may change, but there is one thing that will always stay the same — I will never, ever shy away from an excuse to take a selfie.
Images: Kathryn Kattalia/Bustle
