The ’90s Grunge Makeup Trend Is All About Intentional Imperfection

For beauty girls who don’t really vibe with the currently reigning mob wife aesthetic, might I present an alternative space: the grunge eye.

As a vital ’90s trend, grunge makeup keeps popping up every time that decade is back in focus. But the aesthetic is currently having a major TikTok moment, and it’s what every Nirvana/Garbage/Avril Lavigne stan has been waiting for.

The trend is giving everything that the previously viral clean girl aesthetic was not. It’s not minimalist and polite, and it’s the opposite of old money and quiet luxury. It’s gritty and tough while still being expressive and vulnerable. It’s slightly obnoxious and as anti-establishment as makeup can get.

It also strays so far away from the pressure of perfection that the clean girl trend embodied. “Grunge should challenge the status quo. Lean into the fun of this trend and use it to express your individuality,” says makeup artist David Birdwell, BUXOM Cosmetics’ executive director of global education and artistry.

Read on for the rules of grunge makeup, according to pro makeup artists.

First Rule Of Grunge: Embrace Imperfection

Tayaba Jafri, makeup artist and Laura Mercier’s global beauty director, says grunge is all about lived-in statement makeup. So it’s the polar opposite of trends like coquette or ultra femme, which are personified by flushes of color and precision application for a soft feminine look.

“Grunge wants to be androgynous, intense, and unyielding. Application is intentional but still undone, imperfect, even messy,” she says.

As demonstrated by TikTok, this look essentially involves “making the eye look engulfed in generously applied deeper shades that are blended imperfectly and make the eye look larger, deeper, and often a bit sunken,” according to Jafri.

This Is A Smoky Eye-Free Zone

At first glance, you might think this is a garden variety smoky eye, but that’s not the case. “A smoky eye has varied intensity and is shaped to enhance the natural eye shape,” says Jafri. “It’s a ‘cleaner’ application that looks more polished.” Grunge, on the other hand, redefines the shape of the eyes to create a smoky imperfect cloud around them, she says.

For Birdwell too, the essence of the look is in the imperfection. “Grunge is made to look like it was slept in or faded throughout the day to give it more of a raw, lived-in feel,” he says. And a crucial point of difference is the heavy involvement of the lower lash line, which sees a lot of action in a grunge look, as opposed to the smoky eye, where a large part is crafted on the upper lid.

Plus, in celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg’s book, a grungy eye is easier to execute. “It’s similar to a smoky eye, except you’re not doing all the extra blending with other colors. This is usually one color blended out,” she says.

The Maximalist Route To A Grunge Eye

If you’re down to spend some time on your look, start by identifying the final shape you want, aka the largest shape you would be comfortable smoking out your shadow around your eyes. “Finding your shape and your eyeshadow boundaries ensures the look doesn’t look unintentionally messy,” says Jafri.

Next, apply a medium-deep powder or shadow stick generously around the top and bottom lash line. Blend and smoke this out to your final shape, as decided above. Then, repeat this application around the top and bottom lash line with a deeper shade of shadow or stick — think black, navy, or dark brown.

“Smoke this shade out as well, but not as far as your first,” says Jafri. Pro tip: Be messy here and blend with your fingers, varying the intensity in certain places. “The grunge really can come out on the lower lash line, so don’t be afraid to create a thicker smoke and blend it to look imperfect,” she says.

Then, apply eyeliner around the lash line: thick is best, though thin and shape-defining is fine too. Just avoid drawing sharp edges. Jafri likes to blur with a brush. After this, the next crucial step is tightlining, or lining the waterline of the top and bottom lashes. “Leave no skin tone showing in between the lashes,” she says. From there, clump on your mascara. An intentional spidery lash would be perfect here if you feel so inclined.

The Minimalist Route

Greenberg has some tips for sooty-eye beginners. “First, I would smudge kohl eyeliner all over the lid and line inside the water rim on top and bottom in between the lashes. Then go in with a dark eyeshadow and blend it on top of the liner, setting the liner into place. Finish with a lot of black mascara,” she says.

“You want to keep the concentration of the eyeliner mainly on your lower lash line,” says Birdwell. He recommends diffusing any harsh edges under the eye with an eyeshadow. “Use matte black for more of an intense look, or a mid-tone shimmer brown or gunmetal gray to create a subtle diffusion with a tapered fluffy brush,” he says.

Make sure there’s no visible skin along your lash line. “Blur your eyeliner with matte shadow, and if you like, use shimmery finishes on the eyelid to hide any bald patches,” says Birdwell.

And, BTW, you don’t necessarily have to rely on one color. “Don’t just think you have to stick to black,” says Greenberg. Deep blues and browns or slate gray are all contenders, and Birdwell likes a metallic shadow on the eyelids to make them look ‘sweaty.’

Bring It Into 2024

There’s no doubt that the eyes are giving main character energy here, but there’s a way to make up the rest of the face while still keeping modern elements. A plush, fluffy brow replaces the over-tweezed arch of the ’90s and goes a long way in taking this look out of archival territory.

For Jafri, the matte skin of ’90s-era grunge makeup also doesn’t apply today. “You can still have a grunge feeling with natural or radiant skin, which is more modern,” she says. Birdwell’s way of modernizing the look is by going with a lighter coverage complexion product like concealers, skin tints, or correcting pencils. He also likes to contour and highlight the skin to make sure it “looks sculpted and not flat.”

Lips have also evolved. “Pair [your eye makeup] with a cool toned brownish lip or a tinted balm or oil, rather than the ’90s brick lipstick,” says Birdwell. Jafri says a red lip could even work, as “grunge-glam” is more of today’s vibe. The beauty of the trend is that experimenting is encouraged.