What does it mean to capture the essence of a tomato? To embody the spirit of a strawberry? When your friend says she’s trying ‘latte makeup’, what is she talking about? If you have had any of these questions on your mind the last while, dear reader, you’ve come to the right place.
Food inspired beauty trends have recently been blowing up on TikTok, Instagram and even in celebrity circles. People are really out there calling themselves “tomato girls” and expecting the rest of us uninitiated buffoons to understand what they mean but worry no more! This article will break down every food-related beauty trend being talked about right now, so you can enter social situations and talk to your beauty and style obsessed friends without fear.
Tomato Girl
The ‘tomato girl’ look is very much a summer aesthetic. It’s inspired by the idea of the coast of Italy. How would you imagine a girl, spending her summer in Italy strolling through markets and heading to cute restaurants, would dress? If you answered: woven bags, long skirts, red, natural makeup look, sundresses, sandals, linen trousers and hair scarves – you have described a tomato girl! Like you’d imagine, colour wise it’s a mix of red and neutrals with the occasional green pop. Both colourful prints (on skirts for example) and solid colour block (especially white and beige) pieces can be incorporated. Its inspirations are an aestheticised idealised version of Italy from films and books. The Tomato Girl makeup look is natural and sun-kissed. It was one of the most popular of the food themed trends this summer though we are moving past it right now as the weather has now gotten too cold for the Tomato Girl and her sandals.
Strawberry Girl
Like tomatoes, strawberries are obviously red. But the Strawberry Girl aesthetic has a much softer take on the colour. The main colour here is pink which is functionally just light red. However, the most key thing is the glazed pink lip – you can’t be a strawberry girl without it. You can attribute this to Hailey Bieber, who helped the trend blow up when she captioned a carousel of photos (one with a glazed pink lip) ‘strawberry girl summer’. Another element of Strawberry Girl makeup is pink blush on the cheeks and nose. A Strawberry Girl wardrobe consists of a lot of light sweet colours (particularly light pinks), lace, cotton, dresses and skirts.
Cherry Girl
The cherry girl is the antithesis of the strawberry girl. It’s all about darker reds and sultry styles. It’s inspired by a Lana Del Rey type of dark femininity. We can see this too in the red nail trend right now. Any seductive woman must be clad in cherry red everywhere she can.
Glazed Donut Makeup
This is the most simple one. Glazed donuts are pretty and shiny, and this makeup look is about making your skin shiny and glowing like a glazed donut. You can also trace this back to a Hailey Bieber Instagram caption.
Vanilla Girl
The Vanilla Girl is pretty similar to the Clean Girl aesthetic that was popular last year. It’s all about neutral colours and minimalism. There’s a lot of white and cream (hence the vanilla name) and it’s just all about simplicity. Think neutral makeup looks, white shirts and clipped up hair.
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girls are inspired by autumn staples – sweaters, darker makeup and earthy colours. It is most related to dark academia styles. The Cinnamon Girl wears brown and other earthy shades, huge sweaters, plaid skirts, turtlenecks, brown liner and brown and red toned lip shades.
Latte Makeup
Latte makeup focuses on brown and nude shades. This one is kind of self explanatory too. It’s brown and white and nude, like a latte!
Food themed beauty trends really do make a lot of sense. The foods and drinks listed here have associations with them which are easy to translate to fashion and beauty trends. Linking things to other senses is one of the key techniques in any marketers arsenal. Social media has created and popularised trends which are becoming more and more niche (whimsigoth, Barbiecore and tomato girls all being examples) The “tomato girl” isn’t actually trying to replicate a tomato – it’s the connection of tomato -> mediterranean, Italy, holidays -> cute summer styles. While they sound strange at first, it is very easy to grasp the idea these styles are going for once you witness a tomato girl in action.
WORDS: Leah Kelly
