Using hair spray to create fake freckles is now a beauty trend on TikTok

It's a trick that's not to be taken lightly, however, since it involves hijacking the intended use of a hair spray and applying it to the face. Photo: AFP

Once disparaged, even mocked, freckles have now become a beauty attribute in their own right – so much so that products and techniques designed to create fake ones have emerged.

TikTok users have – of course – seized on the trend, in turn proposing unexpected, if not totally crazy, tricks to bring out the best in these little spots that now seem to be all the rage.

TikTokers seem to have softened in recent weeks, advocating a more natural approach to beauty with no filters or frills. But that was obviously a delusion.

It only took a few days for the social network's beauty enthusiasts to start proposing new improbable makeup tips and techniques.

The latest in line involves using a hair spray to recreate tiny freckles, the latest fad among the Chinese social network's users. And this seemingly dubious trick nevertheless already has a crowd of followers around the world.

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The craze for freckles has been at its peak for several months now. Long mocked, these tiny dark spots are now all the rage.

While they may once have been a complex for some, freckled faces can now enjoy showing off their spots in the most natural way.

Others, meanwhile, are ready to use all the tricks in the book to mimic these tiny dark speckles. From pencil to liner to patches and even tattoos, anything goes.

Some have even been applying cocoa powder to their face to create the illusion of freckles, or, more dangerously, embarking on home tattoo sessions.

A magic hair spray

But this time, it's a totally unexpected trick that users of the Chinese social network have turned to, with varying degrees of success.

Here, a hair spray is in the spotlight, and more precisely, the Magic Retouch instant root concealer spray by L'Oreal Paris, initially intended to mask gray hair.

Influencer Sydney Purl was among the first to use the product to create fake freckles, admittedly with a rather attractive result. This evidently went down well with the (very) many people who watched the video, which has nearly two million views to date.

And so followed the snowball effect, as is often the case on the social network, with the quick proliferation of videos featuring the said spray now used to form dozens and dozens of freckles on the forehead, cheekbones and nose.

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It's a trick that's not to be taken lightly, however, since it involves hijacking the intended use of a hair spray and applying it to the face. Something that is absolutely not recommended.

Nevertheless, TikTok users are having a great time trying it out, so much so that the #fakefreckles hashtag now has more than 200 million views.

And if most TikTokers seem convinced by this little trick, a handful of them already regret having tried it.

This trick requires skill and dexterity, and there's no denying that we're not all equally gifted when it comes to reproducing makeup techniques.

As a result, the hack has failed to pass the test for some users who tried it, ending up with big black spots on their faces instead of a pretty scattering of fake freckles. – AFP Relaxnews