KISS OFF AND MAKEUP
Revenge is a dish best served glam
When Sophie Anne Smith, a 24-year-old digital marketing consultant, got dumped by her ex earlier this year, she didn’t get mad — she got even.
But rather than trashing his car a la Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” anthem or finding a way to sabotage her old flame’s next relationship, Smith’s vengeance came in the form of glam.
She’s one of the 2.9 million spurned lovers, as well as experimental cosmetics fans, on TikTok to send her ex wincing in regret with the viral #RevengeMakeup primp.
The look sees beauty fanatics transform their once-weepy eyes into sharp, winged slants, their tear-stained cheeks into chiseled peaks and their formerly pouting lips into devilishly red smirks.
Give ’em lip
“It’s a great way to make yourself feel empowered and confident after a heartbreak,” Smith, from Montreal, told The Post of the look. She shared her step-bystep tutorial on the trending preen with her 32,000 TikTok followers this month.
“It’s the perfect way to say [to an ex], ‘You f--ked up, and now I’m going to take my power back,” she added.
For Smith’s vengeful embellishment, she created her smoky eye with Makeup by Mario’s Ethereal eye palette ($50) and her own @LashesBySAS.mtl magnetic liner. She used the NYX Wonder Stick ($14) and the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kit ($40) to carve her cheeks, and paired Essence’s Extreme Shine Volume lip gloss ($4) with NYX’s Line Loud lip liner in Goal Getter ($8) for a sexy pout.
“As soon I put this dark, femme fatale look on, I feel strong and sexy,” said Smith.
The revenge makeup trend is loosely inspired by the ever-trending “revenge dress” — chic, yet clinging, couture that was first made popular by Princess Diana after infidelities in her marriage were publicly revealed in 1994.
More recently, newly single A-listers such as “Don’t Worry Darling” star Olivia Wilde, 38, and supermodel Gisele Bündchen, 42, have rocked revenge frocks and makeup looks, unabashedly donning attention-grabbing eye shadows and daring lip colors on red carpets following their respective breakups with singer Harry Styles and NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
And face-paint zealots on TikTok are also finding their strength and reclaiming their sexiness through the bold makeover. “Revenge is the best medicine,” captioned Brooklyn makeup enthusiast Kayla Delyne, 23, in a clip featuring her metamorphosis into a fierce vixen with thick and elongated eyeliner, sculpted cheeks and crimson-red lips outlined in black. Sarah New beckoned a staggering 899,000 eyes to her revenge makeup how-to this month, making her video one of the most viewed clips under the TikTok hashtag. Ironically, however, New, 22, a beauty influencer from London, told The Post that she’s currently in a healthy relationship and isn’t seeking revenge on any exes.
Instead, she re-created the look in an effort to inspire her over 3.1 million followers to fearlessly express themselves through face paint in the new year.
“The best revenge isn’t about getting back at another person,” said New. “It’s about looking and feeling good about yourself, and doing that through makeup can be very empowering.”
And Smith agreed, saying, “When I’m in revenge makeup, I feel like a bad bitch, like my edginess demands a different level of respect.”