Indie sleaze is having its cultural renaissance. Tiktokers are creating looks inspired by the Y2K meets Tumblr aesthetic, fusing party girl styles with “rockstar girlfriend” staples like smudged eyeliner, slept-in smoky eyes, metallics, and bright lips. Obsessed with rejecting the cookie-cutter, picture-perfect beauty looks that dominated the mid to late 2010s, Gen Z is revisiting the sleaze with a newfound appreciation for its rebellious spirit and effortless cool factor.
@addisonraee / Instagram
Addison Rae, for her part, brought the look to her highly-anticipated “lost album” release in the form of messy waves and the most stylishly smudged metallic eyeshadow.
In the album cover and social media rollout for the album, Rae is wearing the quintessential makeup look of the Tumblr aesthetic: dark silver metallic eyeshadow. It’s effortlessly smudged from her inner corner, across her lid, and under her eyes. Unevenly applied on both eyes, the look is wild, undone, and authentic to the messy girl makeup typical of the era.
In addition to the shadow, she also freely applied black eyeliner to the waterline and had long black lashes, a thick contour, and bright pink lips. To go with the makeup, she styled her hair in two ways—first, on her album cover, with a simple middle part, and second, with her hair in wet messy waves that looked as if she coated every stand in thick layers of gels.
But, it was the indie-sleaze fashion that really brought this look to life. She matched her silver eyeshadow to a metallic top and skirt. Rae also wore a black bikini top with a chain for straps layered underneath a decorative metallic crystal bra. The whole ensemble basically screams, “American Apparel.”
If you want to recreate her eye makeup, it’s pretty simple. To get the subtly smudged eyeliner, you can try the TikTok method of applying it messily on your upper and lower lash and water lines and then washing it off with facewash revealing an effortlessly chic look. Then, you can use a metallic liner on top like Urban Decay’s Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliners ($22) and a silver metallic eyeshadow like the one from Makeup By Mario’s Master Metals Eyeshadow Palette ($50).
Make sure to apply the shadow messily to your lids, inner corners, and under the eye—you don’t want anything looking too polished. Then, of course, finish it off with a glossy bright pink lipstick or gloss like Glossier’s Ultralip High Shine Lipstick with Hyaluronic Acid ($18).
