There is more than enough discourse surrounding the plight of millennials on TikTok at the hands of Gen Zers. The social media platform has given voice to anyone who dares to have an opinion and share it online, often resulting in strong (and sometimes biased) opinions that declare some of the aesthetics of the past as unremarkable while identifying those that have received the Gen Z stamp of approval. My point of view is a unique one, as I spent much of my childhood relating to much of “millennial” beauty culture, ignoring the fact that my birth year categorizes me in an entirely different one.
Millennials experienced the rise in popularity of some of the biggest brands of the 2000s and 2010s, including the likes of E.l.f., Covergirl, Maybelline, Tarte, Morphe, and Pixi Beauty. Each of these brands underwent major transformations in the post-recession reality of the early 2010s and arguably again post-pandemic, reflecting the shopping habits of consumers that now fall roughly between the ages of 27 and 42. I like to think the majority of these brands successfully repackaged and reformulated some of their top-selling products for Gen Z, catering to our innate fascination with the Y2K aesthetics millennials grew up with and, later, modernized but didn’t completely part with.