Meet Nikki, a Dutch beauty vlogger who's video about the power of makeup is going viral.
NikkiTutorials has been on YouTube for seven years vlogging and giving makeup tutorials.
But recently, she's noticed nasty social media comments about women who use makeup. So she decided to paint half her face with makeup and leave the other half bare in order to prove that makeup is fun, and that using it has nothing to do with hating your natural face or having low self esteem.
"I've been noticing a lot lately that girls have been almost ashamed to say that they love makeup," she said in her video The Power of MAKEUP. "Nowadays when you say you love makeup, you either do it because you want to look good for boys, you do it because you're insecure, or you do it because you don't love yourself."
"By no means do I want to say that if you have insecurities that you should just slap makeup on, feel better, and just never be content with your own self," Nikki added. "I just want people to know that makeup is fun and there are no rules."
The Dutch makeup artist took inspiration from RuPaul's TV show "Drag Race" where the contestants have their full glam makeup side-by-side with their natural, make up-free face. Instead of her average amount of daily makeup, Nikki went full glam on one side and bare-faced on the other, first spotted on Brit + Co:
She started with a base of foundation, concealer, and brow pencil to fill in her brows.
Next she focused on her eyes by adding eyeshadow above her natural crease, making her eye appear larger with eye-liner tricks, and finishing with some false eyelashes on the tops and bottom.
She also contoured her cheeks and chin to make her features even more defined and complemented it with a blush and highlighter.
Here's the finished look:
The video has since gone viral with over 15 million views at the time of this post. It also pushed Nikki's subscribers to 1 million and she started getting lots of positive comments on her Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter accounts.
Her video is a part of growing trend among beauty vloggers who are responding to critics for taking their before and after photos and making comments like "this is why men have trust issues" or "this girl must be insecure to plaster her face with so much makeup."
Another YouTube beauty vlogger Stephanie Lange recorded a similar video where she spoke out against her hateful commenters who were saying she looked ugly without makeup or that she looked like a different person.
"No, I will not edit my before photo like I know a lot of other people do, because I don't care about making an illusion of what I do or don't look like without makeup," Lange explained in her video. "That's just my face."
A YouTube makeup artist named Shannon was also targeted by the Twitter account Manstagram. The account tweeted a side-by-side of her before and after photos with the caption, "This is why our first date is running a mile around the track to see if you sweat the makeup off."
This is why our first date is running a mile around the track to see if you sweat the makeup off pic.twitter.com/UWxbK7Vwp5
- Manstagram?? (@Manstagram_) June 8, 2015But actress and singer Zendaya responded, first spotted by Buzzfeed, and shut down the Manstagram writer. "That awkward moment when this tweet is irrelevant cause she's slaying both ways," Zendaya tweeted.
@Manstagram_ that awkward moment when this tweet is irrelevant cause she's slaying both ways #wannaborrowmyglasses pic.twitter.com/4BXge1Ch4K
- Zendaya (@Zendaya) June 10, 2015