TikTok seems to be the place where beauty trends are born. We’ve seen some of the most iconic trends come to rise on the platform, such as “cold girl makeup” and Hailey Bieber’s “glazed donut” nails.
These popular beauty looks happen to fit nicely with the “vanilla girl” aesthetic. If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok lately, you will no doubt have come across videos of girls showing off cream-colored outfits paired with gold jewelry and wearing minimal makeup.
Just a dab of concealer here and a swipe of baby-pink blush there.
The vanilla girl aesthetic encompasses neutral tones, such as white, cream, or beige. Outfits for work or school usually consist of cable knit sweaters, crisp button-ups, and light-colored bottoms. But at home, it’s all about beige pajama sets and tank tops with lace trim.
Furthermore, vanilla girls’ houses are spotless and adorned with chic furniture, like fluffy white sofas and rugs. And as the name suggests, anything vanilla-scented goes–candles, perfumes, lotions.
Basically, the vanilla girl appears to be effortlessly classy and very put together, with not a hair out of place, all while exhibiting vibes of coziness, comfort, and simplicity.
Although the vanilla girl aesthetic is all over TikTok right now, the trend isn’t exactly new. And if you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed a significant problem with the aesthetic: it’s not inclusive to people of color.
And that has sparked a lot of controversy across the board.
The vanilla girl aesthetic may seem like just another take on minimalism, but honestly, it’s more than that. Vanilla girl beauty isn’t exactly welcoming or inclusive for all women. When you look up #vanillagirl, many of the videos feature thin, white women with straight blonde hair.
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So the trend is popularizing a very specific standard of beauty, and even though it may be unintentional, people of color are getting left out yet again. Simply the name of the trend itself, “vanilla,” excludes anyone with a darker complexion.
The difference between the vanilla girl trend and other beauty trends, like cold girl makeup, is that the word vanilla is associated with whiteness.
Words like “chocolate” and “caramel” have been used to describe darker skin tones. So you can see how giving a trend a name like “vanilla” might not sit well with a lot of people.
The beauty community has had a history of lacking diversity. Whether it’s makeup companies failing to add darker foundation shades or white influencers denouncing curly hair, women of color have had to learn to love their ethnic features without much representation in mainstream media.
And now that the vanilla girl aesthetic has gone viral, it’s hard not to feel like you don’t fit the mold.
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