M&M’s Become Unexpected Makeup Hack After Prison Beauty Tutorials Go Viral
Photo 236372141 © Tatiana Golmer | Dreamstime.com
Makeup is an avenue that encourages people to get creative for self-expression. However, there’s perhaps no place that challenges your ability to get experimental like one that puts you behind literal bars.
Prisoners have been able to break out of their shells by fully utilizing the resources they have on hand. With no access to makeup palettes and brushes, they’ve resorted to snacks to elevate their everyday looks. A clip posted on TikTok showcases an incarcerated person being questioned about her blue M&M and red Fireball candy, and she explains that they’re how she can appear as though she has makeup on.
In the video, the detainee demonstrates how she applies the blue M&M as eyeshadow—by licking it and smearing the candy on her eyelids. She then puts on a red lip by doing the same with the Fireball.
@posh.420 I think she was doing it to feel better about herself, wby? #jail
♬ Candy Makeup Challenge - Miranda Posh
The woman additionally fashions eyeliner out of a graphite pencil, and she also admits to using Windex as a makeup cleanser.
Although impressed, the guard promptly seizes her prized beauty possessions.
Internet users are naturally fascinated by what life is like behind bars, as it offers a glimpse into the things people can do to survive or enjoy a semblance of everyday living. So much so that the #prisontok hashtag on TikTok has garnered 2.9 billion views.
The pseudo-tutorial, which has since gone viral, has inspired lifestyle TikTokers to test out M&M’s as makeup tools themselves, BuzzFeed News reports.
@erinparsonsmakeup #stitch with @posh.420 this lipstick is delicious 😛 thanks for tagging me @priscillaono you know me so well!
♬ original sound - Erin Parsons
And it does look like incarcerated individuals are on to something, as those who have tried out the candy-coated alternative are surprised by the high pigmentation. A simple swipe of a wet M&M over the eyelids, it seems, gives their faces an instant pop of vibrancy.
Of course, the edible makeup isn’t waterproof (as is often said, these treats don’t melt in your hand but in your mouth), and using it without a brush means you’d be left with tinted fingertips—but these are worthwhile tradeoffs for looking put-together when the odds are stacked against you.
Amanda Cisco, a social media influencer who was formerly incarcerated, tells the media outlet that prisoners have been compelled to get all kinds of creative to “make ourselves pretty in jail.”
In fact, M&M’s candies have also been used as lipsticks and blush, thanks in large to their variety and incredible color payoff, Cisco elaborates.
@prison_story We didn’t have crayons or hot pots in jail but I heard a girl in receiving talk about how her county did. #prison #makeup #jail #hacks
♬ original sound - Amanda Dove â¤ï¸
Mahlia Lindquist, executive director of Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP), which aims to provide resources to women in prison and during reentry, explains that the prison system is “dehumanizing” by design, so women have been continuing their beauty regimes to regain their self-esteem.
In jail, it seems, M&M’s stands for makeup, mettle, and myriads more.
@looksbyaolany #stitch with @posh.420 just wait till you guys see the eyeshadow ðŸ˜ðŸ’€ yt:looksbyaolany #jail #jailmakeup #makeup #diymakeup #fypã‚· #foryou #viral
♬ original sound - Aolany Mâ¤ï¸
[via BuzzFeed News, cover photo 236372141 © Tatiana Golmer | Dreamstime.com]
