The Internet Has Called It, Mob Wife Aesthetic Is In

Welcome to your mob wife era.

"TikTok is back at it again, and just as the “clean girl” makeup was making its exit, enter “Mob Wife” makeup. With over 8 millions views and counting, what exactly is “Mob Wife”? Think Elvira Hancock in "Scarface," Karen Hill in "Goodfellas," or Rosalyn Rosenfeld in "American Hustle"; it’s bold, it’s glamorous, it’s big, it’s brash, and there is a ton of attitude.

“At last, more makeup to play with! I am so over the clean girl makeup,” a TikTok creator screeches with excitement as she begins her mob wife tutorial. At least, the mob wife makeup doesn’t parade around as the ultimate natural effortless IT girl, leaving you with that sour aftertaste for not being that way inclined, naturally. The mob wife has personality and plenty of it; she is loud, glamorous, has secrets, has money, and knows how to hold it down for her husband, well, according to TikTok.

But truth be told, I am a little exhausted by the internet telling me how to wear my makeup. And yes, I know makeup and navigating how to apply makeup onto our faces can be overwhelming. Five years in the beauty industry, and I am still learning how to contour. So yes, tutorials can be extremely useful, and thousands of people can attest to this, myself included, but the way TikTok does it with these trend-led makeup eras; it’s everything that is wrong with the online beauty culture. It’s not makeup as a form of expression nor makeup as simple as just wanting to look and feel good. It's about status, it’s about who is in and who is out, it’s about capitalism, it’s about beauty overconsumption, and it’s about beauty standards. It is clean girl makeup, all over again, just dolled up with darker liner and gold eyeshadow.

'Mob Wife,' I'd question if Gen Z are inadvertently rebranding toxic beauty standards. While playing dress-up in different 'eras' or 'aesthetics' can be empowering and thrilling, I question if it is easier to wear an 'aesthetic' mask to distract from taking the time to discover your own identity?" Farrah Gray, beauty and lifestyle PR. 

Don’t get me wrong; the mob wife era seems fun on the surface, but I am so over TikTok as our makeup sat nav. The constant need to centre our makeup, our “personality” around a constant revolving trend cycle, it’s a form of self containment. While sub cultures of the past were birthed out of personality, and community, today’s sub cultures have very little to do with personality but more a plucking of the seemingly glamorous parts of a pre existing subculture. A tone deaf attempt to present as cool - ignoring all the subtleties. Masks of personalities that we can pick and choose as if they were lipsticks instead of nurturing our own.

I wonder how beauty would manifest in our lives without this digital dictation of makeup or worse how much of ourselves we’re losing. Social media is an indispensable part of many people’s lives, a way out can look very foggy but maybe it can start with uncoupling our sense of self from the way we look on the outside and we figure it out on our own. How much freer would we feel?

Plus, everyone knows the first rule of being a Mob wife, is not to say you’re a Mob wife.