Between Facetune and Instagram’s extreme makeup tutorials it’s easy to get bogged down with beauty content to the point that you contour your nose so much you end up browsing over to a plastic surgeon’s page. The Instagram account @v93oo is a little different. You won’t find tips for the perfect smokey eye here, or glowy ‘natural’ makeup tutorials, instead you’ll be treated to an eye-popping grid of rainbow eyeshadows messily daubed across lids, clown-like rosy cheeks, sequins festooning faces, and glitter galore. This is next-level makeup, conceptual makeup, makeup that’s not just about looking ‘pretty’.
“Hands down, for me makeup is art,” Mushtaq, the mastermind behind the eye-catching account tells SLEEK. “I have no issues with glam, but it shouldn’t hide who you are. I’ve chatted with a lot of people who are turned off by makeup because of this aspect.” Mushtaq shirks the trend for perfect, clean-lined and glossy makeup — the sort championed by the likes of Kylie Jenner and her eponymous cosmetics line — and compiles bold, playful and technicolour looks that bleed outside of the lines. Gathering creations from makeup artists across the web, Mushtaq platforms luminous and painterly looks that challenge our conventional, ‘playing it safe’ everyday use of makeup.
Fo Mushtaq, the purpose of @v93oo is to abandon the limits of beauty standards and explore makeup as a transgressive medium in its own right. “We live in a world where everything needs to look beautiful and perfect, especially on social media,” says Mushtaq. “I’m happy to be part of something that pushes the idea of art and creativity so that people can be free to do what they want.”