Face tape has emerged as 2025’s most unexpected beauty accessory, and its most unapologetic ambassador is Grammy-winning rapper Doechii.
Once a Hollywood secret for creating the illusion of a lifted, sculpted face, this gravity-defying tape is no longer confined to behind-the-scenes trickery. Instead, it’s being redefined by stars like Doechii, who are turning a concealed beauty hack into a must-have accessory.
Since 2024, Doechii has incorporated face tape into her stage and red carpet looks. While most users carefully disguise the adhesive, she places it on her temples with the connecting band stretched over her hair.
Other celebrities have also embraced face tape as part of their beauty arsenal, though some prefer to still keep it under wraps. Bella Hadid, for instance, sparked buzz in early 2023 after fans noticed subtle tape peeking from behind her ears in a “Vogue” Beauty Secrets video, leading many to speculate that her signature “fox eye” look was achieved with adhesive help.
I didn’t know what type of reactions to expect, but what I got was far more layered than I could have imagined.
Meanwhile, drag queens have long used face tape for decades to sculpt dramatic cheekbones and lift brows. RuPaul’s Drag Race icons like Violet Chachki and Gottmik have spoken openly about the technique. And in 2024, Charli XCX amplified the trend’s edge factor, rocking exposed tape at the Fashion Awards and her epic PartyGirl DJ set.
Doechii’s visible face tape has sparked equal parts admiration and confusion, but she hasn’t backed down from the discourse. In November 2024, she addressed the backlash head-on in a TikTok, stating, “The face tapes are there on purpose because. . . it’s c*nt.”
According to her stylist, Sam Woolf, “[Doechii] likes exposing something that’s meant to be hidden. She just thinks outside the box.”
Inspired by her fearless adoption of the trend (and a bit of curiosity), I decided to wear face tape in the wild on a night out in New York City. Here’s what happened.
My Face-Tape Experiment
For $20 and two-day shipping, I bought the Face Lift Tape Invisible with String ($25) from Amazon. The application was simple: place small adhesive strips at my temples and pull my skin upward using the connective band for an instant lift. Like my celebrity muses, I left the tape and band exposed. The device worked – the tapes actually created the illusion of sharper cheekbones and lifted eyes.
With the accessory secured over my slick-back bun, I ventured out with my non-judgmental but definitely skeptical friends, hopping between a dimly lit SoHo lounge and a packed bar in the Lower East Side. I didn’t know what type of reactions to expect, but what I got was far more layered than I could have imagined.
When I first walked into the bar, I immediately noticed the men’s reactions: a mix of curiosity and unease. Their eyes flicked between my eyes and temples as if trying to solve an optical illusion. More than once, a finance bro leaned in and asked, “What are you wearing on your face?” My answer was always the same: I pulled out my phone, showed them a saved photo of Doechii, and walked off to grab a drink – too uninterested (and too lazy) to explain the details of my social experiment.
There was an almost voyeuristic discomfort in their response, as if they were seeing something they weren’t supposed to. Their reactions made me feel strangely exposed, like I was breaking a fourth wall of beauty.
Women, on the other hand, were so supportive. Compliments rolled in almost immediately. “Oh my god, your face looks so snatched,” one woman said. Another pulled her phone out to order a set for herself on Amazon. There was a fun camaraderie in these exchanges, like we were all a part of the same inside joke.
It’s a rebellion against the idea that beauty must always be disguised.
By the end of the night, I wasn’t just embracing the look, I was embracing the attitude behind it. The tape itself gave me a physical confidence boost (since it did, indeed, make me look snatched), but the real boost came from how women interacted with it. Doechii, Charli XCX, and the growing wave of visible face tape wearers aren’t just playing with aesthetics; they’re making beauty’s effort a part of the art, and women got that.
For decades, beauty culture has been built on the illusion of effortless perfection – contour that looks like bone structure, hair extensions passed off as natural volume, Botox erasing wrinkles – but social media has changed that. We now watch celebrities getting glam in real-time, follow influencers through their plastic surgery recoveries and acne journeys, and trade beauty hacks with strangers on TikTok and Instagram.
That’s exactly why Doechii’s public embrace of this hidden hack feels so powerful. It’s a rebellion against the idea that beauty must always be disguised.
So, would I wear face tape again? Maybe for an event or special girls’ night out, but the real takeaway wasn’t the effect: it was the way it sparked conversations. Women are lifting the veil – or, in this case, the tape – and owning it.
Olivia Tauber is a freelance writer based in New York, passionate about crafting authentic stories through personal essays and profiles. Her career began in corporate publicity at Showtime and Paramount, followed by production for “The Pivot,” an Emmy-nominated series.
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