TikTok Made Me Buy It!

TikTok.

Even if you’re not on it yourself, you’ve probably heard of the latest social media app that everyone’s talking about.

Thanks in part to the pandemic and lockdowns, TikTok has exploded in popularity over the last few years, with over 1 billion active monthly users and the most engagement of any social media app on the market. With users doing challenges, dances or comedy skits, educating their followers, connecting with other people to trade tips and support, or sharing their favourite products.

With all of that popularity comes influence, and as the platform grew more and more businesses hopped aboard the TikTok train and used it to sell their products. Between that and the enthusiastic sharing of its users, the app coined its own new phrase – ‘TikTok made me buy it’. The phenomenon of buying things because you’ve seen them all over TikTok, and let us tell you some of these viral products aren’t what you’d expect! So today we wanted to share a few of our faves with you.

‘The Leggings’

These leggings need absolutely no introduction. There was a period of about 3 months where you couldn’t swipe between more than a couple of TikToks without seeing them. Fashion, beauty and fitness influencers loved them, multiple online shops were advertising them and even ordinary users were ‘putting them to the test’ on all sorts of body types. The best place to get these honeycomb leggings is Amazon, and they boast a stretchy fabric with ruching detail along the back, so they give you a butt lift without the surgery. We tried them, and they are definitely Elle Courbee approved!

Dyson Airwrap

This pricy beauty tool hasn’t always been the biggest seller for Dyson, especially when you realise it’s over £400 for the whole lot. The Airwrap soared to the top of TikTok thanks to its ability to dry your hair, create volume and give you beautiful bouncy curls with minimal effort and heat damage. It claims to give you a salon blowout effect at home, and a slew of TikTokers took to the internet to put it to the test. It passed with flying colours, and it actually sold out in retailers around November last year – and stock is still tricky to get your hands on!

‘The’ Foundation Brush

If you ever needed an example of how cyclical the fashion and beauty industry can be sometimes, look no further than TikTok. Up until 2009 it was common to apply your foundation with either a brush or (shock horror) your fingers. But when Rea Ann Silva launched the Beautyblender she changed the game, and the little sponge has been the go-to applicator since. Until just 2 months ago, when a series of videos featuring a kabuki-style brush started circulating. While the brand varies, the style of the brush is always the same, and users show it giving maximum coverage and a flawless finish with their usual makeup. This brush is so fantastic that it even had folks with vitiligo singing its praises for how well it blended their makeup and covered the different pigments in their skin. Just typing ‘tiktok foundation brush’ into Amazon will get you there, and we highly recommend you add it to your basket now!

Weighted Hula Hoops

If you want to shift the pandemic pounds but haven’t managed it yet, TikTok has a slew of advice and tips. But one of its more popular products by far is the weighted hula hoop. This is no ordinary hula hoop though. It’s split into sections so that it looks sort of like a spine, with metal pads on each section and a weighted ball on the outside. The idea is to hula enough to lift the ball and keep it swinging at the same height as the hoop (it’s harder than it sounds!). Reviewers swear that it helps them strengthen their core, lose weight while dancing to their favourite tunes and that the metal inner pads helped relieve back aches from sitting in one place for too long. We all need a bit of that!

Of course, there are thousands more products out there that have made the TikTok headlines, but we encourage you to get out there and see them for yourself! If all else fails, look for the hashtag #tiktokmakemebuyit, and don’t forget to share your finds with us in the comments!