a portrait of Billie Dawn Webb with short bob aircut and an egirl makeup
Photo: Billie Dawn Webb

In the world of minimalistic eye makeups, lightly-roughed cheeks, la naturelle lips, and simple outfits, e-girls and boys look truly remarkable. Although the girl (aka soft girl) style isn't 100% new to the fashion and makeup worlds, it is definitely a whole new cultural phenomenon worth to be researched and appreciated. So, if you aren't afraid of labels and ready to dive into a colorfully gloomy world of all things cute, unusual, and aesthetically pleasing, here is a dissection of the e-girl's style, its roots, and the innovations this style brought with its popularity.

The Origins of E-Girl Style


The origin of the e-girl style dates back to the early 2000s when the crazy rave parties started to rapidly spread throughout the underground subculture. Understandably, the old-fashioned ravers didn't call themselves e-girls and e-boys, still, they enjoyed listening to electronic music and doing all sorts of illegal substances just as much, as some of their present-day descendants.

a portrait of an egirl with bright makeup and bob haircut

The so popular term e-girl, which dominated the US search rankings in 2019, was first used in the late-2000s, as a humiliating way to describe a woman, who seeks out males' attention online. The whole term electronic girl links back to "online" appearance, and not to the kind of music the women like to listen to. Thankfully nowadays, the world of e-girl and e-girl don't have such a negative connotation anymore. The e-girl term simply describes a

The new wave of "electronic" girls and boys was reborn in the late 2010s, together with the popularity of Kpop, and music and video-sharing apps like TikTok and other platforms. The uniqueness of this subculture lies in its exclusive online existence. You will rarely stumble upon an e-girl or boy in a coffee shop or library. The e-youth is not like your archaic hipsters or dark academia dwellers. Most of their free time they prefer to spend online in Discord chats and in making new TikTok challenges.

a collage of three egirl's outfit

What are The Main E-Girl Style Features?


Visually e-style looks like a mild mixture between the emo and hippies appeal, sprinkled with the best of my favorite grunge. On e-girls you'll see the usual high-waist plaid skirts, band-branded tees, crop tops, and stripped elements. Knee-high socks with all-stars and platform sneakers are also welcomed together with colorful hair and an abundant amount of hair clips that the e-stylers brought back from the 90s. 

To recall some other visual references writer and journalist Rebecca Jenningslinked the visual aesthetics of the e-girl style to the early Tumblr look, while the magazine i-D named Avril Lavigne "the original e-girl", because of her love of all things alternative, skater culture, and even Avril's a "kawaii" phase. Well, her style was definitely inspired by the 2010s emo and scene subculture,  therefore I absolutely agree with the huge impact she had on modern e-girl style.

a portrait of an egirl with bright makeup
Photo: @douxfairy


With the number of celebrities who have also adopted the main features of e-girl and e-by styles, this subculture doesn't seem to fade away any time soon. Therefore, we all can learn something or simply get inspired by the electronic style taking the best out of it. For example, my favorite thing about the e-girl style is the blushy makeup that accompanies every e-girl's outfit.

How to Get the E-girl Makeup Look?


If the fashion look of e-style is pretty much understandable, what about the makeup? Unlike emo girls, who preferred their smokey eyeshadows to be pitch black, and hippies who actually preferred bare skin, e-girls have a very distinctive makeup look. It is characterized by blushy skin, aka "hangover makeup, aka Igari look. It is when both your cheeks and nose have a brightly, but naturally flushed appeal while the skin still looks perfectly clean and smooth. 

a portrait of an egirl with bright makeup and long hair
Photo: @cwunchie

Another detail worth mentioning is the divine glow on the skin, achieved with the help of skin moisturizers, highlighters, and other glowing makeup products. I won't lie, it is my favorite part of the e-girl makeup look. Of course, it would be a crime not to mention already known and deeply loved by many makeup bloggers — a soul-eaters lip look. It is an intentionally smudged and diffused lip makeup, that makes the lips appear "just-kissed" and messy.

The e-girl's eye makeup usually features a bold, graphics eyeliner, a generous amount of mascara, and eyeshadow. Eyeliner can be the regular black, sharply designed around the top and bottom eyelids. But, it can also be an eye-catching colorful eyeliner look, reinforced with other colorful eyeshadow accents. Of course, the brightest feature of e-style makeup is various draw-on or stamped elements like hearts, flowers, dots, and stars. These elements should be tastefully incorporated into the look to serve the maximum purpose. The faux freckles trend will work for the e-girl makeup as well as little stickers, and other decorative elements.

a portrait of an egirl with bright makeup and long dreads gathered into two ponytails
Photo: Nyane Lebajoa

Like any other fashion and makeup trend, the e-girl style will come to its end, yet I believe it will have just as much influence on the upcoming subcultures as its stylish predecessors. Anyways, its popularity serves as a style motivation for many of us. If you're interested, I can even post a step-by-step tutorial for e-girl makeup if you want to try it yourself. And that's all for today. Hopefully, this trend dissection was interesting and informative for everyone who reads it. I'll talk to you all very soon!

Lots of love,
Liz