Cover Devon Aoki’s Y2K aesthetic is inspiring a global beauty revival (Photo: Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan/ Getty Images)
Devon Aoki’s Y2K aesthetic is inspiring a global beauty revival (Photo: Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan/ Getty Images)
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The ‘Aoki-core’ trend is taking over social media—here’s your guide to Devon Aoki’s dewy base and perfect bitten lip
If your social media feed has been flooded with dewy skin, low-slung blush and moody taupe lips, there’s one woman to thank: Devon Aoki. The trailblazing model-turned-actress—who made history as the first to succeed Naomi Campbell as the face of Versace at just 16—is enjoying a long-overdue cultural moment. Born of Japanese, German and English heritage, Aoki built a career on defying industry norms: too short for the runway, too unconventional for the mainstream, yet beloved by Karl Lagerfeld and the coolest directors in Hollywood.
With the Fast & Furious franchise celebrating its 25th anniversary in June, a whole new generation is rediscovering Aoki’s era-defining beauty—and promptly recreating it. From the perfectly bitten lip to the deliberately undone smokey eye, her cyber-pop aesthetic has never felt more urgent, more relevant or more achievable.
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The ‘anti-Instagram face’: why Gen Z is swapping heavy contour for Devon’s doll-like features
The era of chiselled cheekbones and overdrawn lips is over—and Devon Aoki is part of the reason why. Gen Z has enthusiastically embraced her “anti-Instagram face”: wide-spaced eyes, natural freckles and a rounder face shape celebrated over manufactured angles. Her signature nonchalant energy—the sense that she simply is this way—defines Aoki-core: a movement that champions raw individuality and perceived authenticity over the over-sculpted perfection of the 2010s.
Step-by-step: recreating the messy ’90s smokey eye that went viral
Above Devon Aoki’s smudged smokey eye from 2 Fast 2 Furious is a Y2K make-up essential
The Suki look in 2 Fast 2 Furious reportedly used a Paula Dorf primer paired with Tony & Tina Colour Frequency eye shadow—a warm brown that smouldered without overpowering. To recreate it today, blend a taupe matte shadow on the lid with a deliberately upturned outer wing. Pair with a fine brown liner and resist the urge to blend neatly. Here, the messier the result, the better.
Strategic glow: the secret to achieving that ‘ethereal’ base without the cake
Suki’s film make-up was said to have been airbrushed using a foundation in natural tan and dark olive for a luminous, non-cakey finish—groundbreaking for 2003. Today, replicate the effect with a glowy formula like the Laneige Glowy Make-up Serum, applied only to the centre of the face and blended outward. The goal is a sun-kissed flush, not full coverage. Skin should look lived-in and radiant; natural texture and freckles are always an asset.
Forget concealer: why social media is now drawing in Devon’s signature eye bags
One of the most subversive elements of Aoki-core is the wholesale rejection of undereye concealer. Instead, beauty creators are enhancing—or even drawing in—natural undereye shadows using a soft eyebrow pencil or a cool-toned taupe liner to achieve the beachy, slightly exhausted aesthetic that Devon Aoki has always worn with total ease. Far from looking unpolished, the result reads as intentional grunge-glamour: cool, confident and completely unbothered.
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The ’90s lip blueprint: taupe liners and pink centres for the perfect ‘bitten’ pout
Complete the transformation with Devon Aoki’s most covetable feature: the “bitten” lip. Define the cupid’s bow using a cool-toned taupe or chocolate brown liner, then dab a sheer pink or nude shade into the centre using Clinique Black Honey for that effortless, just-nibbled finish. The key is deliberate imprecision. Aoki’s lips always looked considered but never overdone, and that quietly confident balance is entirely the point.
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After more than a decade in lifestyle media, Clifford has mastered the art of writing seriously about things that are fun—and writing fun things about people who take themselves very seriously. At Tatler Asia, he helped steer its flagship lists, Tatler’s Most Influential and Asia’s Most Stylish. And today, he leads T-Labs, Tatler Asia’s content innovation hub, where he continues the noble pursuit of lifestyle storytelling, spinning stories on wealth, entertainment, necessary style, Hallyu, Hollywood, beauty and more for audiences across Asia.
