Extremely Online
The Latest Food-Inspired Beauty Trend Is Based On An Italian Meme
Proof that inspo can come from anywhere.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when AI-generated “slop,” as it’s being called, began infiltrating your Instagram feed. All I know is that one day, cartoonish videos of cats as barbers and the Sex and the City characters as Victorian-era women showed up alongside the, uh, more normal Reels.
The chronically online know one genre that lives underneath the AI umbrella: “Italian brainrot.” This name comes from the audio (a man speaking Italian gibberish) as well as the characters’ names. The characters in question? Half-animals or people, half-everyday objects doing ordinary things. You know, like a three-legged shark wearing sneakers or a baseball bat-yielding log.
Among them are Ballerina Cappuccina and Espresso Signora. The former is quite literally a ballerina with a mug of cappuccino as a head, while the latter is a black gown-clad woman with a coffee cup head. And, naturally, they’ve sparked their very own beauty trends. You think I’m joking?
Ballerina Cappuccina & Espresso Signora Makeup
Consider this another example of creators translating Internet culture into makeup aesthetics (see also: VSCO girl and “cottagecore” beauty.) Since Ballerina Cappuccina is a bright-eyed dancer who always dons a pink tutu, her beauty look leans ethereal and, well, ballerinacore.
TikToker @hayleybuix showed off her take on the character with a romantic beat, complete with shimmery light pink eyeshadow, rosy blush, a soft eyeliner wing, and glossy lips. Her hair was pulled into a tight ballerina bun adorned with a pink bow. User @charlottelooks shared a similar Ballerina Cappuccina-coded makeup look with rosy pigments and doll-like lashes.
Espresso Signora is Cappuccina’s moody sister. She’s often frowning with a cigarette in hand as she sits cross-legged in her black dress, gloves, and fishnet tights. It makes sense, then, that her makeup vibe is dark and vampy. In her video, @minaamouse016 clarifies, “This is not mob wife makeup — this is Espresso Signora makeup.” Her take? It consists of a matte complexion, defined cheekbones, dark, expressive brows, a smoky brown eyeshadow look, and coffee-colored lips. The “espresso makeup” trend, basically.
I mean, meme-inspired beauty is equal parts strange and... surprisingly wearable.
Beauty Inspo Is (Clearly) Everywhere
It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the food-inspired beauty trends that exist. For years now, TikTokers and experts alike have embraced otherwise pretty basic hair, makeup, and manicure aesthetics being repackaged with edible names — like glazed donut nails and cherry mocha hair. At this point, it’s not shocking that inspiration is now coming from… the weird corners of the Internet itself.
Absurd? Absolutely. But Ballerina Cappuccina and Espresso Signora prove one thing: you can find beauty anywhere. Even in a ballerina with a cappuccino for a head.
