Toothpaste for your face: a tasty new twist on makeup for Hong Kong fashionistas

And the Christmas-tree shaped sparkles are not just for the face. They can be applied to hands “or anywhere you like,” said Yung, adding, “We encourage people to be creative.”

She said the inspiration for the product came from a customer who shared the idea on the brand’s social media platform. “It’s an interesting idea for make-up enthusiasts,” Yung added.

It is not the first time wacky practices have infiltrated the multi-billion dollar global beauty industry.

In 2018, US actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle site, Goop, was fined US$145,000 after claiming its jade eggs – an egg-shaped gemstone that some said could be put inside a woman’s vagina to improve sexual health – could regulate hormone levels and help with bladder control. They don’t.

Last month, crying makeup, a red pigment added to the eyelids and cheeks to create a fresh sobbing face look, created a splash on Tik-Tok.

China’s Weibo is loaded with everything from surgery-free facelifts using face tape to a coins-on-the-collarbone craze where young females did just that to show how skinny they were.

But while technology can be attributed to the global rise in crazy beauty trends, they are nothing new.

Ancient Romans used human and animal urine to whiten their teeth, while Victorian-era women chomped on arsenic wafers in search of a fairer complexion.

In ancient China, long nails on aristocratic women were a sign of wealth. Some grew them as long as 25cm.

Other far-out fashion fads:

Using the leftover water from soaking rice to (apparently) add lustre to hair. This harks back to Japan’s Heian Period (794-1185) when court ladies washed their floor-length locks with it.

In recent years it was not unusual to see Hong Kong hipsters with perfect sight wearing lensless glasses. In 2013, fashion giant Maison Martin Margiela launched a gold half-frame version which sold for an eye-watering US$780.

Hong Kong beauty trends are heavily influenced by South Korea, one being face masks and serums made with snail mucin, the gooey secretion left behind by the slimy gastropods. Greek physician Hippocrates reportedly applied crushed snails to treat skin inflammations. Today some women claim it smooths wrinkles.