TikTok and social media platforms are always sparking an abundance of new trends and ideas that have become extremely popular among Gen Z as well as Millennials. Many trends surrounded the creation of new aesthetics while two major ones have been the Vsco Girl aesthetic and the most recent aesthetic, the Vanilla Girl. While both are very different, the old Vsco girl is now becoming the new Vanilla Girl through fashion choices, popular products and lifestyle. 

Back in 2019, the Vsco Girl lifestyle took off and became every teen girl’s ideal look and style of living. The name Vsco Girl comes from the popular editing app called Vsco. Similar to Instagram, this platform is used to post pictures along with editing tools to enhance your photographs to be more aesthetically pleasing. The Vsco Girl’s typical attire is very recognizable, as certain brands skyrocketed after the Vsco Girls claimed it to be a staple in their aesthetic. One would usually see a Vsco Girl’s outfit consisting of an oversized graphic t-shirt, shorts, Birkenstocks and scrunchies holding up a messy bun as well as a colorful array of them displayed on the wrists. Jewelry items like wave rings, anklets and puka shell necklaces were extremely popular too. One would typically see a Vsco girl carrying around a Hydro Flask water bottle with friendship bracelets tied to the cap of the bottle along with a Fjallraven Kanken bag accompanying them. A vital part of a social media stemmed trend is the essential products that this type of aesthetic carries. Some more popular products were the Mario Badescu Facial Spray, Carmex lip balm, Vans sneakers, metal straws instead of plastic, to save the turtles, Glossier Cloud Paint, as well Polaroid Cameras. While it is very rare to see a Vsco Girl nowadays as the trend has fizzled out, a new one has come to replace it as seen as having a very familiar format to the past trend but with a new 2023 spin on it. 

The Vanilla Girl recently sparked interest on TikTok as the trend is the opposite of being a Vsco Girl. While Gen Z and Millennials both can try to achieve the Vanilla Girl look, the aesthetic is a lot more simple, gearing it to be appealing to more Millennials than a Vsco Girl ever was. A Vanilla Girl is a clean, comforting and effortless girl. She wears off-white cream colors, hence the vanilla title, with light browns and golds and silver for their preferred jewelry metal. A Vanilla Girl has soft glowy skin with an effortless and clean makeup look along with fluffy hair done up in popular hair styles like slicked-back buns or ponytails. Even more popularly, slicked back into a claw clip. Just as the Vsco Girl had its essential products, the Vanilla Girl does as well. But how is this trend somewhat similar to a Vsco Girl? As said before, the Vsco Girls essentials contained certain makeup products, water bottles, shoes, beauty and hair products showing off the similarity of the new trend to the old. 

The Vanilla Girls water bottle of choice is the popular Stanley Cup- the new Hydro Flask. Their Birkenstocks, Vans and Crocs are the newly popular Tasman Ugg Slippers, New Balances and Mini Uggs. The Vsco Girls used scrunchies as their hair accessories of choice while claw clips are what Vanilla Girls use to keep the hair up in a slick clean look. In regards to beauty products, Mario Badescu Facial Spray was a staple seen advertised everywhere. For a Vanilla Girl, their Facial Spray is the Sol De Janeiro perfume constantly being hyped up on TikTok for its great scent. While the Vsco Girl did not have too many distinct makeup products, some popular brands were Glossier, Milk and Mac cosmetics. The Vanilla Girl on the other hand, has many essential makeup products such as the Tarte Cosmetics, Rare Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury and Dior Makeup. Since the spark of the aesthetic, becoming a Vanilla Girl and radiating the vibes they give off has been essential for some people. If looking to become a Vanilla Girl, some popular places and brands to shop from to get the perfect outfits and beauty products are Amazon, Sephora, Drunk Elephant, Uggs, Brandy Melville, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Skims and Rare Beauty. Achieving the Vanilla Girl look is not difficult due to its popularity online, especially TikTok, making it easy and accessible to find influencers to give the best advice on how to achieve this lifestyle. 

While old trends are quickly replaced by new trends and aesthetics, it goes to show how similar trends can be and how they follow the same formats just with new and different products from the last. As the Vanilla Girl continues to take off, one can look back at how trends have evolved, especially from the Vsco Girl, showing how easy it is to see how trends have evolved and changed throughout time and social media.