You must’ve heard about “Vin Rouge” by @Nikhilodeon12 by now. The newly-verified Snap Star Nikhil created this lens, sparking the viral “Silhouette” challenge on TikTok. That’s right, TikTok. The platform filled with its own filters, special effects, and AR tools. How did a Snapchat Lens end up over there?
Some of the most popular trends on TikTok have spawned from other platforms. Even back in 2019, @Dombeef ‘s “BONK” filter went to both TikTok and Snapchat fame, and users were turning the lens to unsuspecting pets and friends. In comment sections, viewers were wondering — what lens is that? This blurring between what’s popular on both TikTok and Snapchat has allowed trends to last longer and give their creators a bigger audience.
The same can be said of @aramkaramanian, who built a platform of almost 200k followers on TikTok talking about his Snapchat lenses. His lenses have most notably been used by popular creator Avani, whose use of the “colorful face” lens has been featured on her social media multiple times. Many popular TikTok creators also use the lens, and some TikTok users have even been putting the real-life stickers on their face, mimicking the lens!
Jye Trudinger (@yesimaranger), on the other hand, shows that the reverse can also be true- rather than starting TikTok trends, he has been able to adapt popular TikTok effects for Snapchat. “Screen Scanner Pro,” “Face Tracker Pro,” and “Album Cover” have all been adapted from TikTok effects or trends, and see plenty of use today on Snapchat as well.
More recently, Nikhil (@nikhilodeon12) has been the center of attention for the Silhouette challenge. His lens darkens the screen to red and black, completing a time-consuming Photoshop edit in seconds. He has been featured in many articles and blogs across the internet and his Snapchat account has already come close to 200k followers — a success that happened in a few short weeks.
The worlds of Snapchat lenses and TikTok trends are slowly getting more intermingled and it’s hard to tell where a trend starts sometimes. All it can take is one creative AR designer to either make a lens or adapt a trend, and the internet’s focus has changed to the next big thing. Lens creators are truly…
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