The faux-freckle trend has been around for a few years now with moderate success. Other than the henna-horror stories of girls staining their faces for weeks on end, the trend has stuck around despite the odds. Now it’s gotten to the point that people are trying to DIY other facial features that only genetics determine, including dimples.
Sure, we’re not scientists over here, but faking dimples doesn't sound possible. Sure, you can marker on two dots on your cheeks and throw a filter on your face to make it look like you have dimples, but we doubt it looks as convincing IRL. Dimples or no dimples, you're beautiful!
Long gone are the days when women were hyper-aware if their hair part wasn’t stick-straight at any given moment. Of course, the mantra of straight-and-narrow professionalism exacerbates the “norm,” but the zig-zag trend is throwing everything we thought we knew about parting your hair the "right way" for a loop.
Side parts were once the only way to go for Millennials, and now middle parts are having a big moment among Gen Z. Want a different way to spice it up? The zig-zag shape is meticulous and definitely a little weird, but what else do we have to do in front of the vanity every morning? Throw it up in a messy bun again?
Sweeping bright blush across your face, even onto the bridge of your nose, is a trend that started on TikTok in 2021. We thought that trend would barely last the year! But, as with anything that Tiktok teens seem to do, it became an instant trend and is seeing a revitalization for the new year.
The nose is typically ignored in the beauty world other than a dash of highlighter or getting smeared in foundation. Yet Tiktok "e-girls" — a teenaged subculture for alternative fashion, gaming, music, and Japanese-inspired trends — saw potential where most did not. All it takes is some pink to dab on the base of your nose, which acts as an extension of the blush on your cheeks. This trend makes you look flustered and even ill, but that's a good thing, apparently?
The newest mollusk-based skincare trend is here just in time for 2023! The early 2000s brought us snail mucin-based oils, serums, and slime facials that were popularized in Korea and spread across Asia. But like every other Koren beauty hack, the West couldn't bear to be left out of the weirdness!
Just thinking of the texture of the snail slime on your face is already giving us the heebie-jeebies, and trying to do it ourselves while spas are closed feels illegal for some reason. Good thing there are simple snail mucin face masks carried at department stores for the general population to access.
Men’s beauty is far too often left out of the conversation. Sure, it’s implied that women’s skincare and cosmetics can be used by anyone, but what are the trends that men specifically claim? If you were itching to see the next big men's beauty trend, it's here just in time for spring. Flower beards!
That’s right. Trade out your glitter for some fresh flowers to create the ultimate hipster flower beard. The style, with its avant-garde eclecticism, may appear a little too Instagram-y for the average man, but we’re hoping that it reaches past the bounds of photoshoots and becomes a common accessory. Plus, imagine how good your beard would smell!
Stained lip color is contrary to the decade-long obsession with lip liners and matte lipsticks. At the end of the day, most women scrub away at their lips with micellar water and irritating makeup wipes to rid themselves of their smudged lipstick. But now there's been a complete shift and women are preferring that their lipstick stay put longer than an evening out.
Long-lasting lip stains are for those with the itch for natural-looking cosmetics that still hold up through the night. For casual folks, lip tints come in versions that remain low-key yet light, while other stains are for hardcore beauty gurus who want their lips stained the blackest of black for days at a time.
Machester girl makeup is synonymous with cakey foundation, thickly painted brows, giant fake eyelashes, and lipstick that's usually overlined for added plumpness. Geordie Shore, you know exactly the kind of make-up look this Manchester girl TikTok trend is trying to achieve—think caked-on foundation, harsh eyebrows, over-the-top false eyelashes, and big lips.
The trend started on Tiktok after teenagers got wind of the UK-based reality show Geordie Shore. If that title sounds familiar, the show itself is inspired by the American MTV reality TV phenomenon Jersey Shore featuring Snookie and the rest of the New Jersy crew. Luckily, you don't need to watch the show to get a sense of the trend, but we doubt you'd want to replicate it anyway.
Surprise, surprise! Another Tiktok trend made the weirdest beauty trends list for 2023, and we have Gen Z to thank for it! Makeup companies around the world have been brewing up the best concealers and products to counteract nasty eyebags and discoloration, but Korean teenagers turned this idea on its head in late 2021.
We’re not joking. Take some eyeshadow in red, blue, or purple to achieve the eyebags of your dreams… whatever that means. For 2023, expect teenagers to prance around outside looking like they haven’t gotten any sleep in three months.
From squiggly brows to shaving them off completely, every month seems to introduce an eyebrow tutorial that’ll attract the curious gaze of Instagram randoms. Laminated brows are the most editorial of these weird trends. The brow lamination process is similar to getting your hair permed, using a chemical solution to manipulate particularly unruly brow hairs into a semi-permanent, perfectly-combed position.
Many gurus view eyebrow lamination as an affordable and less permanent alternative to painful microblading. Originating in Russia, the slicked-up brow look spread like wildfire on Instagram as people quickly became obsessed with the accessible glam. Allure describes the trend as "more or less semipermanent soap brows," which is where "people make their brow hairs stick all the way up by literally combing bar soap through them" for that "different, messier type of brow look." Lamination, on the other hand, is all about precision and anything but messy!
We’re honestly surprised that it took so long for ear makeup to become a trend. Yes, it’s weird. But how weird is it really? If you think about it, we put makeup on every other part of our body, practically, including body foundation and glitters. And we decorate our ears with jewelry. What's wrong with a little sparkle over there as well?
We decorate our ears with metal and hoops all the time, even covering the area with some foundation to match the rest of the skin. So why not add a cutesy flower (or twelve)? Once everyone can go outside once more, we know this trend will be rampant at concerts and festivals once they open up again.
The grungy look will certainly be in for 2023, as it already seems to have withstood the test of time. The smudgy eyeshadow look has been present at numerous fashion shows and its usually topped off with some smudgy eyeliner look as well. It’s not the neatest look but a lot of people can really pull it off.
To create the look, all you need is an eyeliner that smears fairly well and a smudge brush or cotton swab to smear it. It needs to look somewhat deliberate, so you don’t just look like a hot mess. This look is particularly loved by celebrities like Zendaya and Avril Lavigne.
The ‘60s hair flip is seeing a new life in 2023, with many people falling back on the style for a quick-glam look. When you’re working from home, there somehow seems to be less time for keeping up your appearance — at least, less of an appeal to get ready— so curling your entire head of hair ends up being a complete drag.
That's the beauty of the modern '60s flip — it barely takes any work at all! Just a flick of the wrist and it's done. The main difference between the OG flip and its modern rendition is the focus. While the ‘60s called for volume on the top and a flip for balance, the 2020s focus on the ends of the hair to allow for more creative freedom for the top half of the look.
Glitter was a big cosmetics trend a couple of years ago, and the appeal has only evolved. Rhinestones and pom-pom constellations are replacing henna freckles in a bigger —and — shinier fashion. Plus, glitter is terrible for the environment. Not that rhinestones are completely sustainable options, but at least we're not dumping plastic flecks down the drain as much!
There are plenty of skin-adhesives safe to use on the face, but those are usually expensive or reserved for professional use. Lash glue is a practical and inexpensive alternative! If all of the hipster Cali girls are able to get their rhinestones to stay stuck for an entire Coachella weekend in the middle of the summer using only lash glue, you can, too.
The spartan beard is in this year for all the wannabe King Leonidases out there. It’s one of the oddest beard looks out there because all the hair is concentrated on the chin area, and then it’s short on the side. It might look good for men who want a more defined chin, but there are other looks for that too.
It provides the look of a squarish jaw and it's definitely a vanity look for men. To keep it, a man has to put some effort into manicuring it in the long term, or else it will look like any other scruffy beard. That being said, it looks a little too neat to the point it doesn’t look natural. Nevertheless, expect plenty of Spartan warriors in 2023.
Much like its batwing eyeliner kin, "lip wings" are the go-to lip liner style for 2023. We’ve seen overlined lips, multi-chrome glosses, and desert-dry mattes before, yet lip wings are only now having their shining moment because of — believe it or not — Tiktok teenagers who've been stuck inside their parents' house for two years.
We can credit this newfound fascination with pointy lips to the Bratz doll trend on social media in 2020 and 2021, especially as influencers caught wind of the trend and transformed themselves into these nostalgic dolls. Using an eyebrow pencil to lengthen the edges of your mouth creates the illusion of a doll-like smile. The trend looks scary, but it's actually pretty achievable if you've managed to master eyeliner wings.
Batwing eyeliner is a branch taken from the longstanding winged eyeliner trend that’s now become a staple of most women’s makeup looks even if you don't have hooded eyelids. This special style appears intimidating, with its very angular points and boldness, but it actually is more practical than it appears.
For people with hooded eyelids, the typical cat-eye is nearly impossible to do right because of how their eyelids transform the placement of any eyeshadow while the eye is open. Luckily, the batwing is the easiest way to make your eyeliner appear like a regular cat-eye when every other technique fails you!
Ironically enough, bushy brows are the antithesis to the hot laminated brow trend, as well as every other Instagram trend pushing for “the perfect” eyebrow. Let those babies breathe for once! Because 2023 is as much about embracing your natural state as it is experimenting with avant-garde looks online, don't worry about trimming those brows for the year.
It seems like everyone, at least in the younger generations, is tired of plucking their brows and buying oodles of products to only fail at mimicking social media beauty. In fact, allowing your brows to take their natural shape is a natural form of beauty that no cosmetics can mimic.
Colorful mascara is nothing new and not exactly “weird." However, we think that this trend is weird enough for 2023. Why? Wildly colorful lashes are typically reserved for costume parties and pre-pandemic music venues but teenagers and millennials alike now view purple mascara as an appropriate daytime makeup look.
But in these days of baggy pullovers and sweatpants day in and day out, colorful lashes are a fun way to spice up those endless video calls. Who thought we'd ever get tired of comfy clothes and makeup-free days? If the pandemic has allowed us any sort of joy, it's allowing us to experiment with makeup and lower the risks associated with self-expression, even when it's just through screens!
Cryo balls are riding the wave of face-roller hype in a very obvious fashion, and these contraptions aren’t exactly easy to ignore, resembling alien capsules from The Host more than a cryotherapy tool. The appeal, with its promises to reduce puffiness and relax your muscles, is part of a new movement to take care of the skin first before resorting to thick layers of cosmetics.
This freezing trend started back in 2020 and has only exploded since. But 2023 is on a whole new level because makeup and skincare gurus alike are taking cryotherapy to unparalleled heights. Not only are they investing hundreds in jade rollers and frozen products, but they're also stocking specialty mini-fridges with their tools for easy access in their bathrooms and vanities.
The newest and easiest way to add color to your hair is the halo method. Parting your hair into the right shape can look pretty silly because the technique only requires the outermost layer around your head’s crown. Don't worry! The end results are worth it even though you might feel ridiculous sitting in the middle of a packed salon with your hair sticking out 360 degrees around your head.
This trend can lead to radiant, face-framing highlights or a splotchy disaster, so make sure to watch more than just one YouTube video before trying it out. In fact, now that the world is a little safer, book an appointment with your favorite hair and color stylist ASAP! If you get in early enough, maybe you'll save yourself the embarrassment of looking like Cousin Itt.
2023 beauty is basically one giant contradiction. Skinimalism is the minimalism of beauty, which promotes cutting down on the sheer number of products you purchase, use, own, and throw away for both skincare and cosmetics. Less is more in the world of skincare, especially for people with sensitivity issues and are prone to irritation from excessive produce use.
If we’ve learned a thing or two about Korean skincare, it’s that maintaining a healthy base equals fewer cosmetics. By focusing on select skincare products that target specific needs, you can save money on products while also helping the environment because you won’t rely on a full face of concealer to feel beautiful.
Apparently, influencers nowadays can’t get enough bubbles! From bubble nails to jewelry to hair, bubbles aren't going anywhere in 2023. Albeit the bubble ponytail is actually pretty cute and easy to achieve, unlike the controversial bubble nails, but we're curious where and how this bulbous and weird beauty trend began.
According to AboutHer, the bubble ponytail was first seen in 2014 during the Valentino Fashion Week runway show but it took nearly eight years for the trend to take off outside luxury beauty circles. All you need is to have enough hair for multiple hair ties to scrunch up each section into a bubble. Extensions count, of course! Plus, plenty of hairspray helps to set the bubbles in place. Use excess hair in each section to wrap around the hair tie for added class.
Baby bangs are nothing new, but the infectiousness of the trend is reaching new heights. When Emma Watson debut her own version of the look in 2018, people were divided at first. Now? Try going anywhere without seeing some version of the bangs plastered on billboards, runways, and red carpets.
Regular bangs are intimidating styles as it is, so the baby version is even more so. It takes ages to grow out bangs — don't get us started on the awkward grow-out phase — but don't worry, baby bangs don’t have to skim the hairline to qualify as trendy. We classify any bangs that stop above the eyebrow as part of the edgy look. If you're confident enough for regular bands, baby bangs are just a snip away!
Ultra-long acrylic nails are a modern beauty staple pushed into mainstream fashion by rappers, musicians, and influencers alike, yet anyone keeping up with trends knows that they're often defined by bright colors and blingy designs. What happens when you skip the polish step entirely? It becomes the weirdest new trend, of course!
Clear acrylics might be a “what’s the point?” look for some people, but see-through nails are a surprisingly cool way to complement every one of your outfits in an understated way. However, we might have to draw the line at all-clear clothing. Good thing natural-colored nails are classy rather than criminal!
Traditional curled and fluffy mullets haven’t completely died out in the South, but their popularity tapered when the hype for Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" dissipated after the early 2000s. Ironically, his daughter Miley Cyrus's take on the look has revitalized interest in the look, just with a few updates.
Now introducing the modern mullet! It unifies business and party without the outdated feathering, frosted tips, or split ends. Instead, this mullet, with roots in the punk subgenre, prioritizes face-framing pieces and complementary colors over yee-yee carelessness. Even better, the modern '70s-inspired shag is gaining steam in the beauty world as well for those wanting a more subtly uneven look.
Air-dried hair became high-fashion in 2018 when celebs and influencers swapped curling irons and blow dryers for quick-and-easy “hack” hairstyles that littered the Instagram explore page. While washing your hair and letting it air dry isn't particularly notable, hair gurus and Hollywood fashionistas bump the process up a notch with a professional touch for A-list celebrities.
But don’t worry, low-maintenance gals! We regular folks can achieve red-carpet-worthy styles in minutes using the same online hacks as the professionals. Heatless waves are achieved by braiding wet hair into simple three-strand braids, and any other style usually requires only a handful of bobby pins, hair gel, hairspray, and patience.
Weaving external materials into our hair has existed since the dawn of the human race. We're not claiming that braiding is anything new but creating art with our hair has seen many modern variations over the years. Of course, there will always be beads and feathers, but actually sewing strands of hair together to create a tapestry is definitely odd.
This boho-inspired trend spread across the world after online influencers and mainstream celebrities promoted everything from indie concerts to big-name music festivals like Coachella. Typically, music festivals have their own dress code, including intricate hairstyles. As for the practicality of the trend, we'd rather not think about the technicalities of brushing...
Bobbi pins and clear hair elastics function under the notion of being barely noticeable and, consequently, as natural as possible. That was once the only way to do your hair. After the '80s scrunchies died out, nobody wanted to see your hair elastics. However, society has created a countermovement to this idea with giant accessories.
We’re talking everything from scrunchies (yes, they're back) and scarves to barrettes and claw clips. It’s weird enough that the '90s claws are coming out again in the modern '20s, not to mention their newly gargantuan size! And scrunchies are even bigger and gaudier than before if you can believe it! Good luck seeing your luscious locks past the scrunchie taking up half your head.
Perhaps the scariest beauty trend on the list is "digibeauty" because it requires no products to make alterations to your appearance. All you need a working smartphone and Instagram to pull it off. Influencers and regular people alike are outraged at how simple it is to seemingly "perfect" their features with these "catfish filters." Who needs fake makeup on a Zoom call anyhow?
Take Snapchat or the new Zoom beauty filter, which both use digital programs to mask a person’s face with fake makeup. Filters are fun when it’s swapping our faces with a cat or adding a dancing hotdog onto your shoulder, but the fake beauty functionality is just a little too Black Mirror. From digital nose jobs to artificial eyeshadow, this technology is terrible for young women's self-esteem!
Permanent cosmetics are the real-life version of "digibeauty," and most permanent procedures are performed due to the pervasive influence of social media filters and unachievable expectations over young people. It's not enough to apply eyebrow gel and mascara every morning; we need it all the time to feel beautiful!
Most of these procedures are done with techniques from tattooing to create an overall fuller look. Microblading your eyebrows allow you to ditch the brow pencils, and injecting ink above the lashes makes cat eyeliner as easy as can be. Sorry, beauty gurus, no need for Youtube tutorials in 2023!
The “one-size fits all” model — in any context — is a bunch of bologna! Don't try to argue with us... we all know it's just a marketing scheme to cater to as many customers as possible. The same applies to cosmetics and skincare. A full-coverage foundation does not work for everyone, and your camera flash will make that very clear.
Enter companies dedicated to producing products that target your specific problem areas, ranging between hair, skin, nails, and overall health. These products are personalized for you instead of targeting thousands of people at once. Just be wary of “miracle pills” or vitamins that claim to fix everything in one go. Better to stick to an array of products dedicated to improving specific areas of your health.
Tinted sunscreen is a little strange when you think about it. You’re basically painting your body with sunscreen and changing up your skin color to look like you have a tan. You could spend some time in the sun for the full effect or maybe just embrace your natural color, but that’s beside the point.
It looks like tinted sunscreen will be trending for 2023 regardless of whether or not you think it’s a good idea. And we have to say that tinted sunscreen is certainly better than no sunscreen at all because skin cancer is no joke. So whether you buy tinted or regular ol’ sunscreen, protect your skin people!
