TikTok beauty trends have taken on a life of their own over the past few years, transmuting transient micro-moments into full-tilt sensations, the sort of splashes that influence human beings and brands alike. Even with their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nature, the most noteworthy of the year’s beauty approaches managed to warrant consideration and incorporation into one’s routine, thoughtful despite themselves.
Many of 2023’s TikTok beauty trends were existing tips and tricks gone viral or runway-born aesthetics, amplified. Take latte makeup, an accessible means of channeling a summertime deity minus an excess of sun exposure. Or color analysis, a reintroduction of a retro concept designed to help us understand what hair and makeup colors help us look our best (and which palettes dull our shine). Even quiet luxury, ostensibly a fashion trend, was offered a makeover via TikTok, the simple idea morphed into a menu of minimal hair and makeup ideas designed to endure for years to come.
Here, seven of the biggest TikTok beauty trends of 2023.
Underpainting
The year in TikTok beauty began with underpainting, a reintroduction of a makeup artist-approved method of makeup application that involves layering contour and highlighter ahead of foundation for from-within luminosity and structure. Makeup artist Mary Phillips took the trick to TikTok, telling Vogue that she picked it up from ’90s Kevyn Aucoin tomes Making Faces and Face Forward. “When I started doing makeup there was no YouTube, there was no Instagram, there was no social media, so I would literally study pictures in Vogue or runway makeup,” says Phillips. “Kevyn Aucoin’s books were really one of the only things out there where he showed his steps.” Still, Phillips’s method (and now the world’s) is modern for its minimalism.
Quiet Luxury
Though quiet luxury is a trend initially sparked on the runways, TikTok’s wholehearted embrace of the notion helped to propel things past Sofia Richie and into the stratosphere. From quiet luxury hairstyles (think cascading blowouts, pinned to perfection, and sleek and romantic buns) to quiet luxury makeup (timeless, minimal, and marked by creamy washes of color) to a want of pared-down nail shapes and neutral manicures, subtle sophistication reigned. And for those in want of an in-step crown to match, the year’s wealth of headbands and hair ribbons served, too.
Skin Streaming v Skin Flooding
TikTok-approved skin care centered on the classic debate of minimalist versus maximalism. In the minimalist camp, skin streaming was all about streamlining one’s routine and focusing on multi-tasking products. In contrast, skin flooders opted to layer ultra-hydrating products, application ordered from least viscous to most emollient, the better to infuse and protect the moisture barrier. Dermatologists backed both methodologies, encouraging those interested to keep their specific skin needs in mind.
Latte Makeup
The classic bronzed beauty look got a revamp this year in the guise of latte makeup. Content creator Rachel Rigler riffed off of a 2018 look by makeup artist Tanielle Jai in coining the viral moniker, which describes a summery aesthetic marked by palettes of browns and nudes. “I absolutely adore the name ‘latte makeup’,” Jai told Vogue of the adaptation. “It perfectly captures the essence of the style.” Latte makeup gained traction for its universality and its skin-protecting qualities—a sun-kissed look sans actual sun exposure is a beauty world win.
Fruit Girl Summer
Food-inspired beauty was a hallmark of 2023, and the edible vibe was distilled in summer’s “tomato girl” and “strawberry girl” archetypes. All it took was one selfie from Hailey Bieber, captioned “Strawberry girl summer,” to inspire endless tutorials, all in want of Bieber’s effortless bright berry blush. To be fair, TikTok was primed at this point. Strawberry girl makeup came on the heels of “tomato girl summer,” a look and general vibe inspired by La Dolce Vita and embodied by serene smiles, loosely bound updos, and pulls of blush meant to mimic the sun’s effects. And though this was a temporary craving, it was also a powerful one: The fruit-forward craze drove fashion and beauty campaigns all summer long.
Color Analysis
This retro revival has legs. TikTok’s penchant for classic color analysis—an idea introduced in 1980 by color consultant Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful, which divvied up human coloring into seasonalities—is a worthy tool for understanding makeup and hair color. From leveraging learned knowledge to color correct your face (the most recent iteration of this known as “demi method makeup”) to strategically selecting hair colors, color analysis helps everyone look their best—and to understand the why of it all. Proof positive: Celebrity colorists like Jenna Perry are encouraging clients to analyze their features pre-appointment, the better to understand which mane shades best complement them.
Cowboy Copper
Buzzy hair colors come and go, but cowboy copper dominated feeds for weeks. The blend of brunette and bronze felt like a culmination of moments, an encapsulation of a larger lean toward warmer hair colors and an evolving spectrum of redhead hues. The look also helped to prove the power of a name, “cowboy copper” taking an existing variant of auburn and immediately imbuing it with an actual story, one built on the shades rust, leather, and sumptuous suede of western reveries.