Um, 2023’s Biggest Makeup Trends Are Freaking *Good* (2024)

I had the ~pleasure~ of attending New York Fashion Week last fall to preview the spring/summer beauty moments, and lemme tell ya: It got me really excited about 2023 makeup trends. I immediately wanted to cover my cheeks with bright cream blush, ditch my full-coverage foundation for a skin tint, and order every glowy highlighter on the internet. Trust me when I say that 2023 will be the year everyone of playful, fun, you-do-you makeup, whether that means wearing colored eyeliner to work or fully blocking out your eyebrows like Bella Hadid.

Not sure where to start? That’s where I come in. I chatted with makeup artists Victor Anaya, Nydia Figueroa, and Jamie Greenberg for all the details on 2023’s biggest trends from the runways, the red carpet, and, yup, even the TikToks. Keep scrolling for all of our favorite looks, below.

If there’s one decade that has influenced makeup the most in the last few years, it’s def the ‘90s, with all of the rich, warm, brown shades we’ve painted across our eyes and lips as of late, says Anaya. But for 2023, Anaya says throwback makeup will skew more grunge and less supermodel. Think smudged, sooty-black eyeliner and eyeshadow, alongside chocolate- and mid-tone brown lip liners under layers of sheer lip glosses.

Not a harsh line in sight this year, bb. Underpainting—a makeup technique for getting smooth, fresh-looking skin—has been blowing up on TikTok ever since it was demonstrated by makeup artist Mary Phillips (whose clients include Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, and Jennifer Lopez—nbd). The idea is simple: Do your makeup routine backwards. So for Phillips, that means first blending her contour and under-eye concealer before layering on her foundation. “It’s a fresh approach to the way foundation is applied,” Figueroa says of the technique, “and it makes your skin look seamlessly blended.”

Figueroa notes that cool-toned eyeshadows will become the new go-to neutral in 2023, like dusty mauves, blush pinks, and smokey grays. “Think softer, hazy washes of color that wrap around the eye and looks lived-in,” says Anaya. It has an ~enchanting~ look, especially when you pair it with a winged-out pencil eyeliner for a smudge-y effect, as makeup artist Patrick Ta created on Gigi Hadid above. To get in on the trend, try dusting a few shades from a rose-toned eyeshadow palette across your lids, like the Patrick Ta Major Dimension Rose Eyeshadow Palette or, my fav, the Glossier Monochromes Palette in Heather.

“​​A lot of my clients ask me to create the siren eyes trend on them,” says Figueroa. It’s basically a play on smudge-y winged eyeliner where the inner corner is lined as well. “The easiest way to recreate this trend is by patting a waterproof eyeliner pencil on the tip of an angled liner brush, then stamping it on the inner and outer corners of your eyes for a crisp wing,” she says.

“Blush is a huge focus in 2023, and the flushed, airbrushed look is really in,” says Anaya. In fact, one of the biggest trends we’re seeing right now is what TikTok is calling "mid-tone blushing"—i.e., a technique for blurring together your blush and under-eye makeup for a seamless finish. Here’s how to do it: As the final step of your makeup routine, lightly bake your under-eyes with a fluffy blending brush and a sheer setting powder, then dust a second blush one shade lighter than the one you first used over the edges to diffuse the translucent powder into your blush.

“No-makeup makeup” has been a trend for years at this point (Adut Akech, pictured above, absolutely gets it), but for 2023, we’ll be taking it a step further with barely there makeup, says makeup artist Jamie Greenberg. “Nowadays, people don’t want caked-on makeup; they want their makeup to look like their own skin and not a bunch of heavy products,” she says. Look for lightweight foundations and concealers in radiant, skin-like finishes for the perfect middle-ground between dewy and matte.

The moment I saw the shimmery "gen-Z blurry selfie" taking over my IG feed for 2023, I knew my days of dewy face glosses were in the past. The trend is basically like glazed-donut nails for your cheeks, says Greenberg, in that it uses shimmery (but not sparkly) powders to create a beaming, pin-pointed glow. FWIW, I love this trend and have found the powder highlighters from Rare Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, and Pat McGrath to be the best at creating a serious glow when you get them in front of a camera flash.

Consider 2023’s newest color trend to be dopamine dressing for your face. There’s no right or wrong way to DIY it, as long as there’s color involved. Smudge bright eyeshadow across your lids (as makeup artist Jo Baker did on Natasha Lyonne above). Or try a heavy dusting of purple blush on your cheeks, as seen on the spring/summer runways across models’ cheeks, forehead, and chin. Or give your look a little pop with a coat of neon pink lipstick. Whichever you choose, know it’ll def boost your mood.

Hey, if the recent mix of celebrities and runway shows have inspired you to bleach your brows, go for it. But if you’re scared to commit (same), try testing out the bleached-brow look with concealer instead. On the back of your hand, dab a blob of full-coverage concealer (like Kulfi Beauty Main Match Concealer, or go for Sensorium Beauty’s Brow Engineer, which was made specifically for this purpose), twist a spoolie through it, then brush it through your brows. Keep reloading your spoolie and re-applying until your brows are fully covered, then lock it in with a dusting of setting powder.

Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with four years of experience researching, writing, and editing makeup stories that range from magnetic lashes to Charlotte Tilbury dupes. She’s an authority in all makeup categories but is an expert when it comes to 2023 makeup trends, after scouting looks at New York Fashion Week, scrolling through tons of TikToks, and sliding into countless makeup artists’ DMs.