A Look Back at the Biggest Beauty Trends of 2023

Published on Dec 13, 2023 at 5:05 PM

Twenty-twenty-three was a big year for beauty trends. We saw all manner of aesthetics — quiet luxury, cottagecore, Barbiecore, just to name a few — and each brought a slew of curated trends across hair, makeup, and even skin. Very few stuck around for long; before we even mastered the "indie sleaze" makeup look or got an appointment at the salon to try the latest food-inspired hair color, we were on to the next one. This makes it a little hard to put a finger on just five trends that summarize the year as a whole, but we're going to try.

This past year, more than ever before, the hottest beauty trends were formulated by social media creators on TikTok rather than celebrities. But that's not to say celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Sofia Richie, and Rihanna didn't have any pull. Richie's wedding singlehandedly put the quiet-luxury look on the map, while Bieber's major chop early on in January set the tone for super-short haircuts to reign for months to come.

Even though 2023 was ripe with new trends everywhere you looked (or every time you opened TikTok), a few had a bit more staying power than others. So, for a look back on the beauty trends that made the year, keep scrolling. You can consider this our 2023 beauty trends wrapped.

Retro Styles

Nostalgia stepped into center stage this year, with everything old — or '90s — being made new again. Twenty-twenty-three saw the reclamation of a few unexpected retro trends, from lower-back tattoos to pigtails and bouffant hairstyles. These trends were not only brought back but improved with a fresh and exciting twist.

Food-Inspired Nail Art

For the greater half of this year, every time you opened TikTok or Instagram, it felt like a new food-inspired manicure was bubbling up. It started with glazed-doughnut nails in 2022 and quickly led to blueberry-milk nails, strawberry-milk nails, milk-tea nails, hot-chocolate nails, cherry-mocha nails — we could go on and on.

Polarizing Hairstyles

There were a handful of standout haircut trends over the last 12 months (with bobs deserving of an honorable mention), but few compared to the influx of "polarizing" hairstyles that we saw. Last year's mullet haircut trend was nothing compared to the rat tails and sideburns we saw this year, which all seemed to funnel from the larger "anti-beauty" trend.

Barbie Pink

We can't talk about the biggest moments of 2023 without including Margot Robbie's "Barbie," which hit theaters in July. What started out as your run-of-the-mill film turned into a global event, and that had a lasting effect on the beauty space. From Barbie-pink nails to Barbie ponytails, people embraced life in plastic in any way they could.

Red Everything

Blame it on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour (and her blazing-hot romance with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce), but the color red completely took over this year. Hair, nails, lipstick — every area of our beauty routine got the red treatment. It doesn't help that Jenna Lyons and her iconic bright-red lipstick also took over our TVs on "The Real Housewives of New York." No matter how you slice it, the trendy color was everywhere.