The 7 Best Beauty Trends We Saw During NYFW SS25

Every September, some of the world’s best makeup artists and hair stylists come together to create looks for shows, models, and A-listers that come to New York for Fashion Week. In a few months, the outfits that we saw strutting down the runways will appear in stores. Similarly, NYFW is often the first place we spot emerging beauty trends that will soon be everywhere.

As an opportunity to showcase new products, techniques, new faces, and new mindsets, these shows become inspiration for the season ahead. Across shows, it’s particularly fascinating to spot the ways that similar trends are interpreted depending on the artist. Mixed in between sleek buns and no-makeup-makeup, we got to see looks that kept us on our toes and that we’re excited to see very soon.

Here, see the seven beauty trends we spotted during the SS25 New York Fashion Week season.

Gothic Grunge

Call it the Beetlejuice effect, or maybe we’re all just tired of “clean girl makeup.” We saw this look in several iterations, from the elevated to the truly exhausted. At Wiederhoeft they created elevated, Victorian Gothic looks, while at Collina Strada hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu used Bumble and bumble products to create a greasy, lived-in look for the models’ hair and wigs.

Glass Skin

Soft, clear skin is the trend that never dies, but this year the glow was in hyperdrive. At Proenza Schouler, models were slathered in Kate Sommerville skincare, giving them a radiant, lit-from-within glow. Paired with very little makeup and only the smallest hints of powder, the glass skin trend is the latest iteration of dewy skin. Despite concerns that matte skin was making a comeback, on the runways, all we saw was glow.

Plenty of Pastels

Sandy Liang is the designer whose shows and collections launch a thousand trends. Additionally, she’s apparently decided that every girl on the Lower East Side will be sporting pale pink lips this year—Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Whipped Matte Lip Colors in Air Kiss and Social Whirl to be exact.

However, at Susan Alexandra, and captured on the street by street style photographers, we saw pastels make their way onto the eyes and cheeks as well. After Chanel’s frosted green eyeshadow sold out this year, we can anticipate more pale tones this fall.

Barely There Brows

This year, we saw more than just the classic bleached brow look. Brows are not just becoming blonder, they’re becoming skinnier and all but disappearing off of foreheads. Here’s the good news: Unlike the thin ‘90s brow, this time around there’s no need to reach for a pair of tweezers. Makeup artist Kanako Takase used glue and Addiction Tokyo brow pencils and eyeshadow to create the look, which is a technique drag queens have long since perfected.

Curls, Curls, Curls

We’re thankful that the ‘90s and Y2K revival hasn’t come for our curls. Rather than reaching for the flat irons, we saw plenty of body and texture on the runways this year. At Ulla Johnson, hairstylist Joey George used Oribe products to activate, hydrate, and hold curls.

While accepting and working with models’ natural hair has been climbing in popularity more and more, this year on several runways curls were embraced not just in their most manicured, “tamed” form, but in all the messiness as well.

Hair Accessories

It’s been a few years since we could venture downtown without seeing a fashionable girl without bows in her hair–in part because of Sandy Liang’s FW 2023 show. Now, while we may be moving away from the coquette trend, we’re not giving up on hair accessories yet.

On the streets, photographers captured event-goers with oversized hair clips and wraps. At Christian Siriano, hairstylist Lacy Redway used TRESemmé products and glitter to create dramatic eye candy for the crowd.

Cool Tones

We reported here that cool toned makeup was coming back in style, and the runways proved us right. Red lips were a rarity on the runways this year, having been replaced by taupe lip liners and heroin-chic sallow skin.

At Collina Strada, the models actually walked barefaced, only using Dieux skincare to hydrate and nourish their skin. At Kim Shui, makeup artist Romero Jennings used MAC Cosmetics—including their lip liner in the color Stone–to create the ‘90s grunge look. Cool tones weren’t just seen on the face, either. At Batsheva, models were encouraged to show off their grays.