For too long, makeup has been about pursuing perfection with surgical precision for the ‘gram. The best spring makeup trends 2026 are a little less precious than that. Rather than life imitating art, makeup with deliciously worn-in, hazy textures is imitating life.
It’s one of the most refreshing shifts the beauty world has seen in a long while, whether you want to call it makeup’s anti-filter era or just plain old real – like the wobbly eyeliner many of us apply one-handed on the way to work.
Here are seven spring makeup trends 2026 that you’ll want to jump on straight away to be ahead of the curve – and seven you’ll want to retire with your winter jumpers.
In: Myspace glitter
Out: Clean girl
Forget 2016, it’s all about 2007 this spring. Much has been made in recent months of Millennials’ nostalgic craving for life pre-social media and going-out makeup that no longer strives for filtered perfection. It seems the beauty world has listened and is ushering in makeup looks anchored in what Chelsea Mtada, a trends analyst and strategist at Seen Group, calls “late night energy”.
Think messy lashings of glitter on the eyes like you used to see on Myspace; glossy just-bitten lips and imperfectly fanned-out lashes that mimic what your mascara would look like at 4 am if you were dancing in a sweaty club with Addison Rae.
“Desire is now coded in sweat, sex, chaos and excess; the clean girl is dead, replaced by the party girl with glossy bitten lips, explosive hair and glitter that catches club lights, not filters,” says Chelsea. This attitude to makeup, she notes, is more “erotic, chaotic and free” and “reimagined for the post-perfection era.”