While 2020 to 2022 was all about minimal makeup looks, 2023 had more vigour and offered several make-up looks for every kind of make-up person, even if you just love a good liner.

The Barbie movie release meant that we were still loving Babriecore but played with a lot more shades other than pink. Coquettecore upgraded the soft-girl minimal make-up look by making it girlier—a trend that will stay around in 2024 as well.

Colourful eyelooks, be it with shadows or liners still ruled the charts. Food was a big make-up trend inspiring hashtags such as strawberry girl, glazed donut look, and latte makeup, which was a new term for a brown-centred Y2K makeup look.

Celebrity makeup artist Vibha Gusain, and fashion and beauty content creators Ankush Bahuguna and Juhi Godambe Jain weigh in on the trends and predict the ones that will continue to rule make-up looks in the new year.

The snatched look

“The last two years were a lot about soft make-up looks with natural skin, subtle shadows and just lash definition. But 2023 was all about the snatched look, everything defined to give you a lift. Strong brows to give you lift, conceal under eyes for a lift, tightline eyes and heavy mascara to shape, define and lift the eyes. Even for lips, if doing nude, I made sure to shape the nude and not keep it smudged,” says Gusain.

Be it with ponytails, or layers, even hair was meant to give your face a lift. “The snatched natural look with a bit of shimmer on the eyes was a celeb-favourite this year,” adds Gusain. She adds that coquettecore was a perfect upgrade to soft makeup looks this year and will continue to trend next year.

Mermaidcore

“One trend perfect for a party is mermaid-core. Wear any metallic eyeshadows apt for a night party, be it in blues or corals, just a swipe and you are ready,” says Gusain. You could also do a glazed lip to look like “you stepped out of the sea”, adds Godambe Jain.

Latte or coffee make-up

“2023 was all over the place for makeup and beauty trends, everything was a trend. But it was also all about people really experimenting with make up and giving each trend their spin. For example, I enjoy the minimal make-up look, so coffee eye make up created with beautiful tones of brown works if you like minimal looks. This is because Y2K was a big make-up trend this year and will be in 2024 too,” says Godambe Jain.

Minimal and matte

‘I would not recommend dewy skin and glass skin as it doesn’t photograph well in low light, looks greasy and becomes oily when partying. So minimal but matte skin looks good no matter what the light,’ says Ankush Bahuguna

“Minimalism reflected in everything. We used illuminators instead of highlighters and it’s a trend that can help you build that look when you want to enhance and not change the look,” says Bahuguna. “It’s easy to execute so it encouraged people to try their hand at makeup and made it more accessible. I would not recommend dewy skin and glass skin as it doesn’t photograph well in low light, looks greasy and becomes oily when partying. So minimal but matte skin looks good no matter what the light. For a party 2024 look, wear a solid dress, or accessories of some colour, and match that to eye make up or shoes for colour pops,” says Bahuguna.

Dhara Vora Sabhnani is a Mumbai-based journalist.