Current Makeup Trends: Sparkle Your Way to Spring
Korean beauty is becoming more popular these days, with the dewy skin and gradient lip trends making their way into American makeup. While the basics of Korean makeup haven’t changed too much, there are some small changes that we are seeing this past year. Here’s a breakdown of what’s trending right now in Korean makeup.
The Natural
Photo: WM Entertainment
Photo: DubleKick Company
One makeup trend that is popular right now is the soft, subdued look. This includes toned down colors such as beige and peach. PONY’s recent GRWM video emphasizes this “calm beige” look with soft brown eyeliner and beige lips. Using a basic light brown shadow around the eye gives it a soft and natural look. This peachy look is also seen in OH MY GIRL’s latest music video as well as on a few of the members of MOMOLAND in their popular “Bboom Bboom” music video. Also, in Red Velvet’s sneak peek of their repackaged album, Wendy is sporting a more dramatic eye paired with the beige lip. This light and warm trend is perfect for school or work days when you don’t want a dramatic makeup look.
Time to Glow Up
Photo from SM Entertainment
This trend is immensely popular right now. Having shiny, glittery eyelids is in, with almost every well-known Korean beauty guru showing off their makeup looks sporting this trend. Beauty goddess PONY strikes again with a great example of this look, where she shows off golden eyelids topped with glitter. The golden eyes are also seen in MOMOLAND’s video alongside the peachy look, and YouTuber ROSEHA shows off a more subdued glitter look.
ROSEHA also shows the use of shine on the under-eye bags, called aegyo sal in Korea. Korean makeup is known for emphasizing the aegyo sal, but instead of the white we’re used to seeing, we now see a trend of more subtle colors under the eyes. Gold and champagne are perfect for highlighting the eye bag, and it is also popular to carry that color to your inner eye. Golds, light pinks, and oranges give the eyes—no matter their color—a pretty and feminine glow. YouTuber JJeong U also has some great tutorials for achieving this glowing eye look.
The Versatile Lip
Photo: Edward Avila’s YouTube
While the trend of gradient lips is still very much prevalent, a new approach to the look has arrived. Say goodbye to concealing your lip line, Korean makeup trends are shooting towards bigger, fuller lips. Unlike the American trend of having a sharp and clean lip line, Koreans are taking a liking to smudging out the color. Like in the previous videos, PONY shows this by taking a small makeup brush to blend out the outer edges of her lips. Many YouTubers, including Edward Avila, show this technique by using just their fingers to blur out the lip color. This trend can also be applied to the gradient look, where a darker color lines the inner lip and the lighter color is smudged out, giving the appearance of a fuller lip.
When it comes to lip colors, say goodbye to vibrant pinks and reds—that’s so last season. Warm-toned, muted shades are incredibly popular as of late. Whether it be light browns, beiges, muted reds, or burgundies, these colors give a more mature feel to your makeup. Check out Seulgi’s teaser to see what I mean!
Another ongoing trend in the world of lipstick actually doesn’t involve your lips. Many YouTubers, including JJeong U, are using their lip colors on their cheeks. This brings the whole makeup look together as your cheeks match your lips. Also, this saves the money of buying a new blush!
Anything Else?
Photo: DADDOA’s YouTube
Korean makeup used to stray away from any kind of contour, but within the past year this has changed. Now, by no means is the trend to carve out your cheekbones, as seen in American makeup. Koreans prefer a youthful look to the face, including full cheeks, so sharp cheekbones are typically not desired. Instead, Korean-style makeup aims for a soft contour of the outer face. This will make your face appear a bit slimmer, without being obvious.
In the world of eyeliner, not much has changed. Korean makeup doesn’t favor cat-eyes—straight lines tend to suit Korean eye-shapes more and give a subtle look. These straight lines get extended out a bit farther to give the appearance of a longer lash line. For this, the line must be very thin and connect to your water or tight line. Lining the water line is also popular, as it makes your lashes appear fuller. Another trend is to take a soft brown eyeshadow and run it over your eyeliner, to tone down the harsh line.
There are a variety of looks that can be made with these trends, and these YouTubers and idols will surely inspire you to play around with your makeup collection!