2023 has proven to be a year of transformative beauty trends. It seems beauty influencers are going for more demure looks, swapping popular black makeup products for more subdued brown hues. Brands like Fenty, Glossier, and ILIA Beauty have taken the spotlight, catering to more natural looks that have captivated beauty influencers and catapulted the popularity of these new beauty trends.
All data below compares Jan 2022 – Dec 2022 vs Jan 2023 – Dec 2023, in order to get a full year-over-year comparison.
6 Emerging Beauty Influencer Trends
Beauty Influencer Trend #1: Skin Tint Foundation
Lightweight and breathable while providing a more natural look than commonly seen with full-coverage foundations, skin tint foundations have been one of the biggest beauty trends throughout 2023. Some of the most mentioned products come from Fenty’s Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint, Glossier’s Perfecting Skin Tint, and Ilia’s Super Serum Skin Tint.
Content mentioning skin tint foundation across all platforms, comparing 2023 vs 2022:
- +43% mentions
- +43% engagements
- +133% video views
“The Clean Beauty Category as a whole is on the rise as consumers look for their products to do more. Unlike some traditional foundations — where the main draw is good coverage — skin tints allow consumers to achieve any look while also doing more for their skin. Yes, they provide good coverage, but they also often include skincare benefits and high value ingredients like SPF. Consumers also love that skin tints are flexible! Anyone can utilize them in their routine, whether they are a minimalist, or a maximalist, and they work for folks of all ages and skin types.” — Samantha Hofherr, Influencer and Partnerships Manager at ILIA Beauty
Beauty Influencer Trend #2: Hair Oiling
Hair oiling is the farthest thing from a new beauty practice, with the ancient Ayurvedic ritual having roots that date back to thousands of years ago. However, it has recently been trending across TikTok and the mainstream beauty world thanks to beauty influencers. The go-to brands most mentioned include K18, Fable & Mane, Gisou, and Kerastase.
Content mentioning hair oiling across all platforms, comparing 2023 vs 2022:
- +26% mentions
- +197% engagements
- +160% video views
Beauty Influencer Trend #3: Brown Mascara
Leaning into the “off-duty”, too-cool-to-care beauty looks that are trending heading into the fall season, brown mascara is a less intense and more casual alternative to black mascara that has been surging in popularity amongst beauty influencers. Frequently mentioned brands include YSL, Too Faces, and Dior.
Content mentioning brown mascara across all platforms, comparing 2023 vs 2022:
- +278% mentions
- +362% engagements
- +420% video views
Beauty Influencer Trend #4: Hygiene Shopping Hauls
Beauty shopping hauls have been a long-time popular content trend across social media. Recently, a new variation has emerged – hygiene shopping hauls – where beauty influencers go shopping for self care essentials like body care products, multivitamins, and feminine care products. Target is the most popular location choice with Walmart and Sephora also showing up multiple times in top posts.
Content mentioning hygiene shopping across all platforms, comparing 2023 vs 2022:
- +130% mentions
- +366% engagements
- +288% video views
Beauty Influencer Trend #5: Brown Lip Liner
Eye makeup isn’t the only area where chocolate hues are trending, with brown lips becoming one of the biggest beauty trends seen at New York Fashion Week. Brown lip liner in particular has seen a surge in beauty influencer chatter across social recently.
Content mentioning brown lip liner across all platforms, comparing 2023 vs 2022:
- +11% mentions
- +113% engagements
- +144% video views
Beauty Influencer Trend #6: Hailey Beiber and Latte Makeup
One of the biggest beauty trends of 2023, the latte makeup craze took off after Hailey Beiber first mentioned the trend in July, posting a short video on TikTok and an image carousel post on Instagram. As beauty influencers hopped on the new beauty trend, social activity peaked shortly thereafter, and expectedly began to slowly drop in the following months to moderate levels. However, in September there was a slight bump in activity and social activity has been stable since, indicating that perhaps this trend will remain for quite some time.
Learn more about the beauty influencer trends and strategies that we saw being used by some of the top beauty brands and beauty influencers in our 2023 Beauty State of Influence report.