March 2025 had a busy first weekend — the Oscars on March 2, then International Women’s Day on March 8, then the back half of Paris Fashion Week running into the second week. By the third week the spring launch cycle had finally landed in stores, and the rest of the month felt like a real product reset rather than the long Awards-season tail. Glenn Martens’s first Maison Margiela ready-to-wear collection — shown at his predecessor’s traditional March slot — closed out the month with the first real read on what the post-Galliano Margiela was going to be. We were busy.
The Oscars went sculpted and saturated
The 97th Academy Awards on March 2 confirmed what the BAFTAs had previewed: 2025 was going to be the year of returned-to-maximalism red-carpet beauty. Demi Moore (winning the Golden Globe but losing Oscars to Mikey Madison) anchored the year’s matte-skin-and-bold-red look. Mikey Madison brought a more youthful, softer-glam version. Zendaya, Margaret Qualley, Felicity Jones, and the rest of the carpet trended toward deeper-blush placements and a sculpted contour that we hadn’t seen prominently since the mid-2010s. Charlotte Tilbury dominated the carpet content; Pat McGrath Labs‘s skin products anchored the most-photographed finishes. The takeaway: the dewy, minimalist, “your skin but better” era was now firmly over, and the makeup-artist community was leading the rest of beauty toward something more designed.
Glenn Martens’s Margiela debut signaled the new direction
Glenn Martens’s first ready-to-wear collection for Maison Margiela showed in Paris in early March. The collection itself was conceptually denser than Galliano’s narrative work — less couture-theater, more architectural and sculptural. The makeup, by Pat McGrath, mirrored the shift: a more austere face, harder lines, less of the dramatic-doll language of the prior years. The takeaway: Margiela’s beauty direction had pivoted from theatrical maximalism toward conceptual rigor, and the rest of fashion-week makeup was going to take note.
The spring launch wave finally arrived
The major prestige brands had been holding their Q2 launches for the post-Oscars window, and through the third week of March a real wave landed. Charlotte Tilbury‘s Pillow Talk Beauty Light Wand. Rare Beauty‘s Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush — a powder companion to the iconic liquid. Glossier‘s reformulated Skin Tint. Make Up For Ever‘s relaunched HD Skin Lift foundation. The takeaway: 2025’s spring lineup was tighter and more performance-focused than the kitchen-sink launches of 2023-2024, which fit the broader industry mood of caution.
e.l.f. kept defying gravity
e.l.f.‘s Q1 earnings — reported in early March — confirmed the brand’s continued double-digit growth in an environment where almost everyone else was either flat or declining. Halo Glow remained the franchise. The Putty Primer line continued. The brand’s TikTok investment had compounded into a real durable distribution advantage. The takeaway: e.l.f. had become the rare mass-tier brand that was actually setting trend rather than chasing it, and the prestige industry’s market-share losses were measurable in part as e.l.f.’s gains.
The Pillow Talk franchise still hadn’t peaked
The single most consistent product story across 2024 and into 2025 was the durability of Charlotte Tilbury‘s Pillow Talk family. Original Lipstick. Lip Liner. Big Lip Plumpgasm. The Cheek to Chic blush. The new Beauty Light Wand. Editorial sentiment had been predicting a Pillow Talk fatigue since 2022; it had never arrived. By March 2025 the franchise had effectively become Charlotte Tilbury’s entire brand, with new launches simply being shade-or-format extensions of the same color story. The takeaway: when a beauty franchise becomes a generational reference, you don’t kill it; you keep building.
What we are watching in April
April brings Coachella (weekends one and two) and the build-up to the Met Gala on May 5 with the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme — the most culturally specific Met theme in years and a real opportunity for makeup creativity. We’re watching Fenty Beauty‘s next launch wave (Rihanna’s brand has been quieter than usual). And we’re watching whether the dark-and-saturated beauty direction the Oscars confirmed translates into actual product purchases at retail. We will see you on the first Tuesday of April.
Shop the edit
- e.l.f. Camo CC Cream — the complexion hero behind the e.l.f. run.
- Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink — a long-wear lip for awards-season polish.
- Glow Recipe Watermelon Dew Drops — a spring-launch glow serum.
- L’Oréal Paris Lumi Glotion — an easy lit-from-within base.
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