January 2026 in Beauty
The new-year skincare reset stayed minimalist, the Spring 2026 couture brought a darker palette, and Schiaparelli kept its red-carpet beauty momentum into a new year.
The new-year skincare reset stayed minimalist, the Spring 2026 couture brought a darker palette, and Schiaparelli kept its red-carpet beauty momentum into a new year.
Engagement-ring season favored sculptural settings, Black-owned brands carried Met-driven editorial momentum into Q4, and Foundrae continued its multi-year compounding run.
Year-end lists closed out a turbulent year for prestige, NYE makeup confirmed maximalism’s full return, and the indie clean-active brands picked up real share for the year.
Holiday gift sets carried the month commercially, the prestige industry stabilized for the year-end, and Black Friday delivered the cleanest beauty discount cycle in years.
Halloween hit its peak commercial scale, Allure Best of Beauty 2025 confirmed the year’s hero products, and the holiday gift-set previews delivered a tighter lineup than 2024.
Demna at Gucci, Glenn Martens at Margiela, the Loewe transition, the Philo machine — Fall 2025 was the season the creative-director musical chairs hardened into actual collections you could wear.
Demna’s first Gucci runway delivered a darker beauty direction, NYFW reset Spring 2026 makeup, and the US Open carried tennis-coded beauty into a third defining season.
Back-to-school skincare went lower-tech, the US Open built tennis-beauty into a real category, and the prestige industry’s tariff-driven price reset settled into a new normal.
Wimbledon brought tennis-coded beauty back, Charlotte Tilbury and Rare Beauty layered summer launches on top of existing franchises, and the heatwave matte-skin conversation matured into routine.
The Met Gala carpet kept Black designer jewellery in the editorial spotlight, Foundrae and Anita Ko continued their slow expansion, and the indie European demi-fine wave reached its first US flagship moments.