Last Wednesday, half past seven in the evening, in the big Boots on Oxford Street. A sales assistant asked me what I was looking for. I said "a light foundation". She handed me a skin tint, a tinted serum and a CC cream, then said: "We hardly sell classic foundation any more." Three words sum up beauty in early 2025: natural, luminous, light. The mask has come off.
After years of sculptural contouring, powder baking and layering worthy of puff pastry, the pendulum has swung back. We want skin that breathes, cheeks that flush (for real, or near enough) and lips that look as though you've just had a cup of tea. Beauty this year is about looking like you've done nothing — when you've in fact chosen every single step with care.
Search data pulls in a bolder direction. "2025 will be the year of the makeup mood ring," announced Pinterest's trend report for 2025, published on 5 December 2024, which is built on year-on-year growth in searches — and it sees cherry red making its way into make-up too. Pinterest says its predictions have come true 80 per cent of the time over the past five years (their figure, not mine). What that means for your make-up bag: barely-there skin, but cheeks and lips that take a risk.
The skin tint era: farewell to mask-like foundation
On the shop floor, the most visible change — by a mile — is the slow retreat of full-coverage foundation. This doesn't mean binning your bottles (if you have blemishes to cover, cover them; nobody's judging), but the overall approach has shifted. The complexion you're being sold now lets the skin show through the product.
Three product categories are competing for territory:
The skin tint — An ultra-sheer veil of colour, often enriched with skincare actives (niacinamide, hyaluronic acid). It evens out tone without covering. Standouts: Rare Beauty's Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer, Ilia's Super Serum Skin Tint, or, for less, Erborian CC Cream.
The tinted serum — Even lighter than a skin tint. It's skincare with a whisper of pigment. L'Oréal Paris's True Match Nude tinted serum is the high-street version, and hybrid care-meets-make-up formulas keep multiplying.
The buildable light foundation — For those who prefer a minimum of coverage. The key: apply with your fingers or a damp sponge, not a brush, for a second-skin finish. Nars Light Reflecting Foundation or Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation do the job nicely.
Blush: the undisputed star of make-up
If you were to buy just one make-up product this year, make it a blush. Blush has become the Swiss army knife of beauty: it colours cheeks, it can double as an eyeshadow (yes, really), and it brings a tired face back to life in thirty seconds.
Among the new launches, the formula gaining ground: liquid or cream blush. More natural-looking than powder, it melts into the skin and gives that "just come in from the cold" flush that is the whole charm of current make-up. Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch Liquid Blush made the format go viral on social media; since then, almost every brand has launched its own.
Shade-wise: raspberry pink (vivid, punchy, for fair to medium skin tones), peach apricot (flattering on almost everyone), mauve plum (sophisticated, gorgeous on medium to deep skin tones) and, for the brave, a cherry red tapped on with your fingertips — the colour Pinterest is calling for 2025.
Application is the make-or-break point. Too much blush and you look as though you've caught the sun — on your cheeks only. The technique: a dot of product on the back of your hand, then tap onto the apples of the cheeks with your fingertip. Blend upwards towards the temples. Less product, more movement.
Lips and eyes: fewer products, more impact
On the lip front, what I see everywhere on the shelves is the "lip stain effect" — that impression of colour coming from within the lip, as though you've been eating cherries. Lip tints and lip oils are replacing opaque matte lipsticks. The texture is juicy, glossy, not sticky. Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil, Clarins Lip Comfort Oil or, for a tighter budget, Maybelline Lifter Gloss do the job beautifully.
Classic lipstick isn't dead (it never dies), but it's worn differently: pressed on with a fingertip, diffused, like a wash rather than a coat. The Korean "blurred lip" technique — colour concentrated at the centre, blended out towards the edges — is the simplest version of it.
For eyes, the brief is: one move that changes everything. Not five shadows, not a cut crease, not a gala smoky eye. A fine eyeliner flick (brown rather than black for softness), or a shimmery cream shadow tapped across the lid, or a well-applied mascara — and that's enough. If you keep only one eye product, keep the mascara. If your mascara clumps, look at "tubing" formulas, which wrap each lash in a fine sleeve.
Brushed brows: the trend that simplifies everything
Farewell to razor-sharp sculpted brows. The soap brow (brows brushed upwards and set with gel or, originally, actual soap) is nothing new, but it has left a habit that sticks: the natural, brushed, slightly undone brow. Nobody's chasing the perfect arch any more. We're after fullness, texture, movement.
Products to favour: a tinted brow gel (Glossier Boy Brow, Benefit Gimme Brow, or NYX Thick It Stick It if you're on a budget) that colours and sets in a single step. If your brows are naturally full, a clear gel is all you need. If you have gaps to fill, a slim pencil (Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, with its ultra-fine tip) in light, hair-like strokes before the gel.
What we no longer do: brows that are too dark for your hair colour. The make-up artists' rule: brow shade one to two tones lighter than your hair if you're a brunette, one to two tones darker if you're blonde. It sounds counterintuitive, but the result looks infinitely more natural.
Minimalist skincare: the end of the 10-step routine
The Korean-inspired "10-step skincare routine" had its moment. It also had its downsides: skin irritated from stacking one active on top of another, and monthly budgets that could rival the rent on a London box room. The opposite movement, "skinimalism", isn't new, but it's settling in for good. Fewer products, better chosen, more targeted.
The skeleton of a short routine: cleanse, treat, moisturise, protect in the morning; cleanse, one active, nourish at night.
That's it. Everything else — essences, toners, mists, ampoules — is a bonus, not a necessity. If you want the exact order, textures included, I've laid it all out in my complete beauty routine, step by step in the right order.
The star ingredients to know
Niacinamide (vitamin B3) — The ultimate multi-tasker. People reach for it for the look of pores, excess oil and small dark marks, and it plays nicely with almost everything else in a routine. The Ordinary's Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% is still a very affordable way to try it.
Retinol (vitamin A) — The anti-ageing classic: it's used to smooth fine lines and even out tone. It can be irritating at first, though. Start with a gentle formula, two evenings a week, and only build up if your skin copes.
Vitamin C — The morning antioxidant. It's chosen for radiance and for fading dark spots. As a serum, before your day cream. Mind the stability: it oxidises in air and light, so formulas in amber or airless bottles keep better.
Hyaluronic acid — The hydration hero. It holds on to water, but it's no miracle on its own: apply it to damp skin and seal it in with a cream on top.
Peptides — The rising stars of night creams and eye products. Brands promote them for firmer-looking skin, and they have a reputation for being gentler than retinol, which is why sensitive skins are warming to them.
Glossy hair and scalp care: how to get the shine
On the hair aisle, the word that keeps coming back on the bottles is "glossy". Shiny, smooth (or with defined waves), healthy-looking hair. The shampoo-advert effect — except this time, brands are explaining how to get it in real life.
The hero product: the hair gloss. A sort of top coat for hair that smooths the strand, reflects light and delivers that mirror-like shine. It comes as a rinse-out treatment after shampooing, as a spray for damp hair before blow-drying (Color Wow Dream Coat) and as a finishing spray for dry hair (Moroccanoil Glimmer Shine).
The other aisle that keeps growing: scalp care. The idea is that healthy hair grows from a healthy scalp — like plants in good soil. Scalp scrubs (Christophe Robin, Briogeo), soothing serums and silicone scalp massagers have made their way into routines.
Cut-wise, two directions. Structured cuts (the sharp bob, the lob — long bob) if you want movement with minimal upkeep. And long, "undone" hair — loose, not overly styled, natural — if you prefer length. The common thread: no rigid blow-dry, no frozen curls. Movement, naturalness, visible health.
Short nails and skin scents: two quiet trends
For nails, short and neat in a muted shade remains the safe bet: that's the "clean girl" nail, a rosy nude polish on nails filed into a soft almond. If you want a touch of fun, the "glazed doughnut" (pearly chrome finish, popularised by Hailey Bieber) and the "milky French" (a French manicure with a very soft, almost sheer white) are two easy alternatives.
Pinterest's 2025 trend report takes the opposite line, though. Its "Goddess Complex" trend has women "embracing their divine drip like never before with gold facials, goddess braids and sublime nail designs" — nails worked like jewellery, in other words. If nude bores you, take that as permission for a touch of gold on a short nail.
On the fragrance front, the equivalent of the nude nail is the "skin scent" — intimate fragrances that sit close to the skin, not projecting five metres but lingering on your neck like a secret. White musks, blonde woods, ambrette, iris. Perfumes you notice when someone leans in, not when you walk into the room. Juliette Has A Gun Not A Perfume, Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 or Glossier You all fit the brief. (Me? I've worn Shalimar since I was 22, and it's anything but discreet: nobody should swap their signature for a trend.)
How to adopt these trends without buying everything new
Spoiler: you don't need to replace your whole make-up bag. Most of these trends are changes in technique, not product. Applying your foundation with your fingers instead of a brush: a more natural complexion, zero spending. Tapping your lipstick on instead of tracing it: lip stain effect, same product. Brushing your brows up instead of drawing them: trend adopted, with a cheap clear gel from the chemist if you don't already own one.
It's the same logic as adapting runway trends for everyday life: one piece, not the whole look. And if you've ever wondered where these looks come from, they're often born backstage at the shows, make-up artists and hairdressers included — it's all in our guide to understanding Fashion Week.
If you're going to invest in a single product this year, make it a good vitamin C serum. In my view, it's the skincare step that shows most on the complexion — and a luminous complexion is the foundation (pun intended) of every make-up trend this year. The rest follows naturally.
And if you're investing in two: the vitamin C serum and a liquid blush. With those two, you've covered the heart of 2025 — skin that glows from within on one side, cheeks that flush on the other. Smart beauty is exactly that: knowing where to put your pounds.
Frequently asked questions
Does skin tint work for blemish-prone skin?
Skin tint evens out but doesn't conceal. If you have localised blemishes, dab a targeted concealer on those areas first, then put the skin tint over the top. The aim isn't to hide everything but to correct what bothers you and let the rest of your skin show.
Is retinol safe during pregnancy?
Play it safe and put it away. In its guidance for prescribers, the MHRA states that the "use of topical retinoids is contraindicated during pregnancy as a precaution", and advises against them for women planning a pregnancy too. Those are medicines (tretinoin, adapalene and the like) and your retinol serum is a cosmetic, but it's the same family: ask your midwife, GP or pharmacist what to use instead.
Is the SPF in my moisturiser enough?
It's better than nothing, but rarely enough on its own: most of us spread moisturiser thinly, and sunscreen needs to go on generously. A dedicated sunscreen as the last step of your skincare is the safer bet. The NHS recommends at least SPF 30 and at least 4-star UVA protection.
How do I look after naturally thick brows?
Brush them upwards every morning with a clean spoolie. Set with a clear gel. Only tweeze hairs clearly outside the natural line (below the arch and between the brows). For the rest, let them grow — the trend favours density, not thinness.
Does skinimalism work for oily skin?
Yes, and it's often the easiest routine to stick to. Oily skin that's attacked with stripping cleansers and constant scrubs mostly ends up irritated. A short routine — gentle cleanser, niacinamide serum, light non-comedogenic moisturiser — is often enough to calm things down.
Should I exfoliate my scalp?
Sparingly, and at the frequency given on the product. Scalp exfoliation removes dead cells, product build-up and excess oil. But an over-exfoliated scalp reacts like over-exfoliated skin: irritation, flaking, itching. Choose a gentle exfoliant (enzyme-based rather than gritty), and if it itches or peels, stop and see a GP or dermatologist.
Do skin scent fragrances last all day?
Generally not as long as high-projection fragrances — that's the point of a scent that stays close to the skin. The trick: apply to pulse points (wrists, neck, behind the ears), then spritz a cloud in front of you and walk through it so your hair and clothes catch a little. Hair and fabric often hold scent longer than skin: check at the end of the day.
Sources
- Pinterest Newsroom — Pinterest Predicts: 20 bold trends for 2025 (5 December 2024)
- NHS — Sunscreen and sun safety
- MHRA Drug Safety Update — Oral retinoid medicines: revised and simplified pregnancy prevention educational materials (June 2019)
- GOV.UK — Making cosmetic products available to consumers in Great Britain