19 Gen Z Makeup Trends That Are Taking Over & How To Wear

Mermaidcore Glow

They call me the Queen of Glowing Skin, darlings, so of course I was mesmerised by the mermaidcore trend. Giving skin the mermaidcore glow is all about capturing the fresh-from-the-ocean, wet-looking, moonlit glow of a magical mermaid. You can use my skincare and makeup secrets to unlock a magical glow that’s so mermaidcore! Douse the skin with Charlotte’s Magic Hydrator Mist for dreamy, dewy-looking skin, then drench with Charlotte’s Magic Water Cream for the best, fresh-water glow of your life! Then, apply Hollywood Flawless Filter to give your mermaidcore glow a skin-perfecting glow boost. Are mermaids real? Yes, darlings!

Shop the Mermaidcore Glow Trio

Cloud Lips

Cushiony cloud lips are one of the most popular lip trends among Gen Z. This trend involves giving lips the dreamiest hint of lip colour with an ethereal, blurred look. To get the look, apply a lip tint of liquid lipstick like AIRbrush Flawless Lip Blur to the centre of the lips, then use your ring finger to softly tap out the edges. Blotting out your lipstick gives your pout the diffused look of wispy, cotton clouds and creates a light, just-bitten effect.

Discover how to apply liquid lipstick

Clean Makeup

The clean girl aesthetic is a Gen Z iteration of ‘no makeup’ makeup. Gen Z adores a more natural, candid look with minimal makeup which is what has made the clean makeup look so popular. To get the look, reach for light-coverage, just-a-tint options like Hollywood Flawless Filter; Pillow Talk Lip & Cheek Glow and Collagen Lip Bath, then add a slick of Pillow Talk Push-Up Lashes! mascara for fluttery, lifted-looking lashes.

Discover my minimal makeup guide

W Blush

Blush is everywhere, darlings! Every generation uses blush to give the complexion a flattering pop of colour, but Gen Z have taken a bold direction with blush. The W blush look is where blush is applied in a W shape that starts at the tops of the ears and drapes down along the apples of the cheeks then back up onto the nose. This sun-blushed look is hugely popular with Gen Z and is easy to achieve with my Matte Beauty Blush Wands – don’t forget to dot the bridge of your nose!

Discover the best blush shades for your skin tone

Cold Makeup

Another Gen Z blush trend is the cold girl makeup look, where blush is used to create a cutesy, fresh, out-in-the-snow makeup look. To get the look, apply blush onto the tip of your nose for a pinkened, frosty effect. I recommend using a bright, cool-toned pink blush like Cheek to Chic in Love Glow or Love is the Drug to give the complexion a wintry take on nose blush.

Learn how to choose between cream vs liquid vs powder blush

Latte Makeup

Let’s talk over coffee, darlings… Latte makeup is a Gen Z makeup trend that has taken social media by storm! It’s an easy look for everyone to wear that uses warm-toned browns to create cosy, coffee-coloured makeup. My secrets to getting the latte makeup look are my Super Nudes Easy Eye Palette with magical matte brown tones for creating effortless latte eyes and my AIRbrush Flawless Lip Blur in Honey Blur for sweet-as-honey latte lips!

Discover the full latte makeup tutorial

Pumpkin Spice Latte Makeup

If you love the latte makeup trend, darlings, try giving your look an autumnal twist with the pumpkin spice latte trend. I adore the pumpkin shades of autumn and love to wear them throughout the year. Reach for warm orange and copper tones to give your makeup the pumpkin spice effect; my Eye Colour Magic Liner Duo in Copper Charge creates the most gorgeous copper eyeliner looks and my Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pillow Talk Peach Pop is so pumpkin spice!

Discover more autumnal makeup must-haves

Disco Skin

I’ve been creating disco skin since the 90s, darlings! This Gen Z makeup trend is all about giving your shoulders and décolletage a dazzling disco glow using body shimmer. If you’re trying this trend at home, it’s important to moisturise with a smoothing-effect moisturiser like Charlotte’s Magic Body Cream, first! Once your skin is expertly hydrated, smooth Supermodel Body onto your body to unlock an instant disco glow! Then, if you want to be the most beaming body on the dancefloor, apply Hollywood Glow Glide Face Architect Highlighters as a silky-smooth body highlighter!

Discover my self-care body care tutorial

Graphic Eyeliner

Gen Z makeup is all about creativity and self-expression, darlings. This generation inspires and amazes me with their out-of-the-box makeup styles, especially their graphic eyeliner looks. Gen Z apply eyeliner in artistic ways whether that’s as a floating liner, a double wing, or other experimental shapes and colours. To create these eyeliner looks, Gen Z reaches for everything from gel or liquid eyeliners like The Feline Flick to water-activated eyeliner pigments in a rainbow of colours, using them to create symmetrical graphic liners that steal the show.

Discover different eyeliner styles to try

Icy Silver Makeup

Silver eyeshadow will never go out of style, darlings, but it’s proving particularly popular with Gen Z. The trending silver look is easy to get; reach for a cool-toned eyeshadow palette like The Rock Chick Luxury Palette or an icy highlighter like my Hollywood Glow Glide Face Architect Highlighter in Moonlit Glow to gild your eyelids with a show-stopping silver glow. 

Discover more silver makeup looks

Bleached-Look Brows

You don’t need to reach for the bleach to get the trending bleached eyebrow look, darlings! Create bleached-look brows by combing your concealer through your eyebrows with a spoolie. By using a concealer shade that matches your skin tone, you can lighten the appearance of your brows and help them to blend into your complexion to create the illusion of brow bleaching. Take Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer on a spoolie and brush through your brows, combing upwards and downwards to coat every hair. Then, take a lighter shade of concealer on my Eye Liner Brush to highlight individual hairs for more dimensional-looking brows.

Discover futuristic makeup looks

Cherry Cola Lips

Glossy cherry cola lips are a modern take on vampy lip colours and they’re guaranteed to give your look a Gen Z update. To get the cherry cola lips trend, use a lip-defining brown shade all-over the lips, then top with a shimmering black-cherry lip gloss to create the fizz effect of cherry cola. I recommend using Lip Cheat in Foxy Brown to line and fill in your lips, then pairing it with my Lip Lustre lip gloss in Candy Darling to give your pout a gorgeous cherry tint.

Discover how to apply lip liner

Skin Flooding

One thing that Gen Z has learned very quickly is the importance of skincare. The skin flooding trend has been all over social media, with Gen Zers layering multiple skincare products on top of one another to give the skin deep, intense hydration. Skin flooding is effective alongside makeup trends like minimalism and mermaidcore as it gives skin a beautiful, wet-looking glow before you even apply foundation. My supercharged skincare products like Charlotte’s Magic Water Cream and Charlotte’s Magic Hydrator Mist are perfect for flooding the skin with hydration and belong in every skin flooding routine.

Learn more about skin flooding

Faux Freckles

Along with a light-coverage base and sun-blushed skin, Gen Z are bringing back faux freckles! The faux freckle look was popular with 60s makeup, and Gen Z putting their own modern stamp on it. Creating faux freckles with a lip liner or eyeliner is an easy way to give your makeup a natural, skin-like appearance. I like to use my Lip Cheat in Foxy Brown to create dainty dots on the skin, focusing on and around the nose to create the illusion of nature-given freckles.

Tilbury Tip: Don’t forget to lightly dab each freckle with your ring finger, darlings! This will soften their appearance and help them to blend seamlessly into your complexion.

Discover my faux freckles tutorial

Strawberry Makeup

This fabulously fruity Gen Z makeup trend is as sweet as they come! Strawberry makeup combines Gen Z’s love for blush with a classic red lip and has inspired so many magical red makeup looks. My Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pillow Talk Dream Pop is my secret to creating delectable strawberry makeup looks. This sensorial red liquid blush embodies the playfulness of strawberrycore and pairs beautifully with any of my iconic red lipsticks!

Discover how to wear red makeup looks

Raspberry Makeup

If you prefer a deeper, sultrier take on strawberry makeup, discover the raspberry makeup trend. This sister trend to strawberry makeup is all about looking ravishing in raspberry tones! My Walk of No Shame collection includes makeup secrets for the lips, cheeks and eyes in the most magical, confidence-boosting, berry-red shade that’s perfect for raspberry makeup. Walk of No Shame icons like my eyeliner, Matte Revolution lipstick and Cheek to Chic blush are raspberry makeup must-haves, darlings!

Shop Walk of No Shame collection

Lip Contour

Millennials were known for the contouring craze of the 2010s, and Gen Z have taken a similar approach, but with a focus on their pouts. Lip contouring is a makeup technique where lip liner is strategically used to cheat the look of fuller lips. To contour the look of your lips, softly overdraw your cupid’s bow and the centre of your bottom lip with a flesh-toned liner with a cool undertone, then glide along your natural lip shape towards the corners. This technique helps lips to look bigger and more pillowy.

Tilbury Tip: Darlings, I don’t call my Lip Cheats my ‘reshape and resize lip liners’ for nothing – they’re my perfect tools for getting a lip contour effect!

Discover how to make lips look bigger

Rockstar Glam

Inspired by the pop punk scene of the 2000s, rockstar glam is trending and Gen Z are discovering it for the first time! This look exudes the same rebellious, rock ‘n’ roll energy that inspired my Rebel Look – my smokey, smouldering makeup look that isn’t afraid to break the rules! I use my hazy green Luxury Palette in The Rebel and Rock ‘N’ Kohl eyeliner in Bedroom Black to create rockstar eyes and my Matte Revolution lipstick in Very Victoria for seductive taupe-nude lips.

Discover my 10 Iconic Looks

Reverse Cat Eyes

Darlings, my Feline Flick eyeliner will always be on trend. I’ve been creating my signature eyeliner look on celebrities and stars since the 90s – it’s a timeless look with a cat-eye effect that makes the eyes look so much more impactful. On some eye shapes such as hooded eyes, I would apply eyeliner from the lower lash line to create my famous flick. This is now known as the reverse cat eye and Gen Z are using blendable brown shades to give the look a softer, sultry finish.

Discover my reverse eyeliner tutorial