From latte make-up and blueberry milk nails to cinnamon butter cookie hair, beauty trends in 2023 were all about looking and feeling tasty. We rate them based on how delicious (and ridiculous) they are
Scrolling through #BeautyTok in 2023 was akin to walking through a supermarket; passing through the fresh produce aisle (strawberry girl, tomato girl, blueberry milk nails), perusing the desserts in the bakery section (cinnamon cookie butter hair, glazed doughnuts) before heading towards the cafe for a hot drink (latte make-up, hot chocolate nails). This year, age-old descriptors like ‘matte’ and ‘dewy’ got sidelined for more scrumptious monikers, as a slew of food-based micro-trends flooded the beauty world. None of the looks were new, of course: a ‘hot chocolate’ manicure is just autumnal brown nails, while the ‘tomato girl aesthetic’ is a heavily blushed, sun-kissed look. But suddenly these aesthetics got an edible rebrand, making everyone look good enough to eat.
This flirtation between food and beauty has existed since the beginning. It can be literal, with ancient milk baths for soft skin and coffee scrubs as exfoliators. Or it can be sensorial: guava-scented lip glosses, Too Faced’s iconic chocolate bar eyeshadow or the Dr Pepper Lip Smackers. But while earlier, beauty products may have smelled and tasted like food, today, the make-up transforms the wearer themselves into a sweet treat. Powdered blue polish becomes blueberry milk, while red lips are cherry cola. If you’re among the troop of naysayers screaming that these colours have always existed, you’re right. That’s actually the point – in a late capitalist world, the marketers have understood that everything sells better with a cutesy name.
The sellers are not just brands though – they’re also influencers and content creators, who propagate these fast-moving trends and, in turn, construct a false identity shaped by what you consume. If someone on the tube has baby blue nails, it no longer just means they like the lighter hue. More likely, the shade signals that they saw Sofia Richie’s TikTok-viral mani of the same colour and are in-the-know of what’s hot online.
In promising membership to a hyper-niche internet subculture, the capitalist society teases buyers with an exciting but limited illusion of agency. As Caitlyn Clark wrote for Dazed, “If we can pick between glazed doughnut nails or blueberry milk nails, dark feminine energy or coquette ballet Sandy Liang x Baggu energy, we can assert some kind of power over ourselves and the ways we are perceived, even if just for a moment.” Under the guise of romanticising the everyday or elevating your individuality, food-inspired beauty, much like other micro-trends, cajoles viewers into buying feigned exclusivity.
Whether you hate them, tolerate them or can’t get enough of them, there is no denying that these delectable beauty styles emerged as the biggest beauty trend of 2023. In an ode to the evocative, often contentious and yum beauty trends, here are food-inspired looks that reigned supreme this year, rated on just how scrumptious they are.
@hhheathermichelle Replying to @Sun fly 🪰 🌞 fall pumkin spice makeup routine with a side of a friendly reminder that youre doing youre best and thats amazing 🫶🏽🍂🧸🤎:) #pslmakeup #fallmakeup #makeuproutine #goodlucksound ♬ the universe is on your side - sarah fule
PUMPKIN SPICE MAKE-UP
Other examples: Lisa Rosh, Alissa Janay, Danielle Estrada
It isn’t a mystery where this beauty trend originated from; when autumn comes around we are in pumpkin spice season. Now imagine if the classic autumnal drink spilled out of the cup and straight into your make-up bag. The PSL beauty look plays with crunchy shades of orange – deep auburn, copper and rust – blended with hints of liquid gold highlighter, dusty bronzers and a warm glowy base. Apply while watching Practical Magic or When Harry Met Sally.
RATING: 6/10. Looks inhalable but let’s be real, pumpkin spiced-everything gets enough time in the spotlight, bring us something new, something fresh, maybe mandarins and rhubarbs?
@imhannahcho strawberry makeup...🍓 should i drop a tutorial? #strawberrymakeup #fauxfreckles ♬ be my baby by the ronettes - jules ౨ৎ
STRAWBERRY GIRL
Other examples: Amaya Crichton, Zeynep Berdibek, Hailey Bieber
As we will discover is the case with many of these looks, Hailey Bieber kicked off the strawberry girl trend. Initially a marketing strategy for Rhode’s peptide lip treatment in strawberry glaze, the TikTok girlies held onto it for dear life, maybe because it brought together so many of the most recent aesthetic trends – cottagecore, coquette girlhood, balletcore. Tutorials featuring fluffed-up brows, faux freckles and an abundance of ruby blush took over FYPs and don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
RATING: 9/10. It brings ephemeral strawberry shortcake dreams to the big bad now.
@stxph.h one oat latte with caramel drizzle to go please ☕️ #lattemakeup #lattemakeuplook #makeuptutorial Products: - YSL Crush Liner (brown & black) - Too Faced Ginger Snap Palette - MAC amber times nine palette - Chanel Beauty Baume Essential Multi Use Stick (transparent) - Lancome Lash Idole Mascara #greenscreen ♬ original sound - stephhui
LATTE MAKE-UP
Other examples: Yada Villaret, Alissa Janay, Danielle Estrada
Don’t confuse this with the PSL trend, latte make-up is distinctly more bronzed and sculpted. It’s 90s supermodel make-up updated for the fluffy brow TikTok age. For this look, only various shades of brown are allowed and the focus is kept on the eyes, accentuating them with warm caramels and shimmery chocolate. For inspiration, look to Jodie Turner-Smith and Shay Mitchell – or Rachel Rigler, who coined the term after being inspired by a 2018 look by make-up artist Tanielle Jai.
RATING: 10/10. It’s giving glamour, it’s giving warm-hugs-in-a-cup.
BLUEBERRY MILK NAILS
Other examples: Dua Lipa, Zendaya, Holly Harris
A pearly polish base followed by a soft blue nail colour. That’s it, that’s the trend. The charm of blueberry milk nails is its ease and simplicity… or that Zendaya, Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Richie were seen wearing them. For many people, the blueberry milk nails trend was the moment the bubble burst on these food-based micro-trends – a collective awakening to how old beauty looks were being repackaged back to us as something new. Not that this stopped or even slowed the cycle from cycling, blueberry milk was quickly replaced by cherry cola (dark red) and then hot chocolate (brown) manicures (see below).
RATING: 2/10. Yes, pale blue is a lovely colour but do we want to take a sip? Nope.
@kianadalleave I know people hate these trend names but i think they are cute and fun… even if its just blush
♬ Somethin' Stupid - Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra
TOMATO GIRL
Other examples: Mary Sher, Atosa Aghakhani, Alejandra
She sunbathes in the Mediterranean, she wears flowy linen skirts, she drinks spritzes: she’s a tomato girl. The lifestyle inevitably trickled into beauty with rosy cheeks, made-up freckles and warm, earthy undertones. One of the early food-based beauty trends, tomato make-up was soon replaced by strawberry girl – an aesthetic with a very similar look (heavy blush and cottagecore freckles) but slightly more marketable name and a Hailey Bieber endorsement. For the balletcore crew, strawberries are a bit cuter and more Sandy Liang-esque than a tomato, after all. This is something Bieber would capitalise on with the Sugar Plum Fairy aesthetic (see below).
RATING: 9/10. The delicious tomato girl is a siren call for margaritas and lemon pasta with extra parmesan. Imagine if the naive strawberry girl became worldly and had a better backstory.
@nmillz1 Replying to @tiktoker #greenscreen ♬ original sound - Hi
CINNAMON COOKIE BUTTER HAIR
Other examples: Kimberly Michelle, Emily, Hailey Bieber
As warned, we have come to another food-inspired beauty trend that originated with Hailey Bieber. In this case, when her colourist Matt Rez shared a photo of Bieber’s newly-minted burnished chop and dubbed it “cinnamon cookie butter.” The caramel, copper-toned style is said to be perfect for the cosy season. Critics, however, have been heard referring to the shade as “just brown”.
RATING: 1/10. Silly and transparent. The name is trying too hard to be whimsical and yummy, sorry!
@beautywithtaffy My take on cherry cola lips🍒 @Primark black liner @Anastasia Beverly Hills lip liner “chai” @Juvia’s Place velvety matte listick “afrik” and the coffee shop lipgloss “chocolate drip” @Barry M fruity extreme lip plumper “watermelon” #cherrycolalips #blackgirlmakeup #makeuptherapy #lipcombo ♬ Drip - Isadora
CHERRY COLA
Other examples: Norhane, Alice T, Gabrielle
You know how a sip of soda can give you a life-renewing jolt? That’s what cherry cola lips do. One broad stroke of the dark burgundy lip colour is enough to turn you into Kylie Jenner. After all, it is bimbo vampire season. It is mandatory that you listen to Lana del Rey while applying, we recommend her song “Cola”.
RATING: 8/10. Makes you want to sip and sing, double whammy.
@alexsteinherr THE HOT CHOCOLATE MANI #Arrowhead by @CND ♬ cardigan - Taylor Swift
HOT CHOCOLATE MANICURE
Other examples: Hailey Bieber, Shay Mitchell, Dr Ewoma
By this point in the year, temperatures are running low and imaginations even lower. Traditional brown nails (often with a chrome polish) got rebranded as hot chocolate manis and the TikTok it-girls drank it up wholeheartedly.
RATING: 3/10. The same issue as PSL, hot cocoa is such an obvious choice for the winter, do better internet.
@haileybieber when I was 16 I was the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker.. this is my 2023 version of that makeup. My go to vibe for the holiday season! 🍬✨
♬ Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Tchaikovsky) - Ian Post
SUGAR PLUM FAIRY
Other examples: Alissa Janay, Jasmin Saario, Emilie
While Hailey Bieber didn’t invent the concept of glazed doughnut skin (shout out Tiara Willis), she did help bring it to the mainstream. After the subsequent successes of strawberry girl make-up, cinnamon cookie butter hair, and the controversial brownie-glazed lips, she cottoned on to the rich potential of food-based names for beauty aesthetics. It is therefore entirely unsurprising that, towards the end of November, she introduced the world to her “go to vibe for the holiday season”.
The Sugar Plum Fairy look is an updated version of the make-up Bieber did as a teenager performing in The Nutcracker ballet. A late, but significant, entry into the genre, SPF make-up involves shimmery eyeshadow and lots of blush.
RATING: 11/10. The pinnacle of this trend, Sugar Plum Fairy make-up combines all the different aspects of the previous iterations for the ultimate beauty food aesthetic – it is season-appropriate, dessert-named and includes the heavy blush of the balletcore, girlhood vibe. The Sugar Plum Fairy is the ruler of the Land of Sweets and so she is the perfect symbol to end this year on.