Thank You, 2021, for Giving Us These 15 Makeup Trends (2024)

A TikTok makeup favorite, the soft, diffused eyeliner trend bumped liquid liner from the top spot of popular eye makeup trends this year. Overall, eye makeup in 2021 was less about sharp, precise cut creases or bold cat eyes, and instead more about soft, seamless shadows and lots of blending.

Although you can achieve a similar look with a blended pencil eyeliner, the soft, faint flick is best achieved with a small angled makeup brush, like this one, and dark eyeshadow with a matte finish.

If we were to choose one product to represent 2021 makeup, our vote would be for blush. Liquid blush, cream blush, powder blush—we saw it all, and we saw it all over Instagram. The bold blush look was a big summer 2021 makeup trend (makes sense), but it was just as popular the rest of the year, so don’t be surprised if you see rosy cheeks, temples, and noses in 2022 too.

If there was one thing TikTok taught us this year, it was the beauty of layering different blushes. I used to be a powder-only kinda person, but my blush hardly ever showed up in photos. By first applying a cream or liquid formula, like this TikTok-favorite beauty product, and setting it with a powder blush, you get long-lasting bold blush like in the look above.

Glam makeup will always be A Thing. But in 2021, soft glam was the version we saw (and loved) the most. An ethereal take on full-glam makeup, soft glam is the perfect winter makeup trend to wear to all your holiday parties. Think neutral eyes, traceless foundation, and nude lipstick.

With thiseyeshadow palette, you get matte neutral shades that are perfect for daytime and shimmery browns you can play up for a special occasion. Not too glittery or too glam, this palette is exactly what you want for creating a subtle glam look.

We love a monochromatic moment, and monochrome makeup certainly had its moment this year. One of spring 2021’s biggest makeup trends, this look makes it easy to find eye, cheek, and lip colors that goes together because, well, it’s all the same color.

No need to pay for a whole makeup palette if you’re only trying to use one shade. A pared-down makeup gift set like this has exactly the products you needfor a monochrome makeup look from your eyes, to your cheeks, to your lips.

Whether you prefer a full-coverage foundation or the max you’ll do is a tinted moisturizer, the end goal for 2021 was the same: healthy, glowing skin. This year, the trends moved even further away from sharp contour and thick, cakey makeup to light layers and seamlessly blended complexion products.

Since the goal is healthy-looking skin, you want a foundation that’s full of skin-loving ingredients, like this one that launched in 2021 and had thousands waiting to try it. This mineral sunscreen andfoundation hybridis fragrance-free, safe even for those with sensitive skin andeczema, andhas buildable coverage with a natural finishand no white cast.

Every few years, we get a new brow trend that we collectively are really into at the moment but really might regret later (lookin’ at you, 2014 IG brows), and only time will tell! The year 2021 was all about fluffy, brushed-up brows with straighter tails, so it’s no wonder why soap brows (a fall makeup trend we saw on the runways) and brow lamination services are so popular rn.

If you love the brushed-up look but can’t seem to get your brows to defy gravity, this is the product you need to try. Even the wiriest of brows will stay lifted and laminated with this clear, waxy brow gel.

What do you get when you combine purple, pink, yellow, and orange? This gorgeous multicolor eyeshadow look. All you need is a neutral-colored eye primer (it’ll prevent whatever shadows you layer on top from fading or smearing) and a palette full of vibrant shades.

To create the look above, you’re gonna need a glitter eyeshadow palette with tons of color options and plenty of pigment. Enter: this beauty. Inside you’ll findan assortment of 18 vibrant, intense shadows in five finishes (shimmer, duo-chrome, metallic, matte, and iridescent sparkle).

There’s no denying that lipstick made its long-awaited comeback in 2021. The trendiest color to wear? Deep burgundy. It’s edgy, moody, and unexpected yet surprisingly wearable no matter your skin tone.

You won’t know what you love most about this hydrating matte lipstick: the way the silky texture and mango butter feel against your lips or the way the rich, burgundy color and the velvety finish look once applied.

Between the clean and dewy skin, lightly flushed cheeks, neutral-colored lips, brushed up brows, and fluttery lashes, we clearly could not get enough of the natural makeup trend in 2021. Combine all those looks into one to create this gorgeous no-makeup makeup look. Wear it day or night, for work or weekend; either way, you’ll look stunning.

Use this tinted balm for an all-over wash of color and that your-skin-but-better look. Wear it as a bronzer, highlighter, blush, eyeshadow, lip color—you get the point. It’s basically the one product you need for your whole face.

Even though no-makeup makeup def had its moment, don’t forget about all the sparkly accents we saw this year too. These star-studded lids are proof that you don’t need to go wild with shadow or liner to create an epic eye makeup look.

Reminder: You always want to be careful placing sequins and glitter and all that fun stuff close to your eye, but you can still get the look by placing them on the rest of your face. To DIY, use dots of clear eyelash glue (it’ll add the perfect amount of tackiness and shine), then carefully place shimmery star shapes all around. Not just any glitter, this loose cosmetic glitter is specifically cut to limit the risk of micro-tears when worn.