Beauty trends are on the menu today! Seemingly literally, as many, many, MANY popular beauty trends of late being named after foods Looks like blueberry milk nails, hot chocolate nails, cinnamon cookie butter hair, and strawberry girl makeup each started out on social media, going viral before hitting retail shelves and online stores.
Because food-focused beauty trends can get their starts on social media, their names can come out of left field for the beauty industry. Rather than having names developed across long periods of time, with focus groups and marketing teams at the helm, these trends’ names feature the language of beauty industry customers. And because of their quick virality and adoption into mainstream beauty culture, brands and retailers need AI to insert that customer language throughout their products and ecosystems.
Here, we’re taking a look at four food-focused beauty trends that went viral on social media. We’re also going to show how beauty brands and retailers can capitalize on each of these trends—and critically, future trends—as they get added to consumers’ menus, or um, shopping lists!
Food Beauty Trend #1: Latte Makeup & Espresso Makeup
Coined by content creator Rachel Rigler, latte makeup is soft, summery, warm, and bronzed with shades of brown featured throughout the face. Cosmopolitan has declared Espresso Makeup to be 2024’s iteration of this food-inspired beauty trend as well, with more bold colors at the forefront.
Characteristics:
- Warm, brown eyeshadow with shimmer
- Bronzers swept across the cheeks
- Lips touched with a sheer, glossy brown tint
Celebrity/Influencer Who’s On Trend: Hot off her summertime hit “Espresso,” which reached #1 on the Billboard Global Charts, Sabrina Carpenter’s inspired a warm coffee-hued makeup look.
Brand Doing the Trend Well: Benefit Cosmetics’ iconic Hoola bronzer can help any consumer achieve the latte or espresso-inspired look.
Food Beauty Trend #2: Glazed Donut Skin aka Glass Skin aka Slugging
This trend is all about hydration! And while its name has shifted across the last few years—from glazed donut to glass skin to the current favorite “slugging”—the concept remains the same. Healthy, hydrated skincare is where it’s at!
Characteristics:
- Glossy, shiny, and hydrated skin that’s aided by moisturizing treatments
- Foundations containing moisturizers and sunscreen
- Ultra-hydrating lip oil
Celebrity/Influencer Who’s On Trend: Hailey Bieber is the glazed donut girl. Not only has she been a huge proponent of glazed donut skin, but her glazed donut nails were a huge trend a couple of years ago.
Brand Doing the Trend Well: Dermstore is the destination for all your skincare needs. Its blog features a tutorial on all the steps, products, and treatments needed to achieve the flawless glazed donut look.
Food Beauty Trend #3: Cherry Cola Lips
The #CherryColaLip trend has 4.9 million views on TikTok and counting. While the trend caught fire last year, Cosmo says this juicy trend will continue to have a hold on beauty consumers across 2024.
Characteristics:
- Lip liner is essential, and it can be in burgundy, brown, nude, or deep red.
- Very shiny, bold red lip gloss
Celebrity/Influencer Who’s On Trend: Kylie Jenner is credited to have started this trend, with many TikTokers offering tutorials on how to recreate the look.
Brand Doing the Trend Well: Milani offers a cherry cola lip kit that’s particularly tasty! It contains both a liner and lip oil.
Food Beauty Trend #4: Vanilla French Manicure
A French manicure is classic. Sticking with the Vanilla Girl trend of the last few years, this French vanilla twist brings minimalist vibes and soft, hushed hues.
Characteristics:
- Soft pinks, beiges, creams, and of course, vanilla colors on the nails
Celebrity/Influencer Who’s On Trend: Zola Ganzorigt AKA @nailsbyzola has crafted beautiful, neat, and sophisticated nail looks for Hailey Bieber, Sydney Sweeney, Sabrina Carpenter, and other It Girls.
Brand Doing the Trend Well: OPI is a fan favorite, when it comes to any nail look, but especially this one. In fact, their blog spotlights Zola Ganzorigt, detailing her use of their cult shades.
How to Capitalize on These Food Beauty Trends
Lily AI helps beauty brands and retailers capitalize on social media-inspired beauty trends by including the language of the customer throughout their product catalogs and online ecommerce ecosystems.
Today’s consumers are looking for both popular, timely trends and classic, timeless products. While your store may have many each of these items—or possibly all of them—without featuring the language of the customer throughout your product listings, shoppers won’t find any of them.
The most efficient and effective way to help beauty consumers discover products that’ll keep them on-trend is by including their language, its synonyms, and other consumer-focused attributes throughout your beauty product listings. You can learn AI makes this easier than ever at the blog below!
