Four Summer Makeup Trends for 2025
Summer makeup in 2025 is smarter, sheerer, and more skincare-adjacent than ever before. TikTok has turned everyone into an amateur esthetician. Street style and red carpet beauty are blending. And increasingly, we’re asking one question before adding anything to our face: But does it actually do something for my skin?
This season, makeup is less about transformation and more about enhancement—warm tones, soft finishes, multitasking products, and formulas that play nicely with SPF. Whether you’re heading to a rooftop dinner, walking the High Line, or just sweating through your commute, these four trends meet the moment.
Here’s what we’re seeing—and loving—this summer.
1. Bronzing Tint: The Anti-Contour Glow
We’re entering the post-contour era. This isn’t about chiseled cheekbones and sharp jawlines—it’s about believable warmth, like you just got back from a long weekend in Montauk. The return of bronzing tints comes from a collective shift toward products that give skin a little life without adding texture or weight.
The rise of the “clean girl aesthetic” and the viral “tomato girl summer” trend paved the way for skin-first makeup, and this is its sun-drenched evolution.
Product Pick:
✨ Westman Atelier Sun Tone Bronzing Drops - Sheer, buildable, and designed by legendary makeup artist Gucci Westman, these bronzing drops blend seamlessly into moisturizer, SPF, or foundation for a warm glow that doesn’t compete with humidity.
2. Blush-Focused Beauty: From TikTok to Temples
Blush has migrated. No longer confined to the apples of your cheeks, you’ll now see it on eyelids, temples, even brushed across the nose bridge for a flushed, just-back-from-a-bike-ride look. The TikTok #blushplacement trend has brought experimentation to the mainstream, and Gen Z is fully driving the revival of color-forward makeup.
Blush’s comeback is tied to the popularity of shows like Euphoria, where unconventional placement met high-impact payoff. Now, it’s filtered into real life in a more wearable way.
Product Pick:
✨ RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek - A C.O. Bigelow favorite, this multitasking pot lets you coordinate lips and cheeks in one step. Bonus: it’s formulated with coconut oil and beeswax for hydration that moves with your skin—not against it.
3. Minimal Mascara: Soft Lashes, Sharp Eye
While falsies and heavy lash extensions had their moment, we’re now seeing a return to something much quieter: the soft lash. Brown mascara is the hero here—still defining but more subtle than black and far more forgiving on hot, makeup-melting days. It’s a tiny shift that makes a big difference.
This is the “model-off-duty” lash—seen on runways at Miu Miu, The Row, and every effortless girl on your Pinterest board. It’s also had a major moment thanks to Sofia Richie Grainge’s quiet luxury bridal aesthetic.
Product Pick:
✨ Sweed Lash Lift Mascara (Dark Brown) - Created by professional makeup artist Gabriella Elio, this formula defines and lengthens without clumps, flakes, or stiffness. Just clean, soft, lifted lashes that pair well with barely-there bronzer and slicked-back hair.
4. Lips With Skin Benefits: The Skincare Crossover
The matte lip era is over. This summer’s lips are soft, balmy, and barely tinted—with formulas that don’t just color, they treat. Think lip products that blur the line between makeup and skincare, packed with barrier-repairing ingredients, peptides, and plumping tech. They feel like your favorite serum, only better.
The crossover between beauty and wellness continues to deepen, and this is the most literal version of it. U Beauty’s tech-forward lip compound sits comfortably at the intersection of dermatology and design.
Product Pick:
✨ U Beauty The Plasma Lip Compound Tinted - A high-performance formula with plumping peptides, barrier-supporting hydration, and a soft wash of sheer color. It’s lip care for the skincare obsessed, in a shade range that complements sun-kissed skin and minimal makeup.
The Summer Beauty Mood: Undone, But Intentional
There’s a throughline to all of this—skin comes first. It’s less about covering up and more about choosing a few well-made products that enhance what’s already there. If you can apply it with your fingers in the back of a cab or between emails, even better.
Whether you’re mixing bronzing drops into your sunscreen or applying a peptide-powered lip tint, this summer’s trends are all about effort that doesn’t look like effort.