Cherry cola lips and espresso eyes: winter’s biggest beauty trends

Winter beauty just got a whole lot more interesting. Forget playing it safe with the same smoky eye you’ve had on rotation since 2019 — this season is serving up rich, moody colour, effortless texture and the kind of low-key glamour that looks like you tried just the right amount.

Tracie Giles, permanent makeup expert and founder of Tracie Giles London, has broken down the seven biggest makeup trends of winter 2026/27, along with how to actually wear them. Here’s what’s worth knowing.

The colour trends that are going to be everywhere

Cherry cola lips are the update traditional red lipstick desperately needed. Think deep cherry, burgundy and blackcurrant — shades with rich brown-red undertones worn with a glossy or softly blurred finish. Tracie recommends lining the lips first, then blending the colour slightly inward rather than keeping a sharp edge. “This creates a fuller looking lip without the need for an overly precise outline,” she explains. The result is something that looks expensive rather than try-hard.

Plum everything is exactly what it sounds like. Mulberry, wine and deep berry shades are showing up across eyes, cheeks and lips this season, and the monochromatic approach is genuinely one of the easier ways to look pulled-together without overthinking it. Keep the textures varied so it doesn’t feel too heavy — a soft plum wash on the lids, a berry blush, then a deeper lip if you want to push it.

Espresso eyes are having a major moment as brown makes its long-overdue claim as the smarter alternative to black. Rich chocolate, coffee and deep bronze shades blended along the lash line and softened through the outer corners give the eyes depth without looking like you’re heading to a 2003 school disco. “It’s incredibly wearable and works beautifully for both daytime and evening,” says Tracie. That’s the kind of trend we can all get behind.

The softer side of winter beauty

Velvet skin is replacing the full-on dewy glass-skin look with something a little more grown-up. It’s a soft-focus finish — not matte, not luminous, but somewhere in between — that gives skin a naturally perfected appearance. The key is lightweight foundation and strategic powder placement rather than mattifying everything. A little glow on the cheekbones keeps the whole thing from looking flat.

The sculpted nude lip is back, but it’s not the harsh overlining of the nineties. This version uses taupe, mauve and cool brown liners blended into nude lipstick or gloss — no visible edges, just a subtle lift and the illusion of a fuller lip. Choose a liner that sits close to your natural lip tone and blend carefully. It’s one of those looks that photographs incredibly well while feeling like almost nothing on.

Lived-in liner takes the pressure off precision entirely. Smudged, diffused and deliberately imperfect, it’s about working a dark brown, charcoal or black pencil along the upper and lower lash lines and then softening it with a brush. It suits minimal skin makeup and a neutral lip perfectly — the kind of off-duty look that still makes your eyes look properly defined.

The low-maintenance angle worth considering

Running through all seven trends is a quieter shift that Tracie is clearly enthusiastic about: the growing appetite for beauty that enhances rather than masks. Barely-there glamour rounds out her list — lightweight complexion products, softly groomed brows, defined lashes and a subtle lip — a look that works from morning to evening with minimal adjustment.

It’s also where permanent makeup comes into the conversation. Tracie notes that treatments like lip blush and permanent eyeliner aren’t about committing to one look permanently — they’re about creating a foundation of definition that you can build on, whether you’re layering cherry cola over lip blush or softening permanent liner into a smudged winter look. It’s less about replacing your makeup routine and more about making it easier to start with something already there.

Whatever you end up reaching for this winter, the common thread is wearability. Rich colour doesn’t have to mean dramatic, and effortless doesn’t have to mean boring. That feels like a fairly solid brief for the season ahead.