Some consider this the golden era of makeup, while others cringe at the matte lips and carved-out brows. Whichever side you’re on, here’s our guide to the makeup trends of 2016.
Our feeds have transformed into a makeup time capsule: blocky brows, cut creases and enough highlighter to be seen from space. Indeed, welcome to 2026. Or is it 2016? At this point, it’s getting hard to tell.
Across social media, people are revisiting their 2016-era style and makeup, often with a mix of irony and affection. Even Kylie Jenner took to Instagram to relive her iconic King Kylie era, lip-kits and all.
But this isn’t just nostalgia for the sake of it. After years of being dominated by the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic, bored beauty fans are looking back a decade, to makeup’s most expressive era.
Personally, my own 2016 posts will remain firmly archived — but it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few standout products from the past decade that I still repurchase today.
Here’s the L360 guide to the most memorable makeup products and trends of 2016.
The state of beauty in 2016
Why did makeup look like this in 2016? I too was guilty of spending hours glued to my screen watching Jeffree Star, Nikki Tutorials and Jaclyn Hill do elaborate makeup tutorials, one after the other, and recreating them from my childhood bedroom.
This was a time before TikTok and Instagram Reels, when cinematic-level productions on YouTube ruled the content game.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbow cut creases. Things just weren’t as inclusive as they are now.
Only a handful of brands championed having a full shade range, and for deep skin tones, the options were abysmal.
Makeup was presented as a route to achieving perfection. In fact, I recall doing a full glam face every morning for university — complete with false lashes. Yes, really.
But when did we shift to more natural make up? It’s difficult to say what changed in the last decade and when, but the clean girl looks now dominates, and we said sayonara to the cut crease long ago. But for those looking to revisit 2016 — we’ve all seen the throwback dumps on our feeds — here’s everything you need to know.
2016’s most popular makeup products
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Kylie Lip Kits
When Kylie Lip Kits came out in November 2015, they sold out in seconds and paved the way for the liquid lipsticks boom. Candy K and Dolce K were among the first colours, a matte pinky nude and a browny nude. Later however, other brands jumped on the bandwagon of liquid lipsticks in shocking colours with mega lasting power — all in matte finishes.
Since then, Kylie has expanded into foundations, lip oils and fragrances like the latest Kylie Cosmic Intense perfume, but the lip kit is where it all began.
Too Faced Born This Way Foundation
Medium-to-full coverage with a natural matte finish? In 2016, that was music to makeup-lovers’ ears. Every beauty YouTuber swore by this product — and, at the time, they were the ones who set the trends.
The formula was thick and , of course, it was topped off with a generous sweep of meticulously placed contour and highlighter.
The Beauty Blender Phenomenon
You can’t talk about 2016 beauty without mentioning the foundation of almost every routine: the beauty blender. The stippling technique used to apply base products with this sponge became an iconic part of this era, even if they were a nightmare to clean.
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Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kits
Anastasia Soare, the founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, basically ruled the makeup game in 2016.
The brand was on the ball with the trends during this era. Bold, noticeable contour was king — and the brand’s cream and powder contour kits weren’t exactly subtle — but nothing about the trends this year was.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow
A decade later, Dipbrow still has its loyal fans — myself included. Brows in 2016 were thick and bold, and this pomade was the perfect product for it.
Brows would be outlined with sharp strokes, and the front would be blended out with an ombré effect. Concealer would be used to carve out the whole eyebrow before starting the rest of the foundation routine.
Morphe 35O Palette
The Morphe 35O palette was a staple for beauty YouTubers in 2016. The neutral palette included 35 colours with both matte eyeshadows and glitters — everything required to create 2016’s hottest eye makeup looks — and was so popular that the 35O 2 was released in October 2017. Now, however, Morphe has lost its cachet with gen Alpha, who are most interested in skincare and barely-there makeup than a dramatic cut crease.
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Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector
Becca’s pressed highlighters were the gold standard. Champagne Pop, a Jaclyn Hill collaboration, sold out repeatedly.
Becca Cosmetics shut down in 2021, so while this iconic product is no longer available, there are plenty of dupes around at affordable prices.
The ELF cosmetics Halo Glow highlighter in Prosecco Poppin’ is a widely known dupe, if you want to bring back the glowy highlighter trend in 2026 — just don’t forget the fan brush applicator for that blurred look.
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What’s in and what’s out for 2026?
To be honest, I don’t foresee ombré-faded, carved-out eyebrows making a comeback.
Many of the trends mentioned here are dead and buried in photographs that we wouldn’t dare to look at, but some have taken new form in 2026.
While uber-glittery highlighters are still out, we can see the highlighter trend slowly creeping back through the rise of K-beauty. Rather than shimmer powders, we’re seeing an increase in balms that create a glass skin effect.
And while the popularity of matte lips has been completely replaced by the demand of squeezy gloss tubes, those looking for lasting colour have now turned towards peel off lip stains from Wonderskin and Sacheu.
Feature image: Pexels
