Clean girl beauty and naked nails seem to be out, according to the runways of fashion month.
September has seen designers showcase their spring/summer 2027 collections, and one starkly obvious trend is an overarching move away from perfected beauty.
Prada, Burberry and Susan Fang sent models out with deliberately windswept hair, while Gucci, Annie’s and Harris Reed experimented with smudge-stained lips and glittering eye looks that spilled out onto cheekbones.
Messy, bold and somewhat accidental seemed to be the theme this season. Luckily, that makes many of 2027’s biggest beauty trends surprisingly easy to recreate at home.
1. Merlot lips and nails
While spring usually signals an influx of pastels, it seems next year we’ll be opting for a deeper colour palette.
Merlot, burgundy and oxblood repeatedly appeared across Milan’s beauty looks, with red wine emerging across lips and nails.
At Prada, Naomi Watts and Uma Thurman sat front row and appeared to coordinate their manicures from the front row, with Watts opting for a glossy red-wine shade and Thurman wearing a deeper variation, both on neat, short nails.
Elsewhere at Milan Fashion Week, wine-stained manicures appeared on showgoers at Alberta Ferretti, while make-up artist Pat McGrath created a rich Shiraz-coloured lip at Dolce & Gabbana.
London made a similar case for the bold lip, with deep reds appearing on the runway at Dreaming Eli, Annie’s and Simone Rocha.
It’s also one of fashion month’s easiest trends to try right now. Rather than choosing a bright, pillar-box red, look for lipsticks and nail varnishes with that cooler undertone ouching on browns, berries and purple – and don’t worry about creating an immaculate lip line, as this season’s red looks all the better slightly blurred, according to the runways.
REFY Lip Blush, £16, Space NK
Nailberry Grateful Nail Polish, £17
2. ‘Morning-after’ eyes
Perhaps the most forgiving make-up trend of the season is one that actively benefits from being a little messy.
After the ‘clean girl’ beauty trend renounced visible eye make-up; colour, glitter and smudged pigment returned across the SS27 shows.
In Milan, The Attico showcased models with crystals and glitter surrounded their eyes, while Gucci experimented with smoky black pigment, cobalt lids and pink beneath the eyes. Dolce & Gabbana offered a subtler interpretation with washes of lilac and mint.
Elsewhere, the beauty looked less freshly applied and more like the remnants of a very good night out. At Antonio Marras, a collection inspired by the ‘day after’ an imagined wedding celebration was accompanied by dishevelled hair and hollowed-out eyes, while at Harris Reed, Sofia Tilbury diffused pink blush and iridescent shimmer across the face to complement the collection’s silk fabrics.
At Dreaming Eli in London, the designers opted for dark, messy black eyes, while in Milan Diesel’s red lipstick progressed from pristine to increasingly blurred and kissed-off.
For everyday wear, you don’t need to recreate the full runway version. Smudge a black or brown pencil around the lash line with your finger rather than painstakingly perfecting it, or tap a little metallic shadow onto the centre of the lid.
For once, the less precise your application, the better.
MAC Eye Kohl Pencil Eyeliner in Feline, £16.80 (was £21), Look Fantastic
Charlotte Tilbury Hypnotising Pop Shots in Sunlit Diamond, £25
3. The flicked bob
Also known as the ‘kicked’ or ‘turned-out’ bob, the flicked bob is characterised by ends deliberately flicked upwards rather than curled under, giving an otherwise simple haircut a distinctly retro finish.
It cropped up predominantly throughout fashion month street style. At London Fashion Week, singer-songwriter Cat Burns combined turned-up ends with Bantu knots and digital creator Steph Hui wore a pinned-back variation. While in Milan, Linda Schulz gave the look a platinum-blonde update.
Unlike the heavily layered, tousled bobs we’ve become accustomed to recently, this iteration is far more structured. A blunt, one-length cut helps create the distinctive silhouette, while the flick itself can be recreated at home by turning the ends out with a round brush or straighteners.
For those already sporting a bob, it’s perhaps the easiest trend of the season to try without actually changing your haircut.
GHD The Blow Dryer Radial Brush – size 4 (55mm), £27.50
4. The new low ponytail
Another hair trend, if you’re not ready to part with your long locks, is the new low pony.
The low ponytail was one of the recurring hairstyles at New York Fashion Week, appearing at Cult Gaia, TWP and Tory Burch in different iterations – from knotted to loosely secured.
It continued in London. At Harris Reed, hairstylist Anna Cofone contrasted a sleek, high-shine crown with soft, airy lengths that deliberately retained their natural texture. Rather than creating one uniformly sleek ponytail, the style looked controlled from the front but almost undone from behind.
And that contrast is what makes the 2027 version feel different from the severe slicked-back styles that have been trending.
To recreate it, Cofone says you should smooth the hair around your face and crown before fastening it low at the nape, but resist straightening or slicking the lengths into submission. Texture, flyaways and a slightly imperfect finish are all part of the look.
Authentic Beauty Concept Airy Texture Spray, £34, Niche Beauty
5. Barely-there blush
After the era of ‘blush blindness’ – where we lost sight of increasingly liberal amounts of pigment creeping further across the cheeks and temples – some make-up artists are heading in the opposite direction.
At the Erdem show in London, make-up artist Lynsey Alexander created what she described as a “low-boy blush”, designed to resemble a natural cold flush rather than an obviously made-up cheek. She used Merit’s lipsticks in Black Tie and Bespoke on the complexion before applying skincare over the make-up to bring the appearance of real skin back through the foundation.
At Missoni in Milan, burgundy blush swept across the cheeks and bridge of the nose mimicked skin after time in the sun, while Alberta Ferretti similarly embraced a wind-bitten flush. At Max Mara, make-up artist Lisa Butler reportedly pinched models’ cheeks to observe their natural colour before recreating it with blush.
The trick is to make the colour appear as though it’s coming from the skin rather than sitting on top of it. Try a sheer cream or liquid formula, use a small amount and blend thoroughly with fingers – leaving freckles and natural texture visible rather than covering everything beneath a heavy base.
Merit Flush Balm, £26
