3 Up and Coming Beauty Trends

BEAUTY | February 18, 2021

Visual: Gucci Beauty campaign with Jazzelle Zanaughtti, directed by Chandler Clemens and Jazzelle Zanaughtti.

From digital make-up reinventing our relationships with our faces, to sparkly grills and the latest avant-garde manicure styles, Printemps.com breaks down three of the latest trends that are re-defining the contours of beauty.

Extreme Manicures

Nail art is rapidly gaining popularity and taking on a life of its own, from Spain's Maritza Paz and Juan Alvear, to Japan's Mei Kawajir, via American-Cambodian Jenny Bui. Acting both as sets of claws as well as miniature sculptures, nails have become a new artistic medium that's as good as any canvas. A microcosm that flirts with tackiness, as if to invite us to question how we define beauty, these manicures push the limits of customization with ornamented, colorful creations that almost look like real extensions of the body. This new generation of nail artists has already stolen the hearts of rappers and pop stars, from Dua Lipa to Billie Eilish, without forgetting OGs like Cardi B and Rosalía, who can often be seen sporting sharpened talons decked out with synthetic jewels. Count us in!

Artsy grills

A ubiquitous accessory for American rappers and marks of success, these jewel-encrusted metallic pieces are gaining more mainstream popularity outside the world where they originated. Democratized by Beyoncé, Madonna, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and even Rosalía (yeah, there she is again), who sported some shiny grills in her video for "A Palé," this newly stylish adornment is being shaken up by artists like Clova Rae-Smith and former Parisian dentist Dolly Cohen, whose creations come in the form of letters for anyone who wants their cheesin' to send a message. Designed by Tetsuya Akiyama, A$AP Rocky's latest grill even integrated dried flowers suspended in resin. It's proof that when it comes to decorating the body, the only limit is the imagination itself.

Digital make-up

New technologies like augmented reality have brought us our favorite Snapchat and Instagram filters, but they've also upset our relationship to beauty. The industry is taking advantage of the opportunity to explore new ways of consuming make-up. Thus, new-age cosmetic artists like "3D makeup creator" Ines Alpha are clearing the way for futurist make-up that's purely digital. And if some brands already use augmented reality to allow their clients to try on make-up digitally, others, like La Mer, are developing filters that are dedicated solely to embellishing the digital self.