2026 is the year beauty embraces individuality, capability, and playful experimentation

While “performative” may have finished only as a runner-up for Word of the Year in 2025, 2026 marks a deliberate attempt to leave it behind. This is the year beauty stops performing and starts meaning something again. 

Generative AI has flattened the Internet into a glossy sameness, toggling our default mode to skepticism. In response, imperfection gains value. Rough edges, visible humanity, even small mistakes become markers of authorship. Pockmarked is the new chic—so much so that “chic” itself feels emptied out, replaced by better words: considered, advanced, progressive. Scrolling becomes a vice. Beauty content slows down—not to retreat, but to regain trust.

In the Philippines—where routines are inherited, touch is cultural, and community continues to shape taste—the year ahead signals a move away from spectacle and optimization and more towards substance.

If 2025 flirted with excess, 2026 pares it back to what actually works—and what genuinely feels good to live with.

Hair care is the new skincare

Skinification has officially moved north. Hair is no longer peripheral to beauty; especially when it fills half the frame of a selfie. Shampoo commercials have long been central to F-beauty. While the contemporary scene has focused on skincare and makeup, hair care is now asserting itself. One of 2025’s most exciting launches is Better Hair, founded by hairstylist Paul Nebres, photographer BJ Pascual, and designer Vania Romoff, which makes styling simple. The message is clear: Filipino brands aren’t catching up—they’re leading, creating solutions rooted in real routines, real climates, and how people actually live.

While the 2016-style middle-part straight look trends online, offline, softer, shinier, fluffier natural textures are just as welcome, reflecting a broader embrace of versatility in hair.

The clean girl makes way for the Nina Park effect

While insiders are eager to declare the end of the clean girl era, it isn’t disappearing—there’s a reason why bridal glam remains the most requested look to this day. Most of us only want to look like ourselves, but better. In 2026, there’s room for duality. Meticulous soft-glam, made popular by makeup artist Nina Park’s work on Greta Lee and Margaret Qualley, are perfect examples of this upgrade. You can look sculpted and polished while looking like your best self.

Cool undertones get hot in 2026

Warm tones have long dominated makeup. In 2026, cool undertones are on the rise, driven by inclusivity and greater attention to different skin under- and overtones.

Expressive beauty like it’s 2016

Uniformity exhausts itself. In its place: expressive, playful beauty that proves performance doesn’t have to be bland. Inspired by the 2016 era and the ongoing nostalgia for millennial optimism, this trend updates the past with modern formulations that make experimentation easy, fun, and foolproof—while still looking amazing.

Bold colors, creative combinations, and shiny finishes are front and center, from Issy’s Kylie Minogue-inspired glitter to Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun tour looks by makeup artist Sophia Sinot. Playful and confident is the look without compromising wearability.

Fragrance and the desire for connection

As digital life grows flatter and more synthetic, fragrance emerges as one of the fastest-growing categories in Filipino beauty—not because it’s trend-driven, but because it resists optimization. Scent can’t be filtered, scrolled past, or replicated by AI. It demands presence.

The spotlight on fragrance at The Beauty Edit at Spatio reflects a broader cultural longing: a return to in-person beauty. Testing scents, talking to people, lingering in physical spaces—these experiences push back against digital fatigue. In a culture increasingly skeptical of the algorithm, fragrance becomes personal proof of identity. You can’t fake chemistry.

In 2026, research-backed science makes its way to beauty talk, replacing fake news. Age-based arguments have become irrelevant as treatments are designed to address conditions, not numbers. Marie France’s recent campaign featuring longtime endorser Dawn Zulueta, alongside her daughter Ayisha Lagdameo, makes this explicit: being “too young” or “too old” no longer matters. Informed choice replaces fear-driven beauty narratives, rendering outdated binaries entirely passé.

Beauty that enhances, not replaces

“Becoming you, but better” defines the next phase of aesthetic medicine. The future face is familiar. Even with advancements to implants like Motiva’s Preserve, different applications of fat transfer at multi-disciplinary clinics like Luminisce continue to overtake traditional implants and are seen as a more long-lasting, natural option for fillers. Biostimulators like Rejuran and exosomes expand into more nuanced, regenerative applications like skin atrophy and even hair growth. The goal isn’t transformation—it’s longevity and preservation.

Bodies, wellness, and capability

GLP‑1 treatments are reshaping how bodies are seen and pursued. As celebrity silhouettes continue to shrink, injectable options like Ozempic and Saxenda remain dominant. But with the news of an oral GLP‑1 pill to launch in early 2026 as a new way to manage weight and related health risks, the cultural ideal is shifting—not toward thinness, but toward capability. Strength, stamina, and care are replacing deprivation as status markers.

Pilates, recently criticized online for becoming elitist, is returning to its roots with movement grounded in functional strength. Calisthenics is also rising, with workouts that leave the body feeling capable and resilient. The emerging aesthetic is a gender‑inclusive swole: sculpted, strong, and alive. The uniform? Less polyester, and more natural fabrics like pure cotton and merino wool activewear that let the skin breathe.

Yes, we’re still doing lash extensions

But not like before. As more people give their lashes a break and rediscover their natural eye shape, thinner strands and more natural styles are trending. An adjunct to appointments is White LED, first used by Lithe Lounge, which makes that dreaded lash-glue sting a thing of the past. Lashes set immediately, allowing lash artists to lift and flatter the eye shape more precisely.

Cluster lashes are more beginner-friendly and fit for every day. Faboulash by makeup artist Mika Marcaida is selling out repeatedly, thanks to its pre-glued, artist-designed lashes.

What 2026 really wants

Cringe is embraced, because to be cringe is to try. Beauty stops chasing perfection and starts prioritizing longevity, pleasure, and connection. And in the Philippines—where beauty has always been shaped by resourcefulness, warmth, and intuition—2026 doesn’t arrive as a disruption. It feels like a return.