2026 Is the New 2016: Past Beauty Trends I’d Keep (and Definitely Leave Behind)

I can’t embed a song to a blog post, but for full effect & adequate scene-setting: Press play on Roses by The Chainsmokers. Turn on HBO’s “Girls.” Put on that plastic black choker necklace, grab your Vans Old Skool Checkered Slip-ons, and get ready to dust off that full-coverage Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation. 2016 is here… or at least, that’s what everyone online will tell you. 

If you opened Instagram at the beginning of the month, you’d think you had been transported to the past decade. Everyone (and I really do mean everyone) has posted some form of throwback to their feed, featuring relics spanning from the ubiquitous LA Pink Wall to Penny Boards, all adorned with the Valencia filter.

The people YEARN for 2016 (which is a whole separate conversation in and of itself) - but today I want to dissect the inescapable beauty trends of the year. How would they hold up today? Should some of these make a comeback, or should most of these remain 6 feet under, only to be remembered in the cringiest corners of our memory recesses? Well, I’ll be the judge of that:

The 2016 Trends I'd Keep - or Banish Forever:

Exit Stage Left: Bold, Block Brows

Oh, the Instagram brow. The laminated brow’s fuller, sharper older sister. I know you still have an expired pot of Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow collecting dust (& bacteria) somewhere deep in your makeup drawer. We can all remember the steps - brow pomade to fill, brow pencil to define, and concealer to clean up. And babyyy - we were making these brows THICK. They were so time-consuming and multi-step that people were literally doing their brows off-camera for makeup tutorials. There were dedicated videos just for brow routines!

Listen, I don’t hate the intention behind it - and it’s certainly head and shoulders over the thin plucked-to-death 90’s brows that are frighteningly making somewhat of a resurgence right now. What I would  keep in 2026 is just fuller brows in general… just not as laminated as the past few years, and certainly not as sharpie-coded as those of the 2016s.

Natural full brows = yes.

2016 Instagram Brow = hell no.

I’m on the Fence: Lip Filler

Let’s be real: 2016 was the beginning of the lip filler boom. This was still somewhat of a hush-hush procedure - we still had Kylie Jenner convincing half the population her suddenly-voluptuous pout was the result of lip liner & a matte liquid lipstick - but this was definitely the start of lip filler adoption amongst us “normies” if you will.

And this is a nuanced one, because while I don’t think it’s a “no,” I think how it existed in 2016 IS a "no." 

Back then, you had people walking into clinics & medspas asking for filler, asking for the “Kylie” lip, and there was no thought of “does this suit and complement my other facial features?” It was done with no consideration for facial balancing or strategy, versus now I see the shift of this being more of a conversation. People are either getting their filler dissolved or doing it in amounts that complement their other features. I think lip filler holds up because it’s

evolved with the times and become something more subtle (if done at all.) However, the act of getting 2 syringes to match Kylie and overfilling to death can stay firmly behind in 2016.

Glow, NO: Highlighter Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

2016 was to highlighter what 2022 was to the clean girl aesthetic. You could not escape it. Cheekbones, nose, cupid’s bow, brow bone, inner corner - quite literally, if you could put highlighter there, people did. 

To this day, I remember the “full face of highlighter” challenge that was absolutely everywhere, and I swear some people implemented that challenge into their daily makeup routines. Blush and bronzer were really not a big part of the conversation; contour and hella highlight were the 2 main characters.

My opinion? The excessive highlight can stay a relic of the past… but if I said I miss the little pops of shimmer? I think we could trade a little bit of the sticky, tacky dew (the “wet” look that so often accompanies a “clean girl” look) for a few swipes of the Becca Champagne Pop Highlighter (and yes, PSA, you can still buy this!!)

Not Matte About It: Matte Liquid Lips (No, Thank You)

Okay hear me OUT.

I, personally, think it’s about time for a soft matte (key word SOFT matte) lip to come back. I love a glossy lip, a lip oil - but I think it’s reached peak saturation and I don’t know about you, but I miss a matte lip look every now and then.

I think a lot of us default to that Sahara Desert-dry, mousse-y formula of the liquid lipsticks of the past. You know, those ones that looked so good on the models but emphasized every line, nook and cranny on your lips (only to realize it was because they were all proud owners of 2ml+ of lip filler and that was why.) However - the matte formulas have come a long way since then.

I love K Beauty Lip Blurs to achieve a softer version of the matte look. A bit of liner, I let my lip blush peek through, and if my lips are dry just top with a bit of balm and voila! Matte lips can come back - it’s long overdue, IMO.

Immediately No: The Zero-Blush Era

“This is the skin of a killer, Bella” - Edward Cullen, aka who we all looked like walking around with no blush on. Do I think we might have course-corrected a bit too heavily hence the blush-blindness epidemic we’re all currently living through? Yes. But did we have to be so fearful of touching a pan of blush??

You knew the drill: Cool-toned contour, maybe a tiny teensy hint of pink on the apples of the cheeks, and a shit ton of concealer on the “high points” of the face (but for whatever reason, we put it everywhere.) Blend blend blend, then we topped it with, of course, a blinding strip of highlight. I mean hell, the eyeshadow looks we were creating drew any attention away from whatever whisper of blush graced our cheekbones. 

Let’s not revisit this, ‘kay? 

Cut the Cameras: Multi-Step Cut Crease Eyeshadow

Be honest - how many eyeshadow tutorials did you watch, save & try out that year? I honestly LOVE how creative this era was for makeup; so much experimentation, intention & craftsmanship went into these looks. I do truly miss how much fun people used to have in the makeup world - not to say that still isn’t happening, but you can’t deny that the saturation is nowhere near what it was in 2016. 

While I love how it manifested online… I do think what this era lacked was time & place (read in Tati’s voice because we ARE discussing 2016!) Because why were we all in a full beat, cut creases sharp enough to cut glass… in a Tom Thumb buying groceries at 3pm on a Tuesday. I think a large reason why the clean girl aesthetic took off like it did was because people just got burnt out. 

I love that we’re seeing fun makeup looks coming back, but I don’t really see myself or a large majority of people going back to this level of full glam on such a regular basis. I think this will manifest as just the return of eyeshadow but in a more messy, laid-back manner. No cut creases. No cleaning up with a heavy dose of concealer. But I do hope fun eyeshadow looks come back into the mainstream - it’s been a bit boring and stale for too long in the mainstream makeup zeitgeist. 

Ew, David: Hydrafacials as the “Gold Standard”

Oof okay; this one might ruffle some feathers - but it has to be said. And honestly, I’m shocked this has held onto its mainstream popularity for so long.

Hydrafacials were ev-e-ry-where in 2016. It was THE facial-du-jour for celebrities, influencers, and your everyday Joe’s & Jill's. Exfoliation, refinement, pore-cleansing - I mean, this bad boy had it ALL! However, since that year we know more about the potentially negative side effects of this facial. It’s not for everybody; the suction can be too stripping & create broken capillaries. The industry has also evolved, with options like oxygen facials such as Glo2 becoming options that rival, and dare I say supercede, the hydrafacial.

It truly does shock me that this is still the industry standard, albeit not close to how it was spoken about a decade ago. It’s less trendy and more standard - and I don’t want to see it regain momentum. I would love to see this quietly fade out in favor of better, safer & more advanced options. 

Bring Back FUN: Viral Beauty Challenges & Tutorials

Yes, viral trends very much so still exist. Yes, copy/paste content ideas and challenges are still alive & well. But if you were there consuming beauty content in 2016, you know exactly what I mean. The full face of highlighter challenge. The “100 layers of nail polish” challenge. The “power of makeup” trend via NikkiTutorials.

This was a TIME. The end goal was still the same: go viral. But something about it felt.. more sincere? Organic? More fun? I don’t know how to explain it, but the 2016 beauty landscape online just felt more authentic. And again - there are still so many creatives out there posting beauty content that is absolutely AMAZING. But I would love to bring back this era in full swing and have it saturate my feed like it did back then.

xx, Nicole