Let's take a little trip back to 2021, 2022, and 2023. BeautyTok was exploding in popularity and suddenly, everyone's FYP was flooded with the "clean girl aesthetic." The look was, unsurprisingly, hijacked from Black and Brown communities, who had been wearing this "aesthetic" for ages to no praise or admiration. It's a tale as old as time, really: a cultural beauty term or creation adopted and regurgitated as something wholly original by white women. But with every trend, an antithesis is to be expected. So if there is a "clean girl," there also has to be a "messy girl," right? And with vocabulary that immediately deems the the former positive and the latter negative, what does it mean to be one or the other?
Outwardly, the clean girl aesthetic is characterized by minimal makeup, glowy skin, and slicked back hair, often paired with gold hoops. It is also, unfortunately, characterized by Eurocentric beauty standards. Black and Brown people aren't usually the face of the "clean" aesthetic and aren't represented through it, raising questions about who gets to be considered "clean." The messy girl movement is, on the other hand, less about an aesthetic and more about a state of mind. For starters, the '90s grunge aesthetic will forever hold a place in the beauty world, and leaves the interpretation of rebellion up to each individual person. And with the lack of transparency around celebrity plastic surgery, overly-FaceTuned Instagram photos pushing an artificial flawlessness as the (unachievable) beauty standard, and the beauty industry marketing expensive products as the answer, some people are choosing to embrace imperfection and, in turn, authenticity.
Plus, why should we have to look "clean" when the world feels like it's falling apart? Everything is messy, including all of us.
Courtesy of Shu Uemura
On numerous Spring/Summer 2026 runways, makeup artists explored what it meant to be a messy girl through looks that I personally love to describe as "hangover makeup," sans dull skin and clogged pores. Imagine this: an epic night out that exhausted you beyond the ability to remove your makeup. So you wake up hungover with lipstick, eyeliner, and eyeshadow smudged across your face, and with glowy skin that by the power of god didn't reject and act out against the makeup.
For Uchiide, the international artistic director of Shu Uemura and makeup lead for Caroline Hu's Spring/Summer 2026 show, the starting point was the concept of destruction. "[My inspiration] was rooted in the philosophy of 'beauty in imperfection,'" Uchiide says. "The makeup design for the show aimed to reflect this concept, highlighting adventurous beauty rather, than striving for a flawless or overly-polished look."
Caroline Hu SS26
Courtesy of Shu Uemura
Caroline Hu SS26
Courtesy of Shu Uemura
Uchiide's concept was "destruction and romance" and he accomplished this by applying "inverted" red eyeshadow underneath the eyes instead of on the lids and a blurred, checkered lip smudged on both the top and bottom. The result: looks that looked not only lived in, but slept in; that embraced the mess and rejected the concept of perfection as the ideal. "By embracing 'imperfect beauty', the makeup aimed to create an emotional resonance," Uchiide said.
McQueen SS26
instagram.com/daniel_s_makeup
McQueen SS26
instagram.com/daniel_s_makeup
For McQueen's Spring/Summer 2026 show, makeup artist Daniel Sällström said that he wanted to "create this woman that looked powerful, but was still a bit disheveled, like she's been through it. We didn't want all the girls to look the same, so everyone has a different smear and individuality in their look." And for the Vivienne Westwood show, which he also keyed, Sällström wasn't concerned about achieving perfectly-straight lines on the more avant-garde looks; the inevitable imperfections contributed to the overall rebellious energy of the show.
I think that's the whole point of the messy-girl makeup: it's less about adhering to a specific aesthetic, and more about embracing the bound-to-happen, naturally-occurring "imperfections" that can happen, because there's truth to them. In fact, it's what heightens the entire look.
Elena Velez SS26instagram.com/densartistry
Vivienne Westwood SS26instagram.com/daniel_s_makeup
Blumarine SS26
instagram.com/patrickglatthaar
At the Dilara Findikoglu Spring/Summer 2026 show titled "Cage of Innoncence," some models walked the runway with dirt smeared on their faces and legs, the messiness and contrast between dainty garments and metal and leather accessories bringing the concept of innocence into question. For Elena Velez's show, the dark, messy makeup perfectly complemented the gritty, draped dresses models wore. And Blumarine's goth-inspired smudged smoky eyes and faded lips reflected the slightly darker and moodier Spring/Summer 2026 collection from the brand.
All in all, the climate of the world has us desperate for truth and authenticity, both on and off the runway. On the runway, smeared eyeliner and "misplaced" eyeshadow tell a story and represent an authentic feeling. It would, arguably, be great if we could be as honest about our unclean internal truths off the runway, too. After all, does anyone actually achieve a perfectly straight line on the first try?
