2026 Beauty Trends That Vintage Girls Were Wearing Decades Ago

Hello lovely,
If you’ve been paying attention to the beauty trends making their way across the catwalks and social media in 2026, you might have noticed something familiar. Burgundy lipstick is having another moment, eye shadow is colourful again, eyeliner has gone delightfully graphic and hairdressers have rediscovered the humble backcombing brush. And I’m rather pleased about it.

Of course, none of these looks appeared out of thin air. Dig through a few vintage beauty magazines and you’ll find plenty of familiar faces sporting remarkably similar makeup. Sometimes the resemblance is so close you could be forgiven for thinking someone has been rummaging through their mum’s old makeup bag.

So, where did these 2026 beauty trends actually come from? Let’s compare five of this year’s most interesting looks with the women, decades and beauty movements that helped make them famous.

Burgundy Lips: From Hollywood Vamps to 1990s Grunge

There’s something wonderfully dramatic about a deep burgundy lipstick. A little bit mysterious, slightly intimidating and surprisingly easy to wear when you find the right shade. For autumn 2026, burgundy, oxblood and dark berry lips have been appearing across red carpets and fashion runways. And while they might feel like a departure from the glossy pinks and understated nudes we’ve grown accustomed to, darker lipstick has a rather long and glamorous history.

The 2026 Look: Deep Wine Lips

One of the standout examples came from Selena Gomez at the January 2026 Golden Globes. Her makeup artist, Hung Vanngo, chose a beautifully rich, matte burgundy lipstick inspired by classic Hollywood film noir. Paired with softly defined eyes, luminous skin and sculpted waves, the finished look had a distinctly vintage feel. Vanngo explained to Harper’s Bazaar that he wanted to recreate the dark tones associated with old Hollywood cinema.

Elsewhere, the autumn and winter 2026 collections embraced everything from deep cherry to almost blackened wine shades. The modern approach varies quite a bit. Some lips are beautifully precise, while others have a soft, blurred finish that looks almost like a stain. Personally, I love the softer version for daytime. Much easier to maintain when you’ve got a coffee permanently attached to your hand.

The Vintage Look: 1920s Glamour and 1990s Wine Lips

Dark, dramatic lipstick was particularly fashionable during the 1920s, when actresses such as Clara Bow helped popularise heavily defined lips and the exaggerated Cupid’s bow. The exact colours aren’t always easy to identify in black and white photographs, but deep reds and rich berry shades were part of the period’s beauty palette.The 1930s continued to develop this glamorous approach to lipstick, although colours, shapes and finishes changed considerably throughout the decade.

If the burgundy lipstick of 2026 looks particularly familiar, though, I’d point you towards the 1990s. Winona Ryder frequently wore dark, wine coloured lipstick alongside her black outfits and distinctly gothic wardrobe. Her beauty looks captured the moodier side of the decade beautifully. The 1990s also embraced darker lip pencils, brownish reds and plum shades, although these weren’t all worn in exactly the same way. A precisely outlined wine lipstick looked rather different from the contrasting dark liner and pale lipstick combinations also fashionable at the time. The connection to today’s burgundy lips is unmistakable. For more on how lipstick colours have changed, have a little read of Lipstick Trends from the 1920s to the 1970s.

How to Wear Burgundy Lipstick in 2026

The loveliest thing about this trend is how easily you can adjust it. For a more authentic vintage finish, use a matching lip pencil and carefully define your Cupid’s bow before applying a satin or matte lipstick. If you prefer something contemporary, press a little burgundy lipstick into your lips with your fingertip and soften the outline.

Look for blackberry, plum, cranberry or brownish wine shades depending on your colouring and preference. Don’t assume darker lipstick has to be worn with an equally dramatic face, either. A touch of mascara, tidy brows and a gorgeous deep lip can look rather fabulous on their own.

Imperfect Smoky Eyes: The Return of 1970s Rock Glamour

For years, we’ve been watching makeup tutorials that involve several eye shadows, a small army of blending brushes and an awful lot of patience. Well, the smoky eye has loosened up a bit. And thank goodness, because I’ve never been particularly convinced that eyeliner needs to be perfectly symmetrical to look good.

The 2026 Look: Smudged, Lived In Eyeliner

At the autumn and winter 2026 shows, makeup artists embraced eyes that looked deliberately imperfect. At Dior, Peter Philips created subtle, smudged eyeliner designed to resemble the remnants of a previous application. Rather than carefully building a dramatic black eye, he concentrated the pencil along the upper waterline and encouraged it to transfer naturally.

Meanwhile, Prada’s autumn and winter 2026 runway featured much darker, messier eye makeup, with heavy black liner and a distinctly dishevelled finish. Pat McGrath described the approach at Schiaparelli to Vogue as “less precise, more lived-in”. That’s the general mood of the 2026 smoky eye. A little softness, a little darkness and considerably less worrying about whether you’ve blended everything properly.

The Vintage Look: Anita Pallenberg and Debbie Harry

There are a few vintage beauty influences worth mentioning here, particularly from the late 1960s and 1970s. Anita Pallenberg’s makeup is a wonderful example of the relaxed, slightly decadent look associated with the rock scene of the period. In photographs from the late 1960s, her eyes are often heavily defined with dark liner, while the rest of her makeup remains comparatively understated. Rather than the carefully sculpted eye shadow shapes associated with some earlier 1960s makeup, there’s a softer, more informal quality to the finished look. You can explore her makeup in more detail in my Anita Pallenberg Style Guide.

Then, towards the end of the decade, along came Debbie Harry. As the lead singer of Blondie, Harry became one of the most recognisable faces of the emerging punk and new wave scenes. Her makeup frequently featured thick eyeliner, dark eye shadow and heavily coated lashes. Combined with her bleached blonde hair, the contrast was striking. Harry continued experimenting with smoky and graphic eye makeup into the 1980s, and her influence can still be spotted in contemporary rock inspired beauty. British Vogue’s retrospective of Debbie Harry’s beauty looks is well worth a look.

How to Wear Imperfect Smoky Eyes in 2026

Start with a soft brown or charcoal pencil rather than liquid liner. Work it along your upper lash line and gently smudge the colour using a small brush. Add a little beneath the outer lower lashes if you want more definition. For a darker evening look, press brown, grey or black eye shadow into the liner and blend the edges. Keep the rest of your makeup fairly understated, particularly if you’ve gone heavy around the eyes. And don’t worry about creating two identical shapes. A little unevenness can be rather charming. Just remember there’s a difference between deliberately smudged eyeliner and the sort of panda eyes that suggest you’ve had a particularly emotional Tuesday.

Lilac Eye shadow: The Pastel Eye Makeup of the 1960s and 1970s

Lilac eye shadow is one of those beauty trends that seems to disappear for a while, only to pop up again looking surprisingly fresh. For anyone who’s spent the last few years wearing little more than beige and brown eye shadow, 2026 has been quite a colourful change.

The 2026 Look: Soft Lavender and Purple Eye shadow

Pastel eye makeup has been enjoying a revival throughout 2026, with lilac, lavender and violet among the shades attracting attention. Laufey wore delicate purple eye shadow at the 2026 Grammy Awards, while the spring and summer runways featured everything from softly blended pastel lids to bolder, more experimental colour combinations.

British Vogue has also highlighted purple makeup as one of autumn 2026’s wearable beauty trends. What I particularly like about this revival is that lilac doesn’t necessarily have to be dramatic. A sheer wash of lavender across the eyelids looks beautifully delicate, particularly with a little mascara and naturally flushed cheeks. Of course, if you fancy something a bit more extravagant, nobody’s stopping you.

The Vintage Look: 1960s Mod Makeup

Coloured eye shadow was an important part of 1960s makeup, particularly as the decade progressed and younger women began experimenting with brighter, more playful cosmetics. Pale blue, green, white, pink and lilac were all used to create the wide eyed makeup associated with the period. Twiggy famously wore pastel shadows with heavily defined lashes and graphic crease makeup, although her eye shadow colours varied between photographs and fashion shoots. And she certainly wasn’t alone.

An original 1960s Vogue photograph of Lauren Hutton, featured in the magazine’s beauty futurism archive, shows how lilac eye shadow was incorporated into more experimental fashion imagery. The 1960s approach often involved applying a pale colour across much of the eyelid, sometimes extending towards the brow bone, before defining the eyes with dark eyeliner. Purple eye shadow had further revivals in the 1980s and around the turn of the millennium, but the softer pastel versions of 2026 have a particularly lovely connection to the makeup of Swinging London. For more original techniques, my 1960s Makeup Guide explores the decade’s coloured shadows, dramatic lashes and eyeliner styles.

How to Wear Lilac Eye shadow in 2026

If you’ve never worn purple eye shadow before, start with a soft lilac cream shadow and blend it across your eyelid. A matte pastel gives a more traditional 1960s appearance, while a sheer shimmer feels a little more modern. Lilac can look beautiful against brown, blue, green and hazel eyes. Experiment with cooler blue based lavenders or warmer pinkish purples to see which you prefer. For a stronger vintage influence, finish with black liquid eyeliner and plenty of mascara. Or add a few individual false lashes for a softer version of the dramatic 1960s eye.

Graphic Eyeliner: Straight From the Swinging Sixties

There are some beauty trends that make me immediately think of one particular decade. Graphic eyeliner is one of them. While winged eyeliner has a much longer history, the experimental shapes of the 1960s are particularly close to the designs we’re seeing on the catwalks today.

The 2026 Look: Bold Lines and Artistic Shapes

Graphic eyeliner is enjoying another revival in 2026, with makeup artists moving beyond the traditional flick to experiment with extended wings, exaggerated shapes and liner that follows the natural contours of the eye. At Harris Reed’s autumn and winter 2026 presentation, makeup artist Sofia Tilbury created dramatic black graphic eyeliner to complement the designer’s sculptural clothing. The contrast between strongly defined eyes and relatively fresh looking skin gave the makeup a striking, modern appearance.

The spring and summer 2026 Harris Reed show had already embraced similarly theatrical eyes, including sculpted liner and heavily exaggerated eyelashes. According to Vogue’s 2026 eye makeup trends report, more structural and artistic eyeliner designs have been gaining attention as beauty moves towards greater experimentation.

The Vintage Look: Twiggy and Peggy Moffitt

If you’ve ever admired Twiggy’s distinctive 1960s makeup, you’ll already be familiar with graphic eyeliner. Her eye makeup frequently featured a strong upper lash line, rounded crease definition and individual lower lashes painted directly beneath her eyes. The result was dramatic, wonderfully theatrical and instantly recognisable.

But if you want to see just how experimental 1960s eyeliner could become, have a look at Peggy Moffitt. The American model became known for her striking, almost architectural beauty looks, often photographed alongside the futuristic designs of Rudi Gernreich.

Her makeup incorporated thick black eyeliner, exaggerated lashes and contrasting pale areas around the eyes. Moffitt’s visual style drew inspiration from Japanese kabuki theatre, rather than simply following conventional Western beauty trends. That makes her a particularly fascinating reference for modern graphic eyeliner.

You can explore Twiggy’s original makeup techniques in my Get the Look: Twiggy guide, including her famous drawn on lower eyelashes. For a wider look at how beauty, fashion and youth culture influenced one another, there’s also What They Wore: 1960s Subcultures.

How to Wear Graphic Eyeliner in 2026

You don’t need to recreate an entire 1960s editorial makeup look to enjoy graphic liner. A slightly exaggerated black wing can be enough to bring a mod influence to your everyday makeup. If you’re feeling more adventurous, try drawing a fine curved line just above your natural eye crease, leaving a little space between the two.

For something closer to Twiggy’s original look, combine a rounded crease line with a handful of carefully painted lower lashes. Keep a cotton bud handy for tidying the edges. Even the most experienced makeup enthusiast has the occasional eyeliner disaster. And don’t be afraid to adjust the shape to suit your own eyes. Graphic eyeliner works beautifully when you follow your particular eye shape rather than trying to copy someone else’s exactly.

Backcombed Hair: The 1960s Beehive Gets Another Outing

Ah, backcombing. The technique responsible for some of the most spectacular hairstyles of the twentieth century, not to mention a fair few tangled tresses. For a while, sleek buns and smooth, polished hairstyles seemed to be the preferred approach. But 2026 has seen a renewed interest in volume, particularly around the crown. And the vintage influence is rather obvious.

The 2026 Look: Big, Softly Structured Hair

At Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood’s autumn and winter 2026 show, hairstylist Ramona Eschbach created softly structured hairstyles inspired by actress Romy Schneider. The looks combined low side partings, brushed out curls and deliberately backcombed roots to create height and movement. Rather than producing perfectly lacquered hairstyles, the finished appearance was softer and more relaxed. The show’s hair partner, Schwarzkopf Professional, described the original inspiration as 1960s volume with an undone texture.

Elsewhere, hairstylists have been experimenting with updated beehives, raised crowns and more sculptural updos. Not everything has to be smooth anymore. A few loose strands and a little natural movement are very welcome.

The Vintage Look: The Beehive, Bouffants and Brigitte Bardot

Backcombing had been used to create volume before the 1960s, but the decade took the technique to spectacular heights. The most famous example is the beehive, developed in 1960 by Chicago hairstylist Margaret Vinci Heldt. Heldt had been asked to create a hairstyle that would represent the new decade, and the result was a tall, rounded design that quickly became fashionable. The original hairstyle relied on teasing the hair towards the roots to create structure before smoothing the outer sections into shape.

The beehive became particularly associated with singers such as Dusty Springfield and the Ronettes, while Brigitte Bardot helped popularise a looser, more romantic approach to voluminous hair. Bardot’s styles often featured height at the crown, soft waves and a slightly dishevelled finish that remains surprisingly wearable. For a very different version of 1960s volume, look at Jackie Kennedy’s beautifully groomed bouffant hairstyles, which were associated with hairstylist Kenneth Battelle.

You can explore her distinctive style in my Jackie Kennedy Get the Look feature. And if you’d like to see how the beehive developed, The Guardian’s history of the hairstyle is a lovely little read.

How to Wear Backcombed Hair in 2026

You don’t need an enormous beehive to enjoy a bit of vintage volume. For an everyday look, start with dry hair and gently backcomb a few small sections around the crown. Use a fine toothed comb or teasing brush, working carefully towards the roots. Then smooth the uppermost layer over the backcombed sections to disguise the teasing. A light mist of hairspray will help hold everything in place.

If you’re after something a little more Bardot, leave a few soft strands around your face and keep the rest of your hair loosely waved. For a more structured evening look, gather the hair into a half up style or soft French twist, using the backcombed crown to create height. Be gentle when brushing the hairstyle out, and avoid repeated aggressive teasing, which can damage the hair. Personally, I’m rather fond of a little crown volume with a full fringe. It has that gorgeous 1960s shape without requiring the sort of hairspray commitment that could probably survive a small hurricane.

Why Are So Many Vintage Beauty Trends Returning in 2026?

Beauty trends have always borrowed from earlier decades, but the current enthusiasm for colourful eye shadow, dramatic eyeliner and more experimental hairstyles is particularly interesting. After several years of understated makeup, carefully groomed brows and neutral colour palettes, fashion designers and makeup artists have been exploring a much wider range of looks. The autumn and winter 2026 shows are a good example.

At Dior, the inspiration was deliberately relaxed makeup. Harris Reed embraced theatrical eyeliner. Vivienne Westwood explored romantic 1960s volume, while other designers experimented with darker lips and stronger eye shadow colours. These looks aren’t all part of one single beauty movement. Some favour glamour, others celebrate imperfection, and a few are wonderfully over the top. But their vintage references are easy to recognise. And there’s something rather refreshing about seeing makeup treated as a chance to experiment again.

You don’t need to throw out your everyday beauty routine or completely transform your appearance. Sometimes swapping a beige eye shadow for lilac, choosing a burgundy lipstick or adding a little volume at the crown is enough.

Frequently Asked Questions About 2026 Vintage Beauty Trend

What vintage makeup trends are popular in 2026?
Several of 2026’s prominent beauty looks have strong vintage influences, including burgundy lipstick, smudged smoky eyes, pastel lilac eye shadow, graphic eyeliner and voluminous backcombed hairstyles. Their historical references range from 1920s screen glamour to 1960s mod makeup, 1970s rock beauty and 1990s grunge.

Is 1960s makeup coming back in 2026?
Yes. Several elements associated with 1960s makeup have appeared in 2026 beauty trends, including pastel eye shadow, exaggerated eyeliner, defined lashes and voluminous hairstyles. Modern versions often use softer textures and lighter foundation.

How do you recreate a vintage smoky eye?
Use a soft eyeliner pencil around the lash line, gently smudge it with a brush and add brown or charcoal shadow for depth. Keep the edges slightly diffused rather than sharply defined. Anita Pallenberg and Debbie Harry are particularly useful vintage beauty references.

What is the difference between a beehive and a bouffant?
A beehive is a tall, structured hairstyle that builds height towards the top of the head. A bouffant generally creates a broader, rounded volume through the crown and sides. Both styles can involve backcombing, although their finished silhouettes are different.

Can you wear vintage inspired makeup without looking like you’re in fancy dress?
Absolutely. Pick one feature rather than recreating an entire period makeup look. Try lilac eye shadow with natural lashes, burgundy lipstick with understated skin makeup or a little 1960s crown volume with a modern haircut.

Final Thoughts

I’m always fascinated by how beauty trends find their way back into fashion. A lipstick colour that felt terribly daring in one decade becomes an everyday favourite in another. A hairstyle your grandmother might have spent an entire afternoon perfecting suddenly appears on a designer catwalk. And the eyeliner? Well, we’re still finding new ways to draw that little black line.

What I particularly enjoy about the 2026 vintage beauty revival is that there’s plenty of room to make these looks your own. You can borrow the dramatic eyes of the 1960s, the smoky glamour of the 1970s or the dark lipstick of the 1990s without committing to every detail. After all, some of the best beauty ideas have been around for decades. It seems only fair that we give them another outing. So, which vintage beauty trend are you bringing back?

Until next time, stay delightful darling.

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