Exclusives

Japanese Beauty Trends – 2019

Here’s what could be heading our way from Japan later this year.

Many of our North American beauty and skincare trends have origins in the Far East.

To provide a glimpse into what could be heading our way from Japan later this year, I turned to my former colleague and trends analyst, Songyang Liao, who has a Master’s in Color Science from Joshibi University of Art and Design for on-the-ground insights into what’s hot in Japanese beauty right now.

Saturated Color Eyeliner

Rather than the traditional black cat eye, the hot trend in Japan is bright color pops of eyeliner in a heavy cat eye style. Japanese trend setters are wearing hot pink, bright green, electric blue and violet. (See the 2nd photo in the slider above.) We’ve seen hints of this show up in the U.S. mass market with some bright mascaras and some neon blues, but buckle-up because if this trend goes full tilt in the U.S., we will all be having ’80s flashbacks.

Hangover Makeup

Young women in Tokyo are wearing heavy streaks of bright blush under their eyes. This is all part of the “byojaku” trend, or the “sickly” trend. Byojaku is characterized by pale skin, puffy under-eyes and reddish skin around the eyes – some have dubbed this look the Hangover makeup trend. The result is a fragile appearance that connotes to others that you need to be taken care of. If you think that this won’t catch on, remember the ’90s “heroin-chic” aesthetic popularized by Kate Moss??

Bitten Lip & Vitamin C Lips

With a bit more of a health-infused look, a hint of citrus color to the lip – making lips look fresh and youthful – similar to the “bitten lip” look we saw last year from Japan, is big. We’ve seen this in some of the higher end makeup brand campaigns like Lancome. The other trend in Japan centers on “Vitamin C lips”; a look created with a lip oil. This practice didn’t seem to take root here last year; we will have to see if this reemerges in a new form in the North American market later in 2019.

Glossy Eyes

Japanese women have taken to using glossy, almost wet-looking eyeshadow. Glossy lids are seen on the runways as well as the streets of Tokyo. This look is in demand for the sophisticated beauty consumer, but has also trickled down to mass, at drugstores now with products like Canmake’s Wink Glow Eyes. (See the 1st photo above.) It’s a gel-based eye shadow that can be used as single color or layered.

Photo via Instagram/canmaketokyo

Glossy Eyes Add Glitter

Furthering the sophisticated appeal of the glossy eye, Japanese women are adding glitter. Combined with beautiful skin and a lip oil with pop, this look has taken over the runways, too. We will likely see this show up on the red carpet this year in the U.S.

On the other side of the style equation, Seiso-kei has emerged as a trend. “Seiso” means clean, “Seiso-Kei” stands for clean style in Japanese. Japanese women who are embracing this style always wear black or dark brown hair and natural makeup almost as a uniform. They look “modest,” “humble,” and “conservative”…with perfect manners to accompany their appearance.

This is now a mainstream makeup trend in Japan. It is believed to have bubbled up from the TV drama “Shitsuren Chocolatier” in 2014.

There are two key actresses: Kasumi Arimura (on the left in the 3rd photo above in the slider) and Yui Aragaki (right) that have something in common which is dark hair, limited makeup, pink lips, and always wearing gentle smiles.

They have a passive appearance to men—just like the traditional Japanese women who still walk three steps behind their husbands. This look is the counter-trend to the Harajuku trend which entails outrageous makeup, hair and fashion.

Japan continues to keep beauty trends fresh and exciting, with extremes that span minimalism to maximism. Time will tell as to what U.S. style mavens choose to embrace and to what level.