This '60s makeup trend is taking off (and everyone from Ariana to Addison Rae is wearing it)

We may not have been alive in the sixties, but it looks like a hell of a decade. It gave us The Beatles. The mini-skirt. Flower power. It fired people up to fight for freedom and the civil rights movement. And, it gave us the OG yellow smiley face emoji – before emojis even existed.

We know that trends are cyclical but, this season? The sixties is dominating. And beauty-wise, the retro references are ripe for the picking. Because really, ’60s makeup was iconic.

In the next month in particular, prepare to be served up some delicious sixties inspo. One of the decades biggest celeb fans, Ariana Grande, revealed that her upcoming beauty brand R.E.M Beauty was part-inspired by the era. “I’ve always sort of gravitated towards the ‘50s and ‘60s and ‘70s for glamour references,” Grande told Allure. “I’ve always pictured myself in a different time period. I’ve always wanted to wear that makeup, wear that hair, wear those outfits, be those performers,” she explained.

In fact her classic ’60s makeup look of winged Bardot liner is as synonymous with the singer as those beautiful vocal cords, and her Positions Album cover pushed the singer firmly into sixties territory with Jean Shrimpton flicked hair, voluminous roots and graphic sixties negative space liner.

While we’ve not seen the products for R.E.M Beauty (out imminently) yet, the artwork released from the brand so far shows a clear direction. Frosted lavender hues and powder pinks are giving us sixties vibes.

Likewise the Mary Quant biopic, Quant, out this month follows the life of one of the eras most trailblazing icons and designers. She rewrote the rules for women’s fashion by (surprise) actually giving women what they wanted: practicality, style, freedom. Her PVC coats, mini-dresses and bright tights changed the game and her bold beauty choices breathed new life into hackneyed conventions. Her famous five-point-cut by Vidal Sassoon gave women a beauty rebel to respect and (if they were brave enough) emulate.

And, among just some of the Sixites tributes we’ve been seeing is Anya Taylor-Joy‘s latest project, the psychological horror film, Last Night In Soho. It follows an aspiring singer in sixties London and while it’s a dark and complex watch, there’s no denying that the beehive hair, dolly lashes and plush fringe are a real beauty moment.

Meanwhile mega-influencer, Addison Rae chose to pay homage to the decade in her GLAMOUR cover shoot earlier this year.

Looking to the future, the sixties trend is going no-where. At the SS22 shows, Moschino, Batsheva and Rixo all referenced the decade with bouffant hair and (in the case of Batsheva) signature sixties liner, which incidentally we’ve been seeing all over the ‘gram. In fact, we’re calling it, it’s set to be one of the biggest trends this season.