People seem to have developed a taste for minimalist beauty — a far cry from the layers of foundation and highlighter that were once popular. Now, it's all about letting your natural glow shine through — a beauty trend that promises to continue in the same direction in 2021.

Forget heavy foundation, contouring and other layers of product building up on your face, beauty in 2021 will be all about minimalism. It's basically a continuation of 2020, but without the constraints and the forced nature of this year's trends — i.e., face masks and lockdowns — or at least, we hope.

Men and women look set to embrace the latest “skip-care” trend from South Korea, which involves limiting beauty routines to just a handful of products. It's simply about doing things better, differently and with less — letting skin breathe and returning to a more natural kind of beauty.

This is one of the key trends of 2021 outlined in the annual Pinterest Predicts report, published Friday by the image-based social media network. It reveals how web searches are now focusing on products and techniques that give a natural glow without going overboard.

Year-on-year, searches for “glowing skin how to get naturally” have quadrupled, as have searches for “face yoga exercises”. Web users have also been searching for “homemade skin care” (+110 percent) and for “aloe vera face mask” (+115 percent).

Read also: Swatch no more? Pandemic may spell end of in-store cosmetic samples

Cocooning and pampering

The COVID-19 pandemic — and especially the related lockdowns — has allowed many people to try out simple things entirely for their own personal well-being. And that's a trend that's set to continue in 2021, according to Pinterest.

Bathing rituals, in particular, are having a moment as the new stay-at-home spa days, with an uptick in searches for “spiritual cleansing bath” (+180 percent), “full moon bath ritual” (+90 percent), not to mention “bath tea recipe” (+60 percent).

The same goes for fashion, where cozy, protective, comfortable clothing looks set to ride high above more sophisticated designs. Year-on-year, searches for “quilted clothes” have quadrupled, while searches for “cozy aesthetic outfits” and “home dress women” have both doubled.

Searches for “cocoon sweater” are also on the up (+155 percent), as well as “fluffy slippers” (+90 percent). Here too, the pandemic seems to have shaken up people's habits completely, with potentially long-term effects.

Read also: UK fashion awards recognize turbulent year

A bold touch

Despite going back to basics and focusing on natural beauty, people could be tempted to add a bold touch to their day-to-day looks after such a morose year. In the beauty world, that could pave the way for bright colors and motifs on body parts like nails and eyes.

According to Pinterest, searches for “indie nails” were up 21 times year-on-year, while “smiley face nails” were up nine times and “butterfly eye makeup” was up six times. It looks like brows are also going bold with standout styles like goth eyebrows (+120 percent) and bleached brows (+160 percent) proving popular.

The Pinterest Predicts 2021 report is based on Pinterest internal data on global searches, comparing searches carried out between October 2018 and September 2019 to searches carried out between October 2019 and September 2020.

See the full Pinterest Predicts report. 

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