Paris Fashion Week’s best spring summer 2026 beauty lessons are sending us a clear message: It’s time to have a little fun and make the most of our natural gifts. Thom Browne told Vogue as much on the steps outside of his show at a historic mansion once owned by Karl Lagerfeld. “I want to play with it. I want to have a good time with it,” Browne said. He’s never afraid to deliver an out-of-this-world beauty look, and this season celebrated all things spacey, alien, and celestial. It’s a reminder that runway beauty is a place to share dreams, and where better than one of fashion’s dreamiest cities?
“For me, these moments are making sure that you really create something that you may not always see in real life. I want it to be fantastic for people and somewhat inspirational in different ways,” said Browne. “And people can take little bits of it if they want.” It’s exactly l’attitude when there’s so much to choose from to suit your mood, whether you’re trotting out in a pop of candy color à la Chloé or just buffing up your natural nails like Jonathan Anderson suggested for his first foray into women’s beauty at Dior.
Here, five ways to delight in a little beauty this season, according to the Paris runways and presentations.
Pop of Pink
A pop of pink doesn’t always have to look like you’re born with it. Chemena Kamali was “pushing the Chloé woman a little bit out of her comfort zone is what she said to us,” makeup artist Yadim told Vogue at a backstage held inside the city’s UNESCO headquarters. That meant mixing up a custom bubblegum shade with Saie’s Dew Blush in Baby Pink and Slip Tint Concealer.
“Chemena was obsessed with this idea of, How do we evolve the Chloé woman just a bit,” said Yadim. It turned “kind of an odd lip” that was “a little bit ’80s” in a fun-in-the-sun way. Then there was makeup artist Lucy Bridge’s glossy pink pouts at Tom Ford (more on that below) and the powder pink wigs Takeo Arai created at Comme des Garçons. On cheeks at Rabanne, Diane Kendal created a soft flush with the brand’s balmy pink Incompatibles Mini Blushy Palette. Taking the shade to its red roots, Dame Pat McGrath dusted models’ eyes at Schiaparelli with glowing, fiery Labs pigments (including her new Gilded Nirvana Mega Eye Shadow Palette) for a vision that the makeup artist described as “powerful, poetic, and transformative.”
Just a Buff
While statement acrylics ruled New York, a buffed, healthy nail is Paris’s most luxurious new underdog. When Vogue got an exclusive look backstage at Dior, creative and image director of Christian Dior Makeup, Peter Philips, revealed how involved Jonathan Anderson was in ideating beauty for his historic first women’s collection at the French house. “Mr. Jonathan, he was very clear—he was like, ‘Oh, just buffed,’” Philips said of conversations with the designer and nail artist Ama Quashie. Quashie actually added a thin layer of nude Dior Vernis polish to achieve the effect, a quick trick that can imitate a glowing nail bed. That natural shine was something nail artist Fanny Santa Rita featured on fingers and toes at Loewe for Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s first collection. And at Chloé, Kamali “wanted something very natural” for some of the models in florals, according to nail artist Agathe Masse, who noted the brief was “clean nails.” She used a single coat of Manucurist Paris Active Smooth polish in 00 because “when you put just one layer, it’s like we have nothing.”
Otherworldly Glam
“So it’s really otherworldly skin for everybody,” Isamaya Ffrench said at Thom Browne while dusting metallic Make Up For Ever powders on a model’s face. Yes, there was a spacey alien theme, so skin was supposed to look “very beautiful” under the “silver celestial makeup” that the makeup artist applied on top of a well-treated canvas. Esthetician Vinida Savant layered isClinical products (Paris’s favorite backstage skin care this season) during her signature acupressure facial massage before sending models over to Ffrench. “Everything is connected: your skin, your organs, the way that you feel, the emotions that you carry in your body. And it sometimes impacts the skin glow and quality—even texture,” Savant explained. By pressing certain points on the face, she believes it creates an “inner glow.”
At Coperni’s circular runway within the closed-for-renovations Centre Pompidou, M.A.S.C. Studio husband and wife facialists Magali and Alessandro Cirino massaged models’ skin to life with isClinical’s new Daily Dynamic Hydrator. Once the show opened to the sounds of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” models’ complexions were beaming as editors shielded their eyes with sunglasses from the glamorous stadium-bright lighting.
Chill Updos
The mood for hair was relaxed, like it was just pulled back in the moment. Hair artist Olivier Schawalder’s french twists for Dries Van Noten featured a set of mini bangs, which he wanted to look like a model might have “just cut herself.” The surf-inspired updo was reminiscent of the moment you ride a wave and sweep your hair back quickly, “not knowing what it looks like, but you just feel cool,” said Schawalder.
For Undercover’s presentation in their showroom, hair artist Yusuke Morioka twisted models’ hair up with big butterfly claw clips, and for The Row, Guido used multiple combs to create sculptural French twists. They were more perfect than chill, save for the sensation that, if in real life, the giant combs could casually fall out at some point in the day. No big deal. And at Chanel, Duffy sent multiple models down the runway in wispy low chignons that felt entirely unfussy, as if perhaps held by just an elastic.
Shine On
“We were heavily inspired by Haider’s runway floor, which is a really deep navy lacquered shiny floor, so we wanted to bring this texture into the lips,” makeup artist Lucy Bridge told Vogue’s Kiana Murden backstage at Tom Ford. She incorporated a whole rainbow of Gloss Luxe lacquered lips in tones of warm brown, neon red, pale peach, and baby pink. “The best way to get this effect is don’t be shy with the gloss,” she said. At Lacoste, Damien Boissinot’s sculpted, lacquered hair pushed the tennis pro into the future, where gelled swirls of hair were lacquered so thickly that you could see the comb marks. Similarly at Giambattista Valli, Pablo Kümin used Schwarzkopf products to sweep hair into waterfalls of waves that brought the modern wet look into an entirely romantic era.
Have a beauty or wellness trend you’re curious about? We want to know! Send Vogue’s senior beauty wellness editor an email at beauty@vogue.com.
