Life is made up of dualities: Good, bad; day, night; Sandy at the start of Grease, Sandy at the end. So it’s no surprise that sugar plum fairy makeup is trending right alongside its seductively vampy counterpart dark feminine glam.
“It seems now that there is a need to showcase the duality of feminine, that there is a light and a darkness to everything,” says MAC Cosmetics senior makeup artist Michelle Clark, noting that while dark feminine makeup is certainly having its moment, the past year saw a surge in the hyper-feminine coquette aesthetic and corresponding trends like strawberry girl and sugar plum fairy makeup.
This isn’t just a theory: There’s data to back it up too. According to Pinterest’s 2024 festival trends report, queries for both dark feminine glam and sugar plum fairy makeup are rising ahead of spring and summer, with “sugar plum fairy makeup” surging by 1900%. Meanwhile, “sugar plum fairy makeup” has nearly 100 million views on TikTok.
As for how the trend got its name? That’s thanks to Hailey Bieber. Last year, Bieber shared a tutorial for how to DIY the look. Before the Rhode founder became a model and entrepreneur, she was once a ballerina who starred in The Nutcracker as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
That said, fairy- and cottage-inspired aesthetics were already having a moment as is. On TikTok, Fairycore and Cottagecore have a combined 22.7 billion views, while Pinterest searches “fairycore outfits” and “cottagecore nails” have risen by a combined 3200%.
The rise in ethereal glam has also been largely inspired by Euphoria makeup looks: The show’s popularity pretty much sparked the post-pandemic boom in glitter, shimmer, and eye gems.
It even led Euphoria‘s lead makeup artist Donni Davy to launch her own makeup brand, Half Magic Beauty. Featuring shimmer, sparkles, and gems, the brand has since been used to create sugar plum fairy makeup-inspired looks on the runway. (The most recent was Christian Cowan’s astronomy-inspired NYFW show.)
A model walks the runway at the Christian Cowan fashion show at New York Fashion Week.JP Yim/Getty Images
Clearly, sugar plum fairy makeup isn’t going anywhere. “This trend is one we’ve seen done in many ways, which is just a sign that it’s an ever-evolving, everlasting trend,” Flynn Pyykkonen, founder and CEO of Makeup by Flynn, tells Glamour. “There should always be room for a pinky lip and a hint of shimmer come springtime.”
More specifically, Pyykkonen says that sugar plum fairy makeup is very similar to the ballerinacore or coquette style of makeup: “The concept is very light makeup with feminine highlights,” she says, descrbing the “typical” sugar plum fairy look as one comprised of light foundation—if any—pinky blush, a fluffy brow, and dewy skin. “It’s emphasized by a bright liquid highlight, a subtly glittery eye lid, and a high shine lip gloss, and sometimes there are faux freckles,” she continues.
Another key component of the look is its use of cool tones, says says Elyse Reneau, executive director of global beauty at Too Faced. “It’s no secret that cool tones are trending, after years of warm tones being the go-to, cool queens are having their moment,” Reneau explains. “This look is all about glowing skin bordering on wet-looking, pink cheeks, mauve shimmery lids and juicy cool tone lips.”
