Seen at New York Fashion Week, the 1990s beauty trend for brown lipstick is back

Brown lipstick is making a comeback, both at fashion weeks and on social networks. Photo: AFP

While fashion continues its obsession with the 2000s, it's the 1990s that currently seem to be of interest to beauty fans.

A case in point is the return of brown lipstick, which is proving a hit on social networks and at New York Fashion Week, reviving yet another 90s trend that some people might have been only too happy to forget.

More than 100 million views

For several weeks, and especially as the fall season approaches, brown lipstick has been spreading at speed on social networks, to the point where the hashtags #brownlips and #brownlipstick have reached over 90 million and nearly 85 million views respectively on TikTok.

The result is a host of tutorials celebrating this key trend of the 1990s, reminiscent of Rachel Green's iconic beauty looks in the hit show Friends.

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By turns matte, glossy, dark, light, sophisticated or natural, warm or icy, brown lipstick can be worn in almost any way.

Users all seem to agree on two points: the need to use a pencil to define the lip line and enhance the colour, and the need to keep face and eyes simple to avoid a makeup overload.

But social media users aren't the only ones to have embraced this throwback trend.

The celebrities present at New York Fashion Week also seem to have jumped on the brown lipstick look.

Avril Lavigne, Julia Fox, Paloma Elsesser, Emily Ratajkowski and Elsa Hosk all flaunted the colour on the fringes of the Spring/Summer 2024 shows held in the Big Apple, while many designers swapped red and pink for brown hues on the runways.

This was the case at Sergio Hudson and PriscaVera, among others.

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Cherry cola or brownie glazed?

In recent months, all signs have been pointing to the return of brown lipstick. It started back in 2022 with "brownie glazed lips", which brought controversy for Hailey Bieber, the star who helped popularise the look.

More recently, the "cherry cola lips" trend celebrates a brown shade reminiscent of the famous soda, albeit with a cherry red tint.

Then there's "espresso makeup", which gives pride of place to warm, deep brown shades.

All these signals pointed to the possible return of this flagship trend of the 1990s. And although the comeback is still in its infancy, brown lipstick could shape up to become one of the major inspirations for this season. – AFP Relaxnews