Festival season, a time marked by boisterous music and bohemian beauty, has officially begun. The 2026 calendar kicked off with Lollapalooza Argentina on March 13, featuring Grammy-winning headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Tyler the Creator, Chappell Roan, Doechii and more. Up next is Coachella.
Where space buns, flower crowns and glitter once dominated, beauty insiders are predicting mermaid waves, tousled bobs and glass skin will now reign supreme. Speaking with WWD, celebrity hair artist Frank Gil said, “In the last few years, people have been reaching for the loudest hair colors and styles to make a statement. This year, I predict the pendulum to swing the other way. I can assume that neutral hair colors like dirty blonds and rich brunettes will be the shinier than the rest. In the sea of long hair, those who dare go shorter will also turn heads. Pixies and bobs (or anything in between) are the perfect balance of form and function.”
According to Eduardo Méndez, the architect behind Lorde’s decorated cut, loud colors and bold shapes aren’t totally extinct. “Rosalia’s halo and Alysa Liu’s bleach rings have influenced non traditional ways of using color,” he pointed out. “With Lorde I have been focusing with her natural texture but as festival season approaches, we’ve been adding hints of metal, whether it’s creating a long silver rat tail adorned with foil or adding metal to her hair part.”
As for makeup, New York-based artist Chelsea Gehr said, “Festival beauty is shifting toward skin that feels alive — not perfected. We’re in a clean, golden glow era where everything is hydrated, luminous and slightly undone. Think flushed cheeks, glossed lips and that wind-touched softness that feels effortless but intentional.”
With this, L’Oréal Paris League of Expert makeup artist Allan Avendano predicts feline eyes, velvet skin and sun-kissed complexions to be inescapable. Indeed, there’s an arsenal of L’Oréal products to create these looks, from the Infalliable Skin Ink to the Lumi Glotion and Haute Precision Liquid Liner.
“What I’m not subscribing to is anything overly matte or overworked,” Gher noted. “Full-coverage foundation, heavy contour, overly set skin — it just doesn’t translate in a festival environment. It separates from the skin, it fights the elements and it reads dated. Festival makeup should move. It should melt a little, evolve throughout the day, and feel like part of the experience—not something you’re trying to preserve.”
Ahead, WWD takes a look back at past festival beauty moments that fit the 2026 predictions.