Did Wuthering Heights just set the biggest beauty trend for 2026?

As new stills from ‘Wuthering Heights’ offer a sneak peek into the film’s playful beauty aesthetic, Olivia Petter explores how teenage tastes and makeup inspired by bodily sweat are set to dominate the trend cycle this year

Few things are as beguiling as teeny tiny little gems on a beautiful face. It’s a simple trick: a few stick-on pearls, some silver sparkles, a dash of biodegradable glitter. Things you’d find and forget about at the bottom of a dressing-up trunk. Child’s play, really, and yet, and as Margot Robbie shows us, it can be totally transformative.

In a new still from Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated film, Wuthering Heights, an interpretation of Emily Brontë’s gothic Victorian novel, Margot Robbie, who plays Cathy, is seen at a dinner table with speckled gems positioned neatly underneath her eyes and across her cheeks. The images, which were published by Allure, gave fans an insight into what to expect from a beauty perspective in the film, which isn’t released until 13 February.

According to Siân Miller, the film’s hair and makeup designer, that particular look takes inspiration from the set design and, erm, sweat. For context, in this scene, Cathy is having dinner with her now-husband, Edgar Linton, and Heathcliff, who has returned to the moors as a wealthy gentleman after spending years away. It’s a tense moment; to those unfamiliar with the plot, I won’t spoil it by going into too much detail. But suffice to say, this is a moment where Cathy is somewhat torn between the two men in her life. Hence the sweat.

“The reason I incorporated gems into this look stems from Suzie Davies’ incredible production design in the dining room,” Miller tells The Independent. “The panelled walls are silver, and each panel is adorned with varying sizes of silver beading with an appearance almost akin to perfectly round droplets of perspiration. When you are in this amazing space, the sensation you have is truly visceral, and I wanted Cathy’s makeup to echo this mood with the gems seen on her face.”

Miller and her team tested several gems, settling on clear ones sourced online. There are other standout beauty moments, too. In one still, we can see Robbie with silver sparkly eyeshadow swept across her eyelids, with a large blue star stencilled onto the left corner of one eye. “I do think this look speaks to a wider trend,” says Miller. “Playful eye and face makeup has been around for thousands of years, and our desire to adorn our faces has been, and I think always will be, a thing of fascination to so many people.”

Alongside the decadent set design and costumes, Miller’s beauty creations inject some vim into what is otherwise a fairly dark narrative; Wuthering Heights is certainly no romcom. By having fun with hair and makeup (did we mention that there’s also a lot of ribbons involved in the hair styling?), the film leans into an adolescent aesthetic that is becoming increasingly popular on social media. Consider the viral 2016 trend that has seen millennials and Gen Zs revisiting fashion and beauty trends from their younger years, much of which includes childlike, maximalist makeup.

Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria’ and Margot Robbie in ‘Wuthering Heights’ are both embracing the same beauty trend (HBO/Warner Bros)

We’ve seen it elsewhere, too, like in Netflix’s hugely popular romcom, People We Meet On Vacation, an adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel of the same name starring Tom Blyth and Emily Bader. In one key scene, Bader, who plays Poppy, wears a cropped blue wig in a disco-inspired ensemble, with silver flecks of glitter adorning her eyes. Clearly, whimsical eye makeup is making a comeback for 2026 – and it’s about to become even more prevalent thanks to the return of one cult TV show that many industry experts credit for bringing this trend into the mainstream in the first place.

Yes, I’m talking about Euphoria, HBO’s teen drama that is set to return for a long-awaited third season in April. The show was famed for its distinct beauty aesthetic, with the female characters donning weird and wild looks incorporating brightly coloured eyeshadow and various stick-on gems in dynamic ways. “We’ve seen plenty of TV shows and films set the tone for makeup trends, but nothing in the beauty industry has quite made waves like HBO’s Euphoria,” says Franchesca Villar, beauty expert at online retailer Cosmetify. “The show’s makeup became such a defining beauty moment because it broke away from traditional rules and embraced nostalgia, drawing heavily on Y2K influences that still felt modern. It reflected makeup as a form of identity rather than a pursuit of perfection.”

Nostalgia is fuelling all of this. In a chaotic and occasionally maddening world, the past is informing how we cope with the present more than ever. And that’s particularly true when it comes to how we express ourselves through fashion and beauty; we’re craving creativity and escapism. It’s about subverting expectation, too, by tapping into our inner children, the ones who loved smearing tubs of glitter over their eyes and embraced chaos over subtlety. It’s a major shift away from the “clean girl aesthetic” that has previously been dominating the beauty world: think bare faces, mascara-less eyes, and minimal makeup.

Thanks to Euphoria’s return, alongside the looks showcased in Wuthering Heights and People We Meet on Vacation, the era of playful eye makeup is set to dominate this summer. But in order to recreate it yourself, some care is needed to avoid actually looking like the kid who got lost in their mother’s makeup drawer. “The key to wearing glitter tears, cloud eyes or pearl-studded eyeliner is about making sure to pair the look with minimal skin so the result is modern and editorial,” says makeup artist Amalie Russell. “The number one ingredient to this look is to embrace a little fun – whether you choose to wear glitter chunks as freckles or neon eyeshadow baby flicks, just own it.”

There are plenty of brands offering products of this ilk; Victoria Beckham’s eyeshadow offerings are particularly popular – check out the eyeshadow sticks – as are the many colourful liquid eyeshadow options available at Violette_FR – there’s a bright purple shade that looks as if it’s been pulled straight from a 15-year-old’s makeup box. “The focus should be on texture and expression rather than perfection,” adds makeup artist Poppy Tallulah. “Glossy skin, reflective finishes and unexpected placements are what you want to aim for.”

Now you know, it’s time to channel your inner teenage girl and have fun with your eye makeup. Just try not to get too carried away.