The Most Popular Beauty Trends For 2021 Per The Body Shop
Around the world, men are well and truly in the center of a glow-up revolution. Some beauty trends have come and gone with seasons, while others have become a staple within our daily routines.
By analyzing hundreds of beauty-related Google searches, The Body Shop has uncovered the most searched for male beauty trends in the U.K. and across the world.
The Body Shop uncovered Google search data to highlight the biggest beauty trends in the U.K. and across the world. Among other findings, their study reveals that:
- Eyebrow slits are back! Indeed, in 2020, ‘eyebrow slits men’ has been searched for 212% more than in 2019.
- The most googled beauty trend around the world is ‘short hair styles’ (the U.K. searching the most).
- Natural beauty wins with 114,200 searches for ‘natural makeup looks’ in the U.K. in 2020.
- The biggest increase in searches in the last year, with a 1,495% increase, was ‘brow lamination.’
- “pastel eyeliner” has seen a 735% increase in searches in the U.K. from the previous year.
Just as with fashion, trends in the beauty industry alter each year. What was once the hottest craze in hairstyles ten years ago, may now just cause a giggle when looking at old photographs. During 2020, tutorials and beauty tips flooded Instagram and TikTok with a fresh batch of trends and styles.
While some beauty fads may fade to memory, others live to stand the test of time; but what are the biggest beauty trends right now in the UK and how do these compare globally? To find out, The Body Shop analyzed online search data across 64 countries to highlight the world’s biggest beauty trends today.
Top 10 U.K.’s biggest beauty trends based on monthly searches
| RANK | Trend | Average Monthly Search Volume | City Most Searched For In |
| 1 | short hair styles | 165000 | Newcastle |
| 2 | microblading | 60500 | Manchester |
| 3 | eyelash extensions | 60500 | Newcastle |
| 4 | lip filler | 33100 | Newcastle |
| 5 | bob haircut | 27100 | Newcastle |
| 6 | eyebrow tinting | 27100 | Newcastle |
| 7 | boycut hair style | 27100 | Manchester |
| 8 | botox | 27100 | Manchester |
| 9 | hd brows | 27100 | Newcastle |
| 10 | eyebrow microblading | 27100 | Newcastle |
Results show that the most popular trends in the UK are short haircuts and perfectly-shaped eyebrows. While many years ago, small and thin, pencil-like eyebrows were popular, now full, thick, and defined eyebrows are the go-to. In fact, “brow lamination” is the search term, which saw the biggest increase in popularity in the last year, with an extra 1,495% searches since 2019, followed by “pastel eyeliner” with a rise of 735%.
Au naturel
Just like the impact of Covid-19 on our everyday lives, throwing us into a “new normal” of staying home and reducing our social contact to virtual means, it is evident from The Body Shop’s research that the global pandemic has also influenced our hair and beauty habits. In more ways than one, for many of us 2020 was the year of less is more and this rings true for our beauty routines throughout the year.
“Natural makeup looks” received a whopping total of over 114,200 searches in the UK in 2020 – that’s a 56% increase from 2019 and a 122% increase since 2016. Nottingham and Plymouth were the cities with the biggest demand for this trend, with a 73% increase between 2019 and 2020 respectively, followed by Brighton with a 71% increase.
Natural hair appears to be the biggest trend of the last year with seven of the top ten searches for natural beauty trends based around hair. Short hair seems to specifically be the talk of the town as this dominates the top ten; the top two searches, “short hairstyles” and “bob haircut” were searched for the most in Newcastle, while Manchester searched for third-place “boy cut hairstyle” the most.
The UK’s top 10 searches for natural beauty trends
| Rank | Natural Beauty Trend | UK Average Monthly Search Volume | City Most Searched For In |
| 1 | short hair styles | 165000 | Newcastle |
| 2 | bob haircut | 27100 | Newcastle |
| 3 | boycut hair style | 27100 | Manchester |
| 4 | hairstyles for long hair | 22200 | Newcastle |
| 5 | short haircuts for men | 22200 | Manchester |
| 6 | short haircuts for women | 22200 | Brighton |
| 7 | eyebrow threading | 18100 | Manchester |
| 8 | long hairstyles for men | 14800 | Manchester |
| 9 | monobrows | 6600 | Manchester |
| 10 | boys long haircuts | 4400 | Plymouth |
Make-up
Out of the top ten most searched for beauty trends around the world, “red lipstick” placed tenth and the U.K. is the country which had searched for this the most in 2020.
Manchester is the city which searched for this the most, as well as “lip plumper gloss” and “winged eyeliner.” When looking at the top searches for make-up in the U.K., however, Newcastle is the city that searched the most for the top two make-up trends — “bronzer” and “how to contour.” On the other hand, it appears Glaswegians are now opting for more natural habits with “natural makeup looks” being most popular in their city in 2020.
The UK’s top 10 searches for make-up trends
| Rank | Search Term | UK Average Monthly Search Volume | City Most Searched For In |
| 1 | bronzer | 9900 | Newcastle |
| 2 | how to contour | 8100 | Newcastle |
| 3 | natural makeup looks | 6600 | Glasgow |
| 4 | lip plumper gloss | 5400 | Manchester |
| 5 | red lipstick | 5400 | Manchester |
| 6 | winged eyeliner | 4400 | Manchester |
| 7 | cream blusher | 3600 | Newcastle |
| 8 | makeup for men | 3600 | Brighton |
| 9 | pink lipstick | 1900 | Brighton |
| 10 | eye makeup natural | 1900 | Belfast |
Hair
Again, it’s Newcastle that dominates the top 10 searches for hair trends with the city being home to the most searches for eight out of the top ten search terms, with Manchester taking the crown for the remaining two.
Styling and coloring are the themes that populate the top 10 searches for hair here in the U.K., and when it comes to dyeing our locks, un-natural colors were the biggest trend for 2020. Pink, purple, red, and blue hair dye all place in the top; however, it’s pink, green, and blue hair dye that have seen the biggest increase in searches with all three seeing a rise in popularity of over 200% since 2019. Searches for “natural red hair colour” also saw a climb, with 202% more searches for this term compared to the previous year.
Top 10 searches for hairstyle trends in the U.K. based on average monthly searches
| Rank | Search Term | UK Average Monthly Search Volume | City Most Searched For In |
| 1 | short hair styles | 165000 | Newcastle |
| 2 | bob haircut | 27100 | Newcastle |
| 3 | hairstyles for long hair | 22200 | Newcastle |
| 4 | pink hair dye | 12100 | Newcastle |
| 5 | hair dye purple | 9900 | Newcastle |
| 6 | red hair dye | 9900 | Newcastle |
| 7 | blue hair dye | 8100 | Newcastle |
| 8 | curly hair how to style | 4400 | Manchester |
| 9 | how to get wavy hair | 2900 | Newcastle |
| 10 | styling straight hair | 1900 | Manchester |
Men
Hair trends take the top three spots in the popular searches for beauty trends for men. It appears “short haircuts for men” takes the crown, followed by “long hairstyles for men” and “hair dye for men.”
The top two are searched for the most in Manchester, while the third place resides in Newcastle. Looking elsewhere, “eyebrow slits men” is searched for the most in Plymouth and has seen the biggest increase in searches with a 212% rise between 2019 and 2020, and a whopping 15,456% increase since 2016. The trend of “long hairstyles for men” has seen the second highest increase with 154% more searches in 2020 than in 2019, followed by “skincare for men” with a 120% rise in popularity.
Global
The research was not just limited to the U.K. To compare how beauty trends differ across the world, The Body Shop analyzed and compared Google search data on beauty trends in 64 countries across all continents.
Short hair appears to be a common trend across the globe as the style has taken the top three most popular searches for natural beauty trends. The most searched for beauty trend around the world is “short hair styles” with over 1.4 million Google searches a month. It is in fact the U.K. that searches for this term the most with an average of 165,000 searches each month. The trend “boycut hair style” ranks second in the list, and is most searched for in Guyana, while the third-ranked trend of the “bob haircut” is most popular in Germany.
Top 10 most searched for natural beauty trends around the world
| Rank | Natural Beauty Trend | Country Most Searched For In |
| 1 | short hair styles | United Kingdom |
| 2 | boycut hair style | Guyana |
| 3 | bob haircut | Germany |
| 4 | eyebrow threading | United States |
| 5 | spray tans | United States |
| 6 | natural makeup | Paraguay |
| 7 | bronzer | Monaco |
| 8 | pink blush | Poland |
| 9 | how to contour | Italy |
| 10 | red lipstick | United Kingdom |
Top 3 beauty predictions for 2021
- Colorful liner and locks
- Snatched brows
- Au-natural beauty
The Body Shop predicts that 2021 will be the year of color with terms such as “neon eyeliner,” “pastel eyeliner,” and “colourful hair dye” all seeing significant growth in searches in recent years.
For eyebrows, it’s their time to shine in 2021. The biggest increase in searches in the last year has been for “brow lamination” with a growth of 1,495%. Similarly, the term “soap brows” has seen a rise of 381%, and “eyebrow slits men” has been searched for 212% more than in 2019.
The research has also highlighted how the UK’s admiration continues to grow for natural beauty with terms such as “fake freckles makeup” seeing an increase of 180% in the last year. While some things may be uncertain over the next twelve months, one thing to be sure about is that 2021 is the year to embrace natural beauty.
To find out more about the UK’s top beauty trends, please visit The Body Shop’s research here.
