SEPHORA in Las Vegas

I simply can’t walk past a Sephora, so naturally, I stopped in during my trip to the US in March. Curious about what local consumers were gravitating toward, I did a full lap of the store and asked one of the staff members a few questions.

1) When I asked about preferences between matte and glow textures, the staff member said it was hard to generalize: every customer’s taste was distinctly their own. What was interesting, though, was that even in the heat of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, consumers still prefer dewy makeup.

In practice, however, the go-to approach was to start with a matte foundation as a base, then layer on a setting spray to add shine and complete the glow look. The staff member also wore a semi-matte base with targeted dewy accents, paired with glossy lips and shimmery eyes featuring gold pearl and light brown shadow. This confirms the global makeup trend is also visible on the streets: it has shifted away from committing to a single texture, moving toward layering contrasting textures.

2) On the question of liquid versus cushion foundations, it was striking to learn that liquid products outsold cushions by a wide margin. As it turned out, it wasn’t simply a matter of preference. Cushion foundations were either barely stocked or offered in a limited shade range, leaving shoppers with very little to choose from. That came as something of a shock, given how many customers in Korea reach for their cushion foundation every single day. The staff member said they’d absolutely love to try a cushion foundation if only the right shade were available.

3) The central floor display was dominated by lip liners, matte liquid foundations, and bronzers, while the K-beauty zone was split between the area near the checkout and the skincare section, featuring Sulwhasoo, LANEIGE, INNISFREE, and AESTURA.

As the glow makeup trend that originated in Seoul continues to hold sway in global markets, and as consumers around the world interpret and use products in their own distinct ways, it’s time for us to think carefully about where to focus and what to prioritize. Rather than chasing every appealing trend, this moment calls for a clear-eyed understanding of what global consumers expect from our brand and a deliberate strategy to double down on what we do best and what genuinely sets us apart.

The makeup of the 26 F/W season emphasizes ‘sculptural beauty.’
This season’s runways saw metallic eyes, glassy skin, and smoky eyes emerge as the defining keywords, with a diverse range of looks built around the interplay of contrasting elements.

1. Lacquer-Coated Metallic Eyes

The overall mood of 26 F/W makeup is clean and slick, flowing naturally into elements what evoke winter: snow, silver, metallics, and shimmer texture. Glittering elements remain as essential as ever, evoking the holiday season, but what truly demands attention this season is the evolution of how metallic texture performs. Eye looks built on high-shine silver and chromatic gloss appeared in abundance, moving beyond conventional glitter to emphasize a dimensional, multi-angle reflectivity that shifts with the light. The introduction of metallic effects, combined with graphic liner, gave rise to a new form of eye makeup with an indie-sleaze sensibility — vintage, funky, and defiantly free-spirited.

Where the 22 Fall makeup of four seasons ago elongated holographic color to trace the shape of the eye, this season’s distinction lies in a finish that reads more like a coating applied directly to the skin — densely adhered, high-gloss luminosity.

This signals that metallic texture is no longer confined to the role of an accent color: it is expanding into a visual language for expressing light, texture, and movement. The key direction this season is the pairing of a texture that has evolved from glitter to a film-smooth gloss, anchored in silver, chrome, and icy tones, with either a minimal complexion or a graphic eye.

The silver eye makeup of 26 F/W is reimagined as a sculptural handling of light over a sleekly finished base, elevating makeup itself into a form of texture art.

2. Glassy Skin

A thin-yet-seamless finish with luminosity and translucency intact, captured in the term ‘healthy skin texture,’ has cemented itself as a mega trend, and the center of gravity in makeup is naturally shifting toward the complexion.

This season moves toward elevating the skin itself rather than layering on color, pairing a dewy, luminous base with a glossy or slick-textured lip to unify the overall finish. This trajectory mirrors the hallmarks of K-beauty and extends beyond aesthetics to the way consumers engage with products. Just as ‘K-sweet,’ the Korean-style dessert culture trend, has taken hold in the Japanese market as a consumable experience in its own right, beauty too is expanding into a space where the experience and sensation of using a product matter as much as the product itself. This becomes a meaningful reference point when introducing shifts in existing routines as part of a localization strategy.

The ‘glow skin’ look, seemingly effortless yet deliberately engineered, appeared at major houses like Chanel as a whisper of luminosity and transparent radiance that reads as almost bare-faced, with the core concept being a fusion of no-makeup makeup and wet skin: preserving the skin’s natural texture while giving it the look of light held within. This kind of glassy skin occupies the largest surface area of any look and serves as the base that holds the entire makeup in balance. The key to achieving it lies in layering face products with a high concentration of skincare ingredients in a thin, weightless texture. Since the goal is to build up clarity rather than weigh the skin down for a pure, luminosity finish, using a color-correcting moisture base is recommended. Applying HERA UV Protector Tone-Up in a peach tone lends a healthy, natural flush. In contrast, a lavender tone neutralizes redness or sallowness, completing a refined, naturally luminous complexion.

3. The Main Hero: Blush

The resurgence of classic glam has brought blush back into the spotlight, with color-forward makeup reclaiming its place at the center of the conversation. What sets this iteration apart from the polished glam of the past is its deliberate embrace of imperfection: smudged liner, lips that look naturally undone — an intentional ‘imperfect touch’ that reframes classic glamour as something altogether more sensorial and contemporary.

Within this landscape, blush has transcended its traditional role as a flush of color and claimed its place as the defining element of a look, with its coverage and application growing increasingly bold. Built on a dewy texture that harmonizes with a luminous complexion, it now sweeps across dramatically expanded territory as ‘draping blush,’ originating at the center of the cheek and flowing outward to saturate the entire cheek. In doing so, it naturally melts into the foundation zone, serving to redefine facial structure.

Blush, swept in a rounded bloom around the apple of the cheek, has become the ‘main character’ of the look. Across several Paris collections, cranberry, rose, and red-toned blushes were paired with the lip to express a mood that read as either romantic or punk — a clear indication that color is being pushed further into emotional territory.

Pairing HERA Black Cushion with HERA Reflection Liquid Blush is highly recommended. The soft, semi-matte texture of the Black Cushion blends seamlessly with targeted areas of glow, creating a dimension that elevates the finished look to another level.

4. Iconic Semi Smoky

This season saw the return of smudged liner and blurred shadow, drawing on the aesthetics of the ‘90s and early 2000s and aligning with the grunge glam trend. The key lies in embracing intentionally undone, imperfect application over the flawlessly blended smoky eye of years past. Deep tones anchored in brown and black dominate the palette, with the gradient weighted more heavily above the iris to give the eyes a sharper, more architecturally defined quality. Against the strong emphasis of the eye, the skin was rendered in a pore-minimizing semi-matte or a soft satin texture to maximize contrast. A desaturated lip completes the overall balance of the glam look.

HERA’s Quad Eye Color Shadow delivers a tailored, iconic quality through its well-calibrated palette, bringing a sense of refinement to the semi-smoky look without sacrificing its edge.