22-07-2025
‘Butter Skin' Is the Soft-Focus Glow Trend Every Celebrity Is Trying
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If you're on social media, you're likely familiar with the term 'butter skin.' For the uninitiated, the trend—which celebrates a smooth, butter-like complexion—has been making waves on TikTok, where creators demonstrate how to achieve the soft-focus finish through precise makeup techniques, seamless application, and targeted skin care steps. Beauty experts now predict it will soon overtake the glossy, 'glass skin' and donut-esque looks that have long dominated our feeds.
And with Google searches on the rise—Google Trends reports more than 300,000 searches in the past month alone—and with videos multiplying, butter skin is poised to become our latest skin care-makeup fascination.
Case in point: The fledgling trend has made its way onto the red carpet, where soft-focus skin dominates this year. Everyone from Elle Fanning and Margaret Qualley to Anok Yai and Mikey Madison has embraced the softer aesthetic, eschewing the high-shine complexions often associated with red-carpet beauty.
Instead, the stars opted for natural radiance. The result was neither overly matte and one-dimensional nor ultra-illuminated and glossy, but hydrated, fresh, and smooth. Since then, famous faces such as Daisy Edgar-Jones and Dakota Johnson have also been making a case for skipping the supernatural glow in favor of a softer finish.
'The butter skin makeup trend is all about achieving a smooth, creamy, and radiant complexion that looks as soft and even as butter,' says Chanel makeup artist Anna Payne. 'Unlike the ultra-dewy glass-skin trend, butter skin has a more natural, satin-like finish—it's hydrated and glowing but never overly shiny.'
Skin care, as always, is the first step in recreating the trend. 'To achieve this look, start with a rich, nourishing moisturizer—Payne recommends Chanel's Sublimage La Crème Texture Suprême—as it creates a buttery-soft base. Then apply concealer only where needed to keep the finish fresh and skin-like,' she says.
Aim for skin that feels nourished, not slick. Use a gentle exfoliating toner, and steer clear of oil-based or overly mattifying formulas. Finish with a hydrating serum followed by a rich moisturizer.
Makeup-wise, skip glosses, highlighters, and ultra-dewy finishes—as well as heavy matte powders—and reach for lighter, serum-like textures: think skin tints, tinted moisturizers, or foundations with a soft-focus or velvet finish. Lock everything in with an invisible setting powder such as Hourglass Vanish Pressed Powder.
A cream bronzer can help you nail the soft finish. 'Warm up the face with a cream bronzer, blending it on the high points where the sun naturally hits and softening the edges with your foundation brush for a seamless look,' says Payne. She adds that you can finish with a tinted lip balm and a cream blush.
Butter skin is showing up on the runway as well—see Giorgio Armani's fall/winter 2025 show, where models' complexions looked butter-soft and radiant, and Hermès's ethereal glow. Whether it's the runway, the red carpet, or TikTok's latest obsession with delicious beauty terms, expect to see even more of this trend this season.
