How To Recreate 'Butter Skin', The Breakout Beauty Trend At The Oscars
If you're on social media, you'll be familiar with the term 'butter skin'. For the uninitiated the trend, which depicts a smooth, butter-like skin finish, has been making waves online, with TikTokers showing how to recreate the soft-focus look via certain make-up techniques, smooth application and skincare steps, and experts now predicting it to supersede the 'glass skin', glossy and donut-esque finishes which have long been monopolising our feeds.
And with Google searches on the rise (there have been over 300k searches in the last month alone, according to Google Trends), and the videos multiplying, it seems butter skin is poised to become our latest skincare-make-up fascination.
Case in point: the fledgling trend has made its way onto the red carpet, where soft-focused skin dominated at the 2025 Oscars. Everyone from Elle Fanning and Margaret Qualley to Anok Yai and Mikey Madison were all embracing the softer aesthetic, eschewing the high-shine skin that is often reminiscent of red-carpet beauty. Instead, the stars opted for natural radiance – the result wasn't overly matte and one-dimensional nor illuminating and glossy but rather hydrated, fresh and smooth.
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'The butter skin make-up trend is all about achieving a smooth, creamy, and radiant complexion that looks as soft and even as butter,' shares Chanel make-up 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,' she adds.
How to create butter skin
As with everything, skincare is the first port of call for recreating the butter skin trend. 'To achieve this look, start with a rich, nourishing moisturiser, such as SUBLIMAGE La Crème Texture Supreme, which provides the perfect base for a buttery soft complexion. Follow with a sheer layer of Les Beiges Fresh-Water Tint, applying concealer only where needed to maintain a fresh, skin-like effect,' shares Payne.
Make-up wise, eschew glosses, highlighter and dewy finishes as well as any powders that might make it look too matte and opt for lighter, serum-like textures, such as skin tints and tinted moisturisers.
Chanel Sublimage La Creme
Multi-Peptide Rich Cream
Chanel Les Beiges Bronzing Cream
The Brightening Serum
Seamless Skin Enhancing Tint
Revealer Extra Bright Serum Powered Color Corrector
CC Water
True Skin Serum Foundation
A cream bronzer will also help mimic the soft finish too. 'Warm up the face with Les Beiges Bronzing Cream, blending it into the high points where the sun naturally hits and softening the edges with your foundation brush for a seamless look,' shares Payne, adding that you can finish with a tinted lip balm.
Away from the red carpet, it's also started to appear on the runway (see Giorgio Armani's AW25 show, where models' skin looked buttery soft and radiant). Whether it's the runway, the red carpet, or TikTok's latest fascination with delicious beauty terms, we'll be seeing more and more of this trend this season.
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