At the 2026 Emmys, stars from Nicole Kidman to Zendaya traded heavy contour for skin that still looked like skin with minimalist makeup looks.
Zendaya’s pixie cut at the 2026 Emmys wasn’t new. Her hairstylist, Coree Moreno, had cut it “a few weeks” earlier, part of a shorter-hair transition Zendaya had been building since a bixie cut at the Oscars in March and a fuller pixie debut at New York Fashion Week the day before the Emmys. For the red carpet, Moreno kept it “sleek around the perimeter with airy, piecey texture,” he said of the cut, while makeup artist Ernesto Casillas built the face around the crystals on her gown, using a pearlescent highlighter instead of a heavier base for a finish In Style described as a callback to the shine-first makeup of the late 1990s.
“Subtle glamour” reigned supreme at this year’s Emmys, as stars traded “over-the-top, mile-long lashes and traditional red carpet mega-makeup” for something quieter.
The skin-first looks that defined the Emmys red carpet
Carey Mulligan, making her Emmys debut in a sculptural gown from The Row, wore what Marie Claire’s red carpet team called minimal makeup, her hair pulled into a soft chignon. Nicole Kidman, back at the Emmys for the first time in nine years, wore a deliberately undone low bun with curtain bangs, flushed pink cheeks and a glossy peachy lip. Claire Danes paired a sleek, side-parted bob with skin left soft and illuminated, rosy at the cheek. Sarah Snook wore a dewier finish than the cooler polish she wore during her “Succession” years, and Olivia Munn’s makeup artist with what the outlet called a glass-skin glow.
“I wanted her to feel like the best version of herself, with a magnifying glass over her beauty,” Erin Ayanian Monroe, Elle Fanning’s makeup artist, said, using a rose-tinted balm as both blush and highlighter for a flush that read more like cold air than cosmetics. Chase Infiniti, whose gown was constructed from thousands of tiny metal spheres, kept the rest of her look to a soft roseate eye, dewy skin and a sheer gloss. Julia Garner paired her look with neutral makeup that WhoWhatWear called an elevated take on the clean girl aesthetic, and Florence Pugh, debuting at the Emmys in Vivienne Westwood, skipped a heavier blush in favor of bronzed, sun-warmed cheeks. Quinta Brunson and her “Abbott Elementary” co-star Janelle James showed up in white gowns with matching dewy skin so luminous that Marie Claire described it as impossibly so, while Grace Gummer, one of Meryl Streep’s daughters, wore what her team, working with Dior, called a glowy, less-is-more face.
Emmy Rossum paired voluminous curls, styled with Olaplex products, with a softly blotted lip, while Sarah Pidgeon wore a whisper of sparkle from a Chanel eyeshadow palette and finished her waves with K18 hair oil. Cailee Spaeny kept her eyes clean, with a pop of pink on her cheeks and a blurred red lip, Marie Claire reported. Grace Gummer’s sister, Louisa Jacobson, kept her own styling equally pared back, hair swept away from her face with barely any color added. Mariska Hargitay, hosting the ceremony, wore natural waves with a nude lip, and Selena Gomez went with natural glam and soft mermaid waves. Shailene Woodley, back at the Emmys for the first time in nearly a decade, wore what Women.com called a pared-back beauty look, in keeping with a red carpet history that already includes several makeup-free appearances she has spoken about preferring. Not every look went the same direction: Joy Sunday matched her beaded gown with sparkling silver eyeshadow, color that stayed concentrated on the eyes rather than spread across the whole face.
What’s driving the ‘no makeup'”‘ trend
Pamela Anderson has turned up to most of her recent red carpet appearances without a made-up face at all. “I don’t do the ‘no makeup makeup,'” she told People last year. “I do the ‘no makeup.'” Her makeup artist, Philippa Louise, has said the appeal is partly practical, since less product means less risk of it creasing into fine lines by the end of a long night, whatever primer sits underneath. Her manicurist, Kim Truong, takes the same approach with Anderson’s hands, aiming for what she called “healthy nails, glowing skin and intentional self-care.”
“2026 skin is breathable, natural, and alive,” Nikki DeRoest, a celebrity makeup artist and the founder of Ciele Cosmetics, told The Zoe Report. “I’d say this is the new ‘no makeup’ makeup look, but refined. It’s not about full coverage, it’s about letting your skin move, glow, and show through.” Charlie Riddle, Stila’s head of artistry, said that the same principle applies to base makeup broadly this year, calling it a “faux filter” effect. “How you apply your base matters just as much as the formula,” he said. “That’s what creates that seamless, skin-like effect.”
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