Are We Going Au Naturel?

We’ve done clean-girl. Now we’re going gloriously feral—and it looks good on us.

We’ve done the natural nail. We’ve lived through the clean girl aesthetic. But are we on the brink of something utterly feral this season? A look that blends polka-dot dresses with clean girl makeup and hair twisted in a claw clip that you grabbed in a second?

I’m talking about the same women who have religiously threaded their brows for years suddenly letting them grow in, no gel, no pencil, no apologies. The Pilates moms who’ve booked highlights and blowouts since the late ’90s, now walking around with their original hair color like it’s a new luxury. And calling all the devout manicurists! Have we really traded almond tips for short, Euro-style nails that look like they’ve just been bitten out of boredom during a 4-hour train delay to Paris.

As a self-proclaimed trend-immune girly (with a suspiciously strong passion for writing about them), I sit here, sipping my two-cream coffee, watching the matcha-drinking, Dubai-chocolate-hoarding influencers surrender to a new wave—one that changes the rules entirely.

Maybe I notice because it’s refreshing to watch influencers trade in trends for their actual voice and style. Or maybe it’s because I can smell a shift before it unravels and the masses are suddenly either wearing labubus… or, in this case, no makeup at all.

If I’m honest though, it’s a rare thrill to see someone reclaim their original identity—any fragment of it, even—after years of being seduced by glossy September issues into styles that were never truly theirs. Authenticity, right now, feels intoxicating and yet utterly well-timed in this carbon-copy culture.

It’s not screaming for attention, it’s not shoving another “must-have” down your throat—but maybe the real trend is in people catching onto how nice it is to remember your own face, your virgin hair, and your gloriously feral nails before the world convinced you they needed fixing. It’s the first trend in a long time that feels like the fashion equivalent of a breath of fresh air.

Maybe you’ve given in to the questionable barrel jeans, but you ditched the eyelash extensions. Maybe you hang the labubu over the edge of your purse, but you’re carrying it with bare nails. And even though Miu Miu bucket hats and micro-sunglasses creep into every shot on social media, maybe—finally—you’ve decided to let your roots grow out under the hat.

Here’s the thing: part of what makes someone magnetic is the raw beauty God gave them. Thick brows, thin brows. Dark hair, light hair (straight or curly). But not all personal style is algorithm-approved, yet it’s the only “trend” that actually gives you back to yourself.

So if it takes a trend to make us finally claim our own good looks? Then thank God for this one.

What’s your version of ‘au naturel’ right now?

Are you letting your brows grow in, going back to your natural hair color, or ditching the nails? Comment below!