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After booking a concert, we understand how dreadfully long the wait is until the big day — especially if it's a T-Swift one. Whether you're jet-setting to see Taylor Swift in another country or waiting patiently for her to return to the U.S., we've created your Eras' tour outfit — a makeup look embodying your favorite era (or eras).
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Swift’s albums have distinct aesthetics and energies, making them all fertile ground for creating a beautiful look that feels distinctly you and true to your chosen era. Perhaps most excitingly, transforming into the physical manifestation of a distinct Swift era is a fun opportunity to experiment in the makeup department.
Though Swift’s aesthetic has changed throughout her many eras, a few signatures remain fairly constant throughout the red lip, winged eyeliner, and chunky fringe. Outside those bounds, the color (and glitter) options are endless. So scroll ahead to find the crucial beauty tips on turning up the volume on your Taylor Swift concert look.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You're A Taylor Swift Fan
Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album was released when she was just 17 years old and reflects her country music roots. There aren’t currently any songs from this album on the tour’s set list, aside from the odd surprise song, but that shouldn’t stop Day 1 fans from channeling her style from this time.
Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The Taylor Swift Era
The most obvious hallmarks of Swift’s style then were her long golden curls, white dresses, cowboy boots, and glittery acoustic guitar. Her makeup was kept simple and youthful, with a slightly tinted glossy lip balm, tight-lined eye makeup, and a whisper of blush across her cheekbones. The key color for the Taylor Swift album is a turquoise blue-green, so you could consider including that in your eye look — and a sparkly eye never goes amiss.
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Taylor Swift Era Beauty Ideas
Curling your hair into tight ringlets and going heavy on the black eyeliner will go a long way to capturing the Taylor Swift era in your beauty look, but we'll award bonus points for glitter or rhinestones on the eye and a subtle pink gloss. If you're not a fan of tight lining, you could also opt for a green eyeliner, like in the photo above.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Fearless Fan
It's hard to believe that some of the most iconic and enduring Taylor Swift songs, like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me," arrived early in her career — when she was just 19! This was the era when Swift started to break out of the "country music darling" mold and test the waters of the pop world that she now dominates. Fearless is also the first album to be re-recorded and re-released, kicking off the Taylor's Version journey.
Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The Fearless Era
Gold, gold, and more gold. On the North American leg of the Eras tour, Swift trotted around the stage wearing a fringed gold mini dress with rhinestone cowboy boots to fully embrace the iconic aesthetic from one of her most beloved albums.
Fearless Era Beauty Ideas
We suggest you embrace all things gold with your Fearless-inspired beauty look, with a dewy, bronzed base and sparkling eye makeup (see latte makeup for additional inspiration and tutorials). As for the hair, wear it out so you can toss it around as you belt out all the words to your favorite songs — and finish your look with the number "13" written on the back of your hand.
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Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Speak Now Fan
Speak Now is all about whimsy and romance, and though songs from this album don’t feature heavily on the setlist, it’s still a worthy choice when pulling together your beauty look.
Colors, Themes & Styles Of The Speak Now Era
Purple is the color for the Speak Now era, and if you couple a purple-heavy beauty look with a purple dress, there'll be no doubt which era you're embodying. During the North America, Australia, and Asia legs of her Speak Now tour in 2011 and 2012, Swift wrote lyrics and famous quotes on her arm before every show to be a "mood ring" of sorts.
Speak Now Era Beauty Ideas
Embrace the whimsy of the Speak Now era with blown-out purple eyeshadow, dainty but sharp-winged eyeliner, and rosy lips. Swift’s curls transitioned from tight ringlets to side-swept and uniform mermaid waves in this era but air-dried may be best if you have a natural wave to your hair.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A RED Fan
RED gifted us with iconic songs that even non-Taylor fans would know all the words to — like “22,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” and, of course, “All Too Well” — all of which feature on the Eras setlist. If there was any doubt that Swift was a pop icon, this album firmly cemented her place in the genre.
Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The RED Era
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The color red was obviously a key theme of the RED era, though that’s not all there is to it. When the album was first released in 2012, the Tumblr era had already kicked off, and Swift’s style reflected this time. She debuted her now-signature heavy fringe and high-waisted shorts, Mary Janes, and cat-eye sunglasses were all staples in her wardrobe. Perhaps one of her most iconic tour looks of all time — if I may be so bold — was during her RED world tour: the circus ringleader jacket.
RED Era Beauty Ideas
There are two ways to pull together a beauty look befitting of the RED era. The first is to simply add a classic red lip to your favorite everyday makeup routine — it's Swift's signature for a reason. To amp up the RED vibes, the key is to accessorize with sunglasses (cat-eye or red heart-shaped, of course) and a hat (either a black bowler hat or a rust-colored train-driver hat, just like Swift wore on the album cover of Taylor's Version). We wouldn't say no to you also debuting a new fringe, in honor of Swift's style overhaul during this era.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A 1989 Fan
The release of 1989 catapulted Swift into the pop music stratosphere with bangers like “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” and “Bad Blood” (the list goes on and on and on). It’s regarded as a favorite album among many Swifties and non-Swifties alike, thanks to a seemingly endless list of catchy songs.
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Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The 1989 Era
Swift’s own makeup during the 1989 era was pared back, with glowing skin and her two signatures: a black winged liner and “red lip classic.” But when we look at the album cover, pastel blue is the obvious most dominant color of the era, and it belongs in more than just your outfit. At the time, Swift was still rocking her chunky fringe (are you sensing a theme?) and had cut her long locks into a choppy, mid-length bob, which she emulated on the cover of her Taylor’s Version re-release, with her hair in waves and clipped up into a faux bob.
1989 Era Beauty Ideas
No 1989 beauty look is complete without a “red lip classic,” but what you choose to do beyond this can be either subtle or…a showstopper. Starting with wavy hair (we’d suggest tonged hair, brushed out to look more relaxed), a winged liner, and a red lip, you can add an ombré blue eyeshadow that fades as it reaches your brows (to emulate the blue sky on Taylor’s Version) or get creative and paint on seagulls or a Polaroid frame around one eye.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Reputation Fan
Reputation was the era when Swift tossed the candy-colored accents to the side in favor of a darker, moodier, no-fucks-given vibe.
Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The Reputation Era
Reputation is for the grunge girlies, the girlies with attitude, and anyone who wants to add some serious edge to their look. Blacks, grays, and anything sparkly in this color family (if we can call it that) are on for Reputation. Snake motifs were also giant during this era, so naturally, green is acceptable and encouraged.
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Reputation Era Beauty Ideas
A black and silver smokey eye is a no-brainer for the Reputation era — the more blown out, the better. Adding black and silver rhinestones around the eye (perhaps in a snake or serpentine shape, depending on how steady your hand is) and a red glossy lip will have you looking undeniably rep. For your hair, big and bold barrel curls will give you the drama you need, but adding a black velvet headband or silver hair crystals or opting for a wet look around the hairline will take it up another notch.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Lover Fan
Taylor Swift emerged from her Reputation era reborn and dove head-first into the pastel pop album Lover. It was the first album she owned after she departed from Big Machine Records, and Swift honors this album with six songs at the top of the Eras tour setlist. This is particularly meaningful to the lovers who never saw this album performed live after LoverFest was cut short due to the pandemic.
Colors, Themes & Styles Of The Lover Era
Pastel rainbow is the color theme of the Lover era, so we suggest adding as many of the romantic tones to your beauty look as you can handle. It’s also the era for bedazzling, so make sure you stock up on bright eyeliner, colored glitters, and rhinestones.
Lover Era Beauty Ideas
The most popular way to embrace the era is by drawing a love heart around your eye — ideally with a sparkly eye pencil or glued-on glitter. This is also the time for trying out colored blushes, with bright pinks, purples, and blues blended out from the eye and around your cheekbones to add a dramatic yet dreamy effect to the skin.
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If you’re feeling really adventurous, consider adding a temporary blue color to your hair for a dip-dye effect, as Swift did on the album cover. Swift’s hair was long and choppy during this era, so adding a spritz of dry texture spray to loose waves should do the trick.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Folklore Fan
Folklore was released with less than 24 hours notice on July 24, 2020, and marked a distinct deviation from the pop bangers she'd become associated with. Perhaps it's the fact that this album was released in the earlier months of the pandemic and, therefore, may not have been produced through the lens of what would translate to a stadium tour.
Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The Folklore Era
Folklore-era beauty has two speeds and two speeds only: ethereal forest fairy and dazzling “mirrorball.” The prevailing beauty aesthetic for Folklore lovers is either earthy greens and browns and leaf motifs or silver glitter liners and packed-on silver eyeshadow. Or a combination of both.
Folklore Era Beauty Ideas
If you don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of new beauty products, we suggest embracing the mirrorball and opting for a monochromatic silver eye look, plus flushed cheeks that make you look like you just came from a jaunt in the forest with woodland creatures.
To embrace the earthier tones, blend a matte brown shadow over your lid before blending over deep greens to the upper lid and lower lash line. Add flower and leaf motifs, and leave your hair in loose, tousled waves to stop your green eye look from looking too Reputation.
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Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re An Evermore Fan
Considered a sister album to Folklore, Evermore was also released as a surprise album in 2020. Like the former, Swift abandoned the long and intricately planned album rollout she had become so known for. When announcing the album on Instagram, Swift admitted that she and her collaborators simply couldn’t stop writing songs when putting together Folklore, and, thus, Evermore was born.
Colors, Themes & Styles Of The Evermore Era
This album continued the earthy “folklorian woods” theme, with a cozy, autumnal energy. Naturally, your beauty choices are where the Evermore magic really happens, with “gold rush” accents, “pinned-up hair,” and ivy eyeliner.
Evermore Era Beauty Ideas
Autumnal, warm colors are perfect for an Evermore makeup look, so an orange-toned matte lipstick with a matchy orange blush is a good start. Add an iridescent highlighter to the tops of your cheekbones, then swipe a dramatic winged eyeliner over a bronzed smokey eye before popping your hair back in a braid. If you prefer to wear your hair out, simply braid two sections at the front, like this TikTok. The beauty of embracing your Evermore era is that you can also disregard the above and pare it all back for a barely there orange-toned look — all in the name of looking ethereal.
Hair & Makeup Ideas For The Eras Tour If You’re A Midnights Fan
For Swift’s latest album, Midnights, she tells the story of 13 sleepless nights throughout her life. At the time, she described it as a “journey through terrors and sweet dreams” and these contradictory stories are reflected in the outfits and beauty looks that define the era.
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Colors, Themes, & Styles Of The Midnights Era
Two distinct styles equally represent the Midnights era. First is the literal interpretation of an inky night sky with glittering silver stars, and second is “lavender haze.”
Midnights Era Beauty Ideas
For the album cover, Swift embraced the moodier night sky energy for her beauty, with a blended, navy smokey eye with a blue reflective eyeshadow topper, paired with flushed cheeks and a blurred red lip. Swift wore two eye makeup looks in the "Lavender Haze" music video: one similar to the above and another that favored a single-colored lavender eyeshadow with a cream highlight over the top. The one non-negotiable? "Draw the cat-eye sharp enough to kill a man."
In case it wasn't obvious, there aren't really any rules when pulling together your beauty look for the Eras Tour because no matter what you wear or how you do your hair, you'll be having an extremely fun night. But hopefully, we've provided some inspo to get you started. Be creative, have fun!
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