So, you managed to nab tickets to the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour? Well done — we're genuinely thrilled for you! With only a few weeks to go until Swift finally lands in the country for her sell-out tour, there’s one thing you should now be turning your attention to: what you’re going to wear, and equally important, how you’re going to accessorise with a beauty look that embodies your favourite era (or eras).
Swift’s albums each have distinct aesthetics and energies to them, which makes them all fertile ground for creating an individualistic beauty 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.
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For this story, I’ll assume you already have your outfit for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour sorted, but will give you tips on how to turn up the volume on your look through beauty.
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 is a reflection of 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-one fans from channelling her style from this time.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Taylor Swift Era
The most obvious hallmarks of Swift’s style at this time were her long curly hair, white boho dresses, cowboy boots, and glittery acoustic guitar. Her makeup was kept simple and youthful, with a slightly tinted glossy lip balm, and tight-lined eye makeup, plus a whisper of blush across her cheekbones. The key colour 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.
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.
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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 so early on in her career — when she was just 19! This was the era when Swift started to break out of the 'country music darling' mould 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.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Fearless Era
Gold, gold and more gold. On the North American leg of the Eras tour, Swift trots around the stage wearing a fringed gold mini dress, paired 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 and bronzed base and sparkling eye makeup (see: latte makeup for some additional inspiration and tutorials). As for the hair, wear it out so you can also toss it around as you belt out all the words to your favourite songs — and finish your look with the number ‘13’ written on the back of your hand.
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 set list, it’s still a worthy choice when pulling together your beauty look for the concert.
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Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Speak Now Era
Purple is the colour 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, and since her 2024 shows are coming to Australia in the summer, there’s no reason you can’t embrace this idea in your look (just be sure to use a sweat-proof product to write with).
Speak Now Era Beauty Ideas
Embrace the whimsy of the Speak Now era with blown-out purple eyeshadow, a dainty but sharp winged eyeliner, and rosy lip. Swift’s curls transitioned from tight ringlets to side-swept and uniform mermaid waves in this era, but if you have a natural wave to your hair, air-dried may be best.
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.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The RED Era
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The colour 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 was very reflective of 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 favourite everyday makeup routine — it’s Swift’s own signature for a reason. To amp up the RED vibes, the key is to accessorise with sunglasses (cat-eye or red heart-shaped, of course) and a hat (either a black bowler hat or a rust-coloured 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 honour 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”, “Bad Blood” (the list goes on, and on, and on). It’s regarded as a favourite album amongst many Swifties and non-Swifties alike, thanks to seemingly endless list of catchy songs.
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Colours, 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 to the album cover, pastel blue is the obvious most dominant colour 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 show stopper. Starting with waved hair (we’d suggest tonged hair, brushed out to look more relaxed), a winged liner, and red lip, you can add an ombre 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-coloured accents to the side, in favour of a darker and moodier, no-fucks-given vibe.
Colours, 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, greys and anything sparkly in this colour family (if we can call it that) are on for Reputation. Snake motifs were also huge during this era, so naturally, the colour green is not only acceptable, but 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 of Lover. It was the first album she owned herself after her departure from Big Machine Records and Swift honours this album with six songs at the top of the Eras tour setlist. This is particularly meaningful to the lovers who never got to see this album performed live after LoverFest was cut short due to the pandemic. Dates were never announced for Australia, but fans of course held out hope.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Lover Era
Pastel rainbow is the colour 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, coloured glitters, and rhinestones.
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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 coloured 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.
If you’re feeling really adventurous, consider adding a temporary blue colour to your hair for a dip-dye effect like Swift did on the cover of the album. Swift’s hair during this era was long and choppy, 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 24 July 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.
Colours, 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.
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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. To stop your green eye look from looking too Reputation, add flower and leaf motifs, and leave your hair in loose, tousled waves.
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 and 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 weren’t able to stop writing songs when putting together Folklore, and thus, Evermore was born.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Evermore Era
This album marked a continuation of the earthy “folklorian woods” theme, with an autumnal and cosy energy that is admittedly a little bit tough to emulate for the Eras tour in an Australian summer. 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 colours are perfect for an Evermore makeup look: so, an orange-toned matte lipstick with a matchy orange blush are 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 TikToker. 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.
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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.
Colours, Themes & Styles Of The Midnights Era
There are two distinct styles that equally represent the Midnights era. First, the more literal interpretation of an inky night sky with glittering silver stars, and second, “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 favoured a single-coloured lavender eyeshadow, with a cream highlight over 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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