Somewhere on TikTok this week, someone soundtracked their makeup tutorial with London After Midnight and every alt girl's algorithm has been haunted ever since. Trad goth is having a proper resurgence: stark white skin, blood or ink black lips, and liner so sharp it could open your post. No pastel accents, no glitter, just the classic deathrock uniform our scene was built on. 🦇
What Actually Makes a Look Trad Goth
Trad (short for traditional) goth pulls straight from the first wave: think Siouxsie Sioux, Robert Smith and the London After Midnight crowd. Where mall goth leans glittery and cybergoth goes neon, trad goth stays severe. The formula is simple: a ghost pale base, deeply hollowed eyes, and a mouth painted the colour of either a fresh bruise or a fresh kill. It's less "costume" and more "uniform", which is exactly why it keeps coming back.
Step One: Prime a Ghostly Canvas
Trad goth makeup lives or dies on how well your base holds up under matte white powders and heavy liner, so don't skip skin prep. Smooth on our Vitamin Rich Miracle Moisturiser & Primer first. It grips product all night without going cakey, which matters when you're layering this much drama onto one face.
Step Two: Build a Porcelain, Pale Base
Skip the bronzer entirely (this is the one look where you actively want to look like you haven't seen daylight in a decade). Colour correct any warmth with our Second Skin Concealer, choosing a shade a touch lighter than your natural tone, and buff it out with our BASEBLEND Pro Makeup Sponge for an even, second skin finish rather than a mask.
Step Three: Sink the Eyes in Smoke
This is where trad goth earns its drama. Take the darkest matte shade from our Tainted Palette and smudge it right into the socket, under the lower lash line, and slightly past the outer corner. You're not aiming for a blended sunset here, you want hollow, haunted, sunken. The wine toned and blackened shades in this palette were basically made for this exact look.
Step Four: Draw a Razor Sharp Wing
Trad goth liner has one rule: precision. Reach for our Smoulder Eyeliner Pencil in Black and take it along the upper lash line into a long, flicked wing that could cut glass. The built in sharpener keeps the tip fine enough for that severe, deathrock line, and the creamy formula won't drag or skip no matter how many times you go back over it for maximum opacity.
Step Five: Paint the Lips in Blood or Black
Finish with the mouth, and pick your era. For the classic deep red deathrock lip, our Air Matte Liquid Lipstick in CarnEvil gives you a deep, dark red with a muted brown undertone that reads as properly vintage rather than Halloween costume, and it's waterproof for up to sixteen hours of dancing. Prefer something even more sinister? Our Eternal Lip Stain in Inferno delivers a full, bloody opaque colour with a lightweight, non sticky wear that won't budge by last orders.
Clean up any fallout and sharpen your edges with our Flawless Concealer Brush, dabbing a touch more concealer under the eyes and around the lip line so everything stays crisp rather than smudged.
Make It Yours
Trad goth rewards commitment more than perfection. A slightly wobbly wing or a smudge of black liner under the eye only adds to the "just crawled out of a crypt in 1985" energy, so don't stress about making it flawless. Play the darkwave record of your choice, take your time with the eyes, and let the rest fall into place.
All of the products above are vegan and cruelty free, as everything at Jolie Beauty always is. Tag us in your trad goth transformations, we love seeing how you make the classics your own. 🖤