“Love Thy Selfie” reads a large black billboard towering over one of Utah’s sprawling highways. The advertisement is for Utah Beauty Lab and Laser, a med spa owned by Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member Heather Gay. It’s one of the many medspa signs drivers will see as they pass through the state.
Welcome to the big business of Utah beauty. In 2017, Salt Lake City ranked number two in most plastic surgeons per capita, second only to Miami. Rachel Olsen, an aesthetic nurse injector and owner of RO Aesthetics in the Salt Lake City area of Millcreek, speculates that there are ten other medspas within ten miles of her own. And Gay isn’t the only Utah Housewives cast member to venture into beauty: Angie Katsanevas owns her own hair salon while Whitney Rose recently started a skincare line. The list goes on.
Utah’s beauty obsession isn’t new. During the 2010s, beauty influencers hailing from The Beehive State captured our timelines and built big followings from their long mermaid hair, tanned skin, and fluffy eyelashes. Amber Fillerup-Clark, founder of the hair care line Dae, rose to prominence with her blog Barefoot Blonde and amassed more than a million followers on Instagram who obsessed over her long, dirty blonde hair and in-depth braid tutorials. Similarly, lifestyle blogger Cara Loren went viral for her flawless spray tan and has since founded the workout app The Burn as well as her own athleisure line Cara Loren Active. And when fashion blogger Rachel Parcell shared wedding photos on her site Pink Peonies, her bridal braid ended up on Pinterest boards across the internet. Years later, she was able to drive a million dollars in sales to Nordstrom’s site during their sale.
Today, a new crop of Utahns are bringing the aesthetic to the next generation. But instead of bloggers, it’s mostly TikTok influencers and reality TV stars driving the shift. Influencer Emilie Kiser, who has more than 3 million followers on TikTok, is known for sharing videos of her heatless curl tutorial and morning routine (pilates is mandatory). The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast members Taylor Frankie Paul and Whitney Leavitt both had Instagram followings before joining the reality TV show, but their numbers soared after the premiere.
In the past, coastal cities like New York City and Los Angeles have set the trends in the beauty industry. But thanks to the popularity of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the widespread use of social media, the hyper-feminine, done-but-not-overdone vibe that characterizes Utah beauty has emerged as highly influential for women across the country.
Personally, I’m no stranger to Utah’s beauty influence. My Pinterest boards from high school are full of Clarke’s tutorials and Loren’s workout routines. I own at least three different satin heatless curling rods but have yet to perfect Kiser’s bouncy blowout. I’ve been watching Utah Housewives since Mary Cosby accused Jen Shah of smelling like a hospital (season one) and panic ordered Kerastase Nectar Thermique Nutritive Heat Styling Protecting Cream after watching Lisa Barlow recommend it during season five.
“Utah is full of beautiful people,” says Savanah Norman, a professional makeup artist based in Salt Lake City, “and everybody wants to look like them.”
Whitney Leavitt, beautiful person and internet-appointed villain of season one of Mormon Wives, believes the Utah look is unique to the state. “The look is a blend of high glam and natural elegance. We have radiant skin, but also big lashes and bouncy hair,” she says, “When you’re going to the grocery store, everyone is super done up, but we also want to look effortless.”
Beauty professionals agree: the ‘Utah Look’ is real, and it is in high demand. “You can always tell when a girl on Instagram is from Utah,” says Peyton Warr, a professional makeup artist for Secret Lives. The tells? “Usually white, blonde, thin, long hair full of extensions, big eyelashes, dewy skin, and light makeup,” says Mariah Wellman, a communications professor at Michigan State University and influencer expert.
At the end of the day, effortlessness sets the Utah look apart. “The goal is to look natural,” explains Wellman, “However, the goalposts for natural are shifting. In Utah, looking ‘natural’ requires more and more procedures.” See: hair extensions, lip filler, spray tans, Botox, lash extensions, and boob jobs.
Alyssa Grenfell, a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and content creator, describes the look as “ethereal” and “almost fairy-like.”
“The vibe that people are going for is more of a you-but-better look,” says Warr, “We were into the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ before that was an aesthetic.”
“In Utah, it’s all about looking polished, youthful, and put together 24/7,” Leavitt says, “There’s a commitment to appearance and it’s hard not to fulfill that especially when you grow up there.”
For example, Warr and Norman’s clients most frequently ask for a “soft glam” look. “It’s the same amount of makeup as full glam, but the tones are softer. Instead of using a black liner, I would use a brown to make it look more natural,” Warr explains. Norman’s clients specifically ask for “perfected skin” and request she avoids a “cakey or heavy” look.
Cosmetic surgery, however, might be where the Utah look is the strongest. Dr. Devan Griner, a board certified plastic surgeon at Peak Plastic Surgery in Draper, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, gets clients from all over the country clamoring for a natural result.
“The number one thing that I hear from them is that they don’t want to look ‘Hollywood.’ They want to keep people guessing,” he says.
“We want to look like we’re minimalists,” says Leavitt, “but we’re definitely not.”
Their subtle work has started to become synonymous with the state. “Utah is a really sophisticated place to get things done,” says Olsen, “We are home to some of the top performing medspas in the nation.”
This ‘natural’ aesthetic extends beyond makeup and plastic surgery. “Utah Hair” went viral on TikTok shortly after season one of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered with tutorials racking up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. The hairstyle is long (usually past the shoulders), thick (usually padded by extensions), loose waves culminating in straighter ends. The end result looks unfussy, but it requires laborious styling.
Secret Lives star Leavitt categorizes her attitude toward beauty as somewhere in the middle on the Utah scale. She admits her full beauty routine is extensive. She puts SPF on her face every morning regardless of the season, and she wakes up earlier than her children to lay under her $1,750 Celluma Pro red light every day without exception. Yet her look is arguably the most laid back of her castmates. While the rest of them carried waist-length wefts, Leavitt stuck to an unusual-for-Utah chin skimming bob. “Fake hair is where I draw the line,” she says, “It’s uncomfortable. I feel the same about lashes.”
Grenfell finds it difficult to separate the state’s aesthetic from its dominant religion. “Mormons often get tied to the tradwife movement, because their aesthetic is so traditionally feminine: blonde hair, a large chest, and very thin,” she says, “In New York, girls might aspire to look like Julia Fox. In Utah, Hannah Neeleman [aka Ballerina Farm] is the standard.”
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During the past year, Utah’s impact on the beauty industry is unavoidable. The trends have shifted away from exaggerated enhancements in favor of quieter alternatives. Phrases like “old money beauty” and “quiet luxury” have slipped their way into salons and spas across the country as women are seeking a more pared-back approach to aesthetics.
In a 2024 piece, The Hollywood Reporter dubbed this change “The De-Kardashification of America” but perhaps a more apt name would be “The Beau-tah Effect.”
This shift is in part due to the advancements Utah has made in the space and their level of influence in the broader beauty community. Dr. Griner points out that many surgical procedures and techniques were pioneered in Utah before making their way into other offices across the country.
“People don’t usually come in asking for a trendy procedure,” he says, “Usually they want a natural looking result and we work with them to make it happen.”
The evidence of the state’s influence is everywhere. Leavitt believes it is about time the state got the recognition it deserves. “Utah has been under the radar for way too long,” she says. “This is where the brow game started. This is where the brow laminating trend started. Spray tans are basically a part of the religion at this point. Almost all the original influencers started in Utah.”
For example, the entire “Get Ready With Me,” or GRWM, genre of video was spearheaded by Utah creators on TikTok, notes Warr.
Leavitt isn’t wrong. For example, brow lamination, the treatment that keeps your eyebrows fluffy for weeks, may not have been created in Utah, but experts credit Utah influencers in making it popular. Its hashtag currently has over 400,000 impressions on TikTok and counting.
The truth is in the numbers. Currently, every cast member from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has more Instagram followers than Salt Lake City has residents. As for what is next in beauty, we suggest tuning into season two.
Anneke Knot is a freelance writer based in San Francisco, California. Follow her at @annekeknot.
The post Utah Beauty: Inside the State’s Aesthetic Influence appeared first on Glamour.
