Republican makeup,[1][2] alsoMAGA makeup,[3]MAGA beauty[4][5] orconservative girl makeup,[6] is apejorative term used for the way women who support or work forDonald Trump apply theircosmetics. It is depicted as wearing makeup, such aseyeliner,mascara,rouge andfoundation, so heavily as to make its use obvious. Republican Congresswomen such asNancy Mace and women working in thesecond Trump administration likeKristi Noem, as well as severalFox News commentators, have been cited as examples.
Suzanne Lambert, a comedian onTikTok, is credited with popularizing the concept through a video she made shortly after Trump's victory in theNovember 2024 presidential election. After noticing it on women who indicated they supported Trump when leaving comments on her previous videos, she attempted to replicate the style with her own makeup. She told viewers the goal was a "dusty, drained" look.[6] Later, other Internet personalities with progressive political leanings who focused on onlinebeauty advice made their own videos with their take on the look. Trump's press secretaryKaroline Leavitt posted a video of her makeup routine on social media that showed her using some of the techniques Lambert had mocked.[7]
SomeRepublican women online have responded, criticizing Lambert and those who ridiculed the style as being hypocritical for allegedly otherwise preaching tolerance of others' choices. Others have countered by mocking "liberal makeup", focusing on the blue-dyed hair ofDemocratic congresswomanRosa DeLauro. There have also been criticisms from the left. Academics andfashion writers have also written critiques, observing that the Republican makeup look embodies an exaggerated aesthetic of gender performance that evokesdrag queens, suggests that the superficial is the only important aspect of political policies, and marks the merger of political and celebrity culture.
Texas makeup artist Stephanie Louise got the assignment to make upLara Trump, the then-former president's daughter-in-law, for her speaking slot at the2024 Republican National Convention. In an Instagram video, she detailed the various products she used and her techniques: blending three different shades ofeye shadow along with eyeliner and false lashes to create "a respectful eye" and eschewingcontouring. The look may have helped Trump get her own show onFox News.[5]
Afterthe elections,Washington-basedinfluencer and comedianSuzanne Lambert, who had supportedKamala Harris and otherDemocratic candidates in the elections, noticed that many of the women attacking her and supportingRepublicans and President-electDonald Trump in comments on herTikTok videos seemed to wear their makeup in the same distinctive style. As a self-described "Regina George liberal", who advocates for Democrats and politicalprogressives to respond to Republican attacks in kind, she decided to devote a video to trying to reproduce that style.[8]
Lambert posted her video, "Doing my makeup like the gorgmaga girlies in my comments", to her TikTok feed on November 16.[9] Her technique involves: foregoing the usual application ofmoisturizer orprimer;foundation that did not match the wearer's skin tone, usually being too dark;concealer in a tone several shades lighter than the makeup's base; liberal use ofeyebrow pencil; avoiding ofcontouring andbronzer; the lightest possibleeye shadow with heavy blackeyeliner, and drymascara on the eyelashes; and tame lipstick without anylip liner.[9][8] The video received 4.7 million views and many favorable comments. In an interview withGlamour two months later, Lambert emphasised the lack of matching and termed the eye makeup as a "raccoon-eye look."[3]The New York Times observed that the look is usually sartorially complemented by form-fitting clothing and conspicuouscross necklaces.[4]
In a resurfaced video reel of her makeup routineKaroline Leavitt, Trump'spress secretary, had posted to herInstagram feed some time before taking the position, she appeared to lend Lambert's take on Republican makeup credibility by using some of the same techniques. She purposely used foundation darker than her skin tone and an overly dark contour stick. The video also showed Leavitt using her fingertips to spread her makeup around, as Lambert had speculated would be done.[7] The original video is no longer available,[7] but some excerpts have been used in online commentary.[10]
By the timeTrump was inaugurated, Lambert's video had reached over 6 million views, and gained her followers includingJen Psaki, the formerJoe Biden press secretary and nowMSNBC host, andJonathan Van Ness ofQueer Eye for the Straight Guy. The media began to take notice, withThe Washington Post running a story on the video as exemplifying Lambert's advocacy of "Regina George liberalism", named after theMean Girls character—"when they go low we go mean".[11]
One of Lambert's commenters called her take "the perfect tutorial for the mean girl to nurse pipeline." Others called it accurate.[8] Other outlets added their own disparaging takes on the look. "[S]pray tan contouring that looks like it was applied in the dark ... eyeliner that looks like it was applied during a bumpy car ride,"Betches said (similarly,The Cut's Sam Escobar wrote that they "imagine[d] it being applied with the frenzied fervor of the creepy kid in every horror movie."[12]) Generally, "[t]he goal isn't to look good — quite the opposite. The makeup is meant to be jarring, exaggerated, and, well, a little ugly."[13] Lambert characterized the look to theTimes as "Inappropriate unless you're on a pageant stage. And in that case, I would still do it differently."[4]
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Some women, likeGuardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi, worried that they might have unintentionally emulated the look.[6] Writing about the trend inThe New York Times,Jessica Grose did not see any corresponding makeup style embraced by liberal or progressive women.[4] However, professional makeup artists who had done the faces of women on both sides of the political spectrum did report an embrace of softer styles, particularly the previously popular"clean girl" look. The beauticians who talked toHuffPost noted that women on liberal-aligned cable networks likeCNN andMSNBC wore less visible makeup. One said that she had specific requests from liberal women to avoid making them look like "guests going onFox", and thus avoids using bronzer on them.[14] The makeup artists interviewed byHuffPost had differing opinions, but many agreed that there was a distinctive Republican makeup style, one Noem and Leavitt were successful with.[14]
Another response was to suggest that this was more of an issue of younger women criticizing the makeup styles of middle-aged women than politics. "Many Republican women haven't updated their makeup trends since the 80s," one TikTok user said. "Younger generations see the stale and crunchy makeup and can see how it can progressively be improved upon, but these women are too stuck in their ways to listen."[2] However, other commentators noted in response that younger women such as Leavitt (whose use of the style has led to some questions as to whether she is as young as she says[12]) and 76-year-oldLinda McMahon seem to embrace the look. "The common thread truly seems to be a penchant for far-right politics," observesAllure editor Kara McGrath.[15]
Some Republican women online responded by posting videos of supposed "liberal makeup", mostly consisting ofpiercings, neon-colored lipstick and non-naturalhair dye colors, the latter often employed by DemocraticConnecticut RepresentativeRosa DeLauro.[16] Not all the criticism came from the right. Colette Carbonara, aColumbia undergraduate writing in theColumbia Political Review, feared that it might alienate some voters who might otherwise support Democratic policies and candidates while lacking "real substance". Many of the critiques on TikTok, she noted, admitted that the style was more common and less political in 2016. "By engaging in this caricature, liberals reinforce the stereotype of themselves as urbane cultural elites who relish the opportunity to mock people from the South or rural areas whose makeup is, perhaps, slightly dated compared to the newest trends in wealthy, progressive cities." Carbonara also argued that the criticism wasted the opportunity to effectively usesatire on Republican policies and worldview. and demonstrate empathy for voters they need to reach.[17] Conservatives also voiced criticism. Former Fox personalityMegyn Kelly lambasted Noem over her appearance when accompanyingImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on raids with "25 pounds of hair, only to be outdone by her 30 pounds of makeup and false eyelashes."[4]
Observers characterized the "Republican makeup" look as an embrace of visible effort made to improve and highlight one's appearance, connecting it to "Mar-a-Lago face", with clear use ofBotox andplastic surgery in evidence on many women (and some men, such as former Florida RepresentativeMatt Gaetz) at the 2024 Republican convention.[1][6][18][19]Dazed spoke with Elysia Berman, a beautician who said on TikTok shortly after the election that she had seen changes in beauty trends which for her foreshadowed the election results, even among celebrities not associated with Trump or Republican politics.[20]
The progressive magazineMother Jones, noting how Noem, heavily made up and adorned with pearls and aRolex watch, had accompanied ICE officers on a televised raid, described the overall look as aggressive, "like Trump's politics, ridiculously blunt".[18]The Cut agreed: "Overdone and underblended, it manages to be both frantic and calculated ... [making] the wearer look significantly older."[12] While not calling the look itself aggressive, Grose took note of the aggressive actions Mace, Noem and Leavitt had been associated with while wearing it.[4]
Other analyses drew connections between the politics of the Trump administration and its aesthetic.Mother Jones took note of Trump's long ownership ofbeauty pageants likeMiss Universe as the most prominent indicator of his interest in other people's physical appearance,[18] regardless of gender.[21] He reportedly insists on a certain "central casting" look for the men who work for him,[22] that has been described as giving his male subordinates and associates "groomsmen vibes."[6] Anne Higonet, an art history professor atBarnard College, connects the overall MAGA aesthetic to "the idea that the surface of a policy is the only thing that matters."[18]
Like some of theHuffPost makeup artists, Higonet saw it as motivated less by aesthetics than by branding, as an indication of group identity.[14][18] "What makes this group of MAGA politicians powerful is that they are so immediately recognizable by outsiders as part of the conservative team", Grose agrees.[4] Trump is said to have chosen Noem for her DHS position because he wanted her face in television advertisements.[18]
Feminist critiques looked at the phenomenon through the lens ofgender identity and relations, particularly the modern Republican Party's insistence on strict separation ofgender roles. "For women," wroteWomen's Wear Daily, "this means that hyperfemininity, including the routine use of makeup, is the only acceptable norm." It quoted UCLAgender studies professor Juliet Williams:[2]
The hair, the makeup and the clothes are a way of affirming that this beauty standard is the right standard, and it's a standard that positions a certain kind of white woman as the natural embodiment of femininity, and everyone else as a failed striver ... That is about beauty, but it's totally about traditional gender order.
Williams also finds this excessive use of makeup an ironic contrast with thetransphobia prevalent among many of the women who wear it, since the time and effort involved in applying it shows that "[they] are the ones that are most doubled down on theperformative dimension of gender."[2]
Identity Hunters saw Republican makeup as specifically political, and responsive to themale gaze on the political right. "In emphasizing domesticity, controlled sexuality, and beauty, this femininity in a way subjugates itself to the idealized female fantasy of the conservative man — a docile woman who submits and doesn't rebel." Drawing on Italian MarxistAntonio Gramsci's ideas ofcultural hegemony, writer Sukhmani Dev observes that:[19]
... [t]he logic of conservative makeup is not imposed through coercion, but emerges as a natural product – ascommon sense – within right-wing cultural spaces. Through repeated depictions of women such as Ivanka Trump, Tomi Lahren, and Karoline Leavitt, this aesthetic becomes aspirational,and expected ... while appearing independent and self-determined, these women ironically reproduce norms that maintain a gender hierarchy.
The former president's obsession with personal appearance dates back decades ... 'I don't think there's ever been a president who was more obsessed with other people's appearance,' said Michael Kimmel, the author of 'Manhood in America.'"
Mr. Trump's propensity for calling attention to men's looks dates back decades ... [His] focus on being easy on the eye seems to extend to personnel decisions, as he has an apparent desire for those serving under him to fit the mold of 'central casting,' a superficial but significant strategy of finding telegenic surrogates who look the part, regardless of their actual job qualifications.
