Is Bad 'Conservative Girl' Makeup Exclusively A Republican Problem? Makeup Artists Have Thoughts.
If you’ve been on TikTok lately, you’ve likely seen the “conservative girl” trend taking over your “For You” page.
Liberal comedian Suzanne Lambert kicked off the trend with a video making fun of what she believed “MAGA girlies” looked like. According to her, Republican women have poorly lined lips, mismatched foundation and clumped mascara. The overall effect is “matte and flat,” as Lambert put it in her TikTok. “It’s giving drained, it’s giving dusty.”
Since Lambert’s TikTok, hundreds of others under #republicanmakeup have done similar takes on the aggressively overdone and underblended “conservative girl” look.
The videos have slight differences, but the “applied-in-the-dark” poorly done look is the same. The eyebrows are like blocks on the face. The black eyeliner creates stark circles. The concealer is too pale, and the caked, dry foundation is noticeably too pale or too orange compared to the rest of the body.
Offenders include White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, new Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, among other mostly white Republican women, according to TikTok.
Is this trend just a chance for TikTokers to bully Republicans who are not blending the foundation in their jawline to their liking, or is “conservative girl” makeup actually real?
The makeup artists who powder and contour politicians and political women across the ideological spectrum would know. They all had strong opinions on this TikTok trend.
Some makeup artists do believe there’s a “conservative girl” look.
Kriss Blevens, who has done makeup on politicians ranging from Tulsi Gabbard to Hillary Clinton, has been a makeup artist for politicians through nine election cycles. She said the Republican makeup look for women is evolving, and she is a fan of the “pageantry” more of them seem to be embracing.
The best versions of the conservative-girl looks are “slightly matte” and have “a bronzed quality,” Blevens said. “They’re making the eyes, the cheeks and the lips stand out.”
And if any of these attempts at pageantry resemble the clownish looks being skewered on TikTok, then “that’s user error,” Blevens said. “The person doesn’t know how to blend, or somebody picked out the wrong color for them, or they’re using their summer color.”
In Blevens’ view, Noem is “nailing it,” and Leavitt is “trying” and “keeps looking better and better.”
Even if you cannot clock a conservative woman from a mile away, you could probably correctly guess which TV network she will appear on.
Michelle Phillips, a makeup artist who has worked at both the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, said the Republican look is a “reflection of branding rather than personal preference,” she said.
“Female anchors on conservative TV networks are often styled with more bold-looking makeup. In contrast, networks that are more liberal tend to favor a more understated approach with softer makeup,” Phillips said.
“Women on Fox News definitely don’t shy away from makeup, as opposed to the people that are on CNN and MSNBC,” said South Carolina-based freelance makeup artist Leah Greene, who has done makeup on political figures ranging from presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Kamala Harris to “Fox & Friends” cohost Ainsley Earhardt.
‘Underblended’ knows no race, ethnicity, or political camp.Natalie Hayes, a makeup artist for politicians
“I don’t think the conservatives know there’s a different look, but I think the liberals, they recognize it more,” Greene said. She said she has gotten requests from her more liberal clients not to make them look like a guest going on Fox.
“I wouldn’t do a bronzer on a non-conservative, I would do more neutral colors, lipstick and blush,” she said as an example.
Of course, conservative women are not the only people who underblend. Greene said male politicians, in general, can underblend the spray tans they get in their desire to look “healthy.”
“The men are the ones that you can tell their spray tanner doesn’t go all the way up to their hairline, more than the women,” she said, noting that Donald Trump “at times” has had bad spray tans, but “he’s done a much better job this time than last time on his paint.”
Cakey foundation and poor blending are universal.
Then again, clumped mascara doesn’t necessarily mean you are a MAGA enthusiast or a radical socialist. It might just mean you are bad at makeup.
Natalie Hayes, a makeup artist who has worked on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D), disagreed with the notion that the poorly done “conservative girl” look is limited to right-wing women, noting that politicians are “uniquely themselves.” Some are bad at makeup, no matter what their politics are.
Hayes cited a current Democratic congresswoman with “overplucked McDonald’s brows to the moon” and a conservative senior White House official with “worn-off lip liner in the corners of her mouth” as examples. “Women are who they are. ‘Underblended’ knows no race, ethnicity, or political camp.”
“Some sit in my chair and say, ‘Do whatever you want, I know this is not an area I’m strong in,’ and others say, ‘Here is my makeup, use this here,’” Hayes said.
Angella Theriault, a Boston-based makeup artist who has worked with women of all political ideologies for weddings, similarly said the “Republican makeup” look doesn’t actually exist.
“If I had a client that was like, ‘Give me a Republican makeup look,’ I would look at her like she was crazy. We’re going to cater this to you and your features, and do the job.”
However, if there is a consistent “conservative girl” look on TV screens or in real life, it is not in the makeup application — it is in the lack of racial diversity, Theriault said.
Though she finds a TikTok trend that is making fun of people’s appearances to be mean, Theriault said how the trend targets white women is an accurate reflection of how homogenous the Republican Party is.
And it’s true: A majority of white women ― particularly evangelical and non-college-educated white women― voted to bring Trump back to the White House in 2024.
“The vast majority are white. If they’re not blonde, they’re dye-blonde,” Theriault said. “Of course they all look the same in makeup because they’re largely all using the same shades.”
