Times Selena Gomez Was Nearly Unrecognizable After A Drastic Makeup Transformation

Selena Gomez is one of the few child stars whose star power got even bigger in adulthood. Besides being a singer and actor, she's a businesswoman and mental health advocate. The Rare Beauty founder is incredibly accomplished and hard-working, which is likely why she's so well-liked and is the most followed woman on Instagram. But it probably doesn't hurt that she's absolutely stunning, too.

Gomez is naturally beautiful, but like many celebs, she's experimented heavily with makeup over the years, eventually reaching the point where she became unrecognizable. Fortunately, her relationship with makeup evolved beyond that phase. "It's become a lot healthier as I've grown up. I used to want to wear makeup to look older or look more like other people," she told Refinery29 Australia in April 2024. "Now I have a lot of fun with makeup—doing my friends' makeup or my own. I want to accentuate the features that make me unique instead of covering them up." We're glad to hear that Gomez is no longer using makeup to mask who she truly is. Still, we can't forget some of the intense glam looks that had us wondering if that really was Gomez underneath all that makeup.

Believe it or not, Selena Gomez once had a makeup mishap so grave that it gave us all major Donald Trump vibes. Because, after all, Trump is the president of fake tan fails. At the 2018 Met Gala, the Disney Channel alum donned a flowy, custom-made Coach dress and an excessive amount of tanning lotion that took her from fair-skinned to Oompa-Loompa real quick. "For the Met Gala, I was getting ready and we wanted to add some color, so [I] put on some of this tanning lotion and it looked really beautiful and very even," Gomez recalled to Vogue in a 2021 video. "As the evening kept going on, it was getting a little darker and darker and I didn't notice it," she said while trying to not start laughing. Revealing that she was completely mortified, she continued, "I look at a photo of myself when I sit down, and I'm completely orange." 

Luckily, she was quick-thinking and found a way she could laugh off the fake tan fail with fans. Gomez asked someone on her security team to film her running to her car. That video was then posted to Instagram with the caption, "Me when I saw my pictures from MET [shrug emoji]."

While Selena Gomez is a natural brunette, she has experimented with different hair colors over the years. Gomez's blonde hair, which she felt strongly about, had a short run, but even more fleeting were her highlights. In November 2023, Gomez posted a snapshot on her Instagram Story that debuted the light-colored streaks, along with a full face of glam that seemed to deviate from her usual makeup.

It seemed that the subtle edits to Gomez's hair color and makeup left many fans struggling to accept that it was really her in the picture. "She's always gorgeous, but I didn't recognize her," wrote one person on X, formerly Twitter, in response to a photo of Gomez's new look that had been re-shared on the platform. "Who is this?" commented another. The hairstylist behind the actor's dramatic transformation also shared a photo of it on Instagram, where one fan reckoned that Gomez looked like Christina Ricci.

As for the discrepancies in Gomez's makeup, they can be attributed to makeup artist Avia Solomon. While Solomon has done Gomez's makeup before, the occasions have seemingly only occurred when Gomez was visiting Paris. Solomon is a London-based artist, which could explain why fans don't regularly see her work on the singer. On Instagram, Solomon described Gomez's eye makeup in the above image as "emerald green eyes" and listed the products she used, all of which came from Rare Beauty. Still, something about Gomez's appearance was off-putting to fans. "I'm not trying to hate it anything but does her face seem edited or is it just me," wrote one person.

In 2017, Selena Gomez's makeup artist, Hung Vanngo, seemingly turned the volume up on the star's eyes with an intense and overbearing cat eye. Following the look's debut, one fan uploaded a video to YouTube titled "Selena Gomez Cat Eye Winged Makeup Tutorial," using this photo as a reference. In the comment section, fans shared their thoughts on Gomez's look, which ranged from unrecognizable to bad. "Its Looks like adele not selena lol," wrote one. Another said, "I hated this look on Selena (no shade, it just looks weird) but you made it amazingly pretty."

In an Instagram post showing off the final look, Vanngo explained that he only had 15 minutes to glam his client up, which may be why the finished product didn't land with some fans. Furthermore, this look was during Gomez's relationship with The Weeknd, which was one of her most controversial moments, given The Weeknd's bad boy persona and history with drugs. She may have opted for a heavier layer of eyeliner to prove that she was growing up and rebelling against her former goody two-shoes self.

During the 2023 Golden Globes Awards, Selena Gomez stepped out in an elegant strapless purple gown paired with dangling earrings. She wore light pink lipstick and eyeshadow, a dollop of blush, and a very subtle cat eye. While her makeup wasn't over-the-top, fans were seemingly taken aback by her appearance. In particular, they thought her cat eye was good — suspiciously good.

On Reddit, one fan theorized she had canthoplasty, nicknamed cat eye surgery, a cosmetic surgery that restructures the face to give users those coveted almond-shaped eyes. Furthermore, TikTok user @marissathepa, who claimed to work as a PA in a cosmetic surgery office, posted a video about Gomez's appearance at the Golden Globes but declined to weigh in on what she thought Gomez may have had done. "I think she's been through so much in her life, especially medically related, so I don't think it's fair to speculate whether or not she's gotten cosmetic things done," she said. 

While the video was not meant to be harmful, Gomez was seemingly not pleased that her appearance was being discussed in the first place. Shutting down the canthoplasty rumors, she wrote, "Honestly, I hate this. I was on stripes because of [a] flare-up," she wrote, likely referring to some type of treatment related to her lupus. Gomez then confirmed that she had Botox, but that was her only cosmetic work. In hindsight, maybe her cat eye was just really good.

In November 2024, Selena Gomez took part in a massive photo shoot with The Perfect Magazine, which resulted in 48 pages of Gomez reminding us how beautiful she truly is. But on one of the five cover options fans could choose from, the "Emilia Pérez" star donned vibrant blue eyeshadow and a bold red lip that made it difficult to recognize her. While Gomez is no stranger to red lipstick, her eyeshadow seemed to grab the most attention. 

However, this isn't the first time she's added a heavy pop of color to her lids. One notable instance was at the 2017 Met Gala, where Gomez wore bright pink eyeshadow that nearly reached her brows. Still, this blue shade is arguably the most daring she's tried. Additionally, whether due to the makeup, lighting, or a combination of both, Gomez's skin seemingly appeared paler than usual. Regardless, this look got the public's approval. "Slaylena," commented one user on The Perfect Magazine's Instagram post featuring Gomez. Another gushed, "Can't calm down, can barely breathe," followed by a string of heart and fire emojis.