Karoline Leavitt Falls Victim To 'Republican Makeup' Trend Cliche In Throwback Beauty Video
When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt isn't wearing outdated pastel looks or butting heads with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, she's unfortunately joining the ranks of MAGA members in President Donald Trump's inner circle who have participated in the "Republican makeup" trend. In a throwback video on Leavitt's Instagram, the Gen-Z politician shows followers her makeup routine for when she needs to be camera-ready. While many of the comments said how beautiful she looked and that she didn't even need makeup, others weren't as kind.
"Watching this now, with Republican makeup finally being called out and it fitting the mold of that awful early 2000s perfectly is beyond hilarious," one person wrote about a month ago on the old video. Another commenter simply replied, "[Very] Republican makeup." But what even is "Republican makeup"? According to Betches, the trend started with TikToker Suzanne Lambert, who posted a video poking fun at all the Republican women who left rude comments on her content.
In the vid, she purposely used a foundation that didn't match her skin tone properly — which many MAGA women have been accused of doing, thus inspiring the shady trend. For Leavitt's video, the New Hampshire native's foundation looked super heavy and wasn't a great match for her skin tone.
Here's what a professional makeup artist had to say about the trend
Beauty expert Luna Viola, a fashion and red carpet hair and makeup artist in LA, explained to The List why this cosmetic faux pas keeps happening. "The contrast between a darker foundation and a lighter concealer adds dimension, giving the skin a sculpted look as well as a tanned result," she explained. "Unfortunately, if the foundation doesn't match the undertone of the skin, or the concealer is too light, it can look ill-matched." Viola also shared that people often make the mistake of going with a foundation that's actually too yellow-y, which can give the skin an unhealthy and discolored look.
Viola revealed there are actually some tricks to help find a shade that matches a person's skin tone. One involves the wrists. "To match your skin tone perfectly, check the inside of your wrists. If you see purple/blue veins, you have red/pink undertones. Otherwise, it would be more olive/yellow." Another focuses on the neck, with Viola noting, "Always match foundation to your neck shade first, then add a darker shade of contour to sculpt your features."
Besides the skin tone issue, Viola revealed another makeup mistake Karoline Leavitt made in that throwback clip. "The contour stick used in the video appears to be unnecessarily dark," she said. "When applied under the cheekbones, it is slightly too low, dragging the cheekbones down and resulting in an unnatural placement." Viola also explained how people shouldn't put makeup on with their hands, one for sanitary reasons and also because brushes can offer a better overall look to the face.