Lambert's video Lambert posted her video, "Doing my makeup like the gorg
maga girlies in my comments", to her TikTok feed on November 16, 2024. Her technique involves: foregoing the usual application of
moisturizer or
primer;
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 of
eyebrow pencil; avoiding of
contouring and
bronzer; the lightest possible
eye shadow with heavy black
eyeliner, and dry
mascara on the eyelashes; and tame lipstick without any
lip liner. By the time
Trump was inaugurated, Lambert's video had reached over 6 million views, and gained her followers including
Jen Psaki, the former
Joe Biden press secretary and current
MS NOW host, and
Jonathan Van Ness of
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The media began to take notice, with
The Washington Post running a story on the video as exemplifying Lambert's advocacy of "Regina George liberalism", named after the
Mean Girls character—"when they go low we go mean".
Look and public reaction One of Lambert's commenters called her take "the perfect tutorial for the mean girl to nurse pipeline." Others called it accurate.) 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." Lambert characterized the look to the
Times as "Inappropriate unless you're on a pageant stage. And in that case, I would still do it differently." The makeup artists interviewed by
HuffPost had differing opinions, but many agreed that there was a distinctive Republican makeup style, one Noem and Leavitt were successful with. Some Republican women online responded by posting videos of supposed "liberal makeup", mostly consisting of
piercings, neon-colored lipstick and non-natural
hair dye colors, the latter often employed by Democratic
Connecticut Representative
Rosa DeLauro. Not all the criticism came from the right. Colette Carbonara, a
Columbia undergraduate writing in the
Columbia 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 use
satire on Republican policies and worldview and demonstrate empathy for voters they need to reach. Conservatives also voiced criticism. Former Fox personality
Megyn Kelly lambasted Noem over her appearance when accompanying
Immigration 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."
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.
Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi observed that some pro-MAGA influencers were even using the look as a recruiting tool. "Let's just be honest: it's never been hotter to be a conservative," wellness podcast host Alex Clark told the crowd at a 2025
Turning Point USA conference. "The left, they've got TikTok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks, and a ringlight. We've got girls who look like they just walked off the cover of
Vogue and can deadlift more than
Harry Sisson." On an installment of Fox host
Jesse Watters' talk show discussing actress
Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican,
Fox Business host
Katrina Campins said progressives were jealous of Sweeney's looks. "My advice to all the ladies, our side is better, and you get hotter, right?" Watters agreed with her that women who decided to identify as Republicans saw their looks improve.
Political meaning The progressive magazine
Mother Jones, noting how Noem, heavily made up and adorned with pearls and a
Rolex watch, had accompanied ICE officers on a televised raid, described the overall look as aggressive, "like Trump's politics, ridiculously blunt". He reportedly insists on a certain "
central casting" look for the men who work for him, that has been described as giving his male subordinates and associates "
groomsmen vibes." Anne Higonet, an art history professor at
Barnard College, connects the overall MAGA aesthetic to "the idea that the surface of a policy is the only thing that matters." Like some of the
HuffPost makeup artists, Higonet saw it as motivated less by aesthetics than by branding, as an indication of group identity. "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. Trump is said to have chosen Noem for her
DHS position because he wanted her face in television advertisements. Feminist critiques looked at the phenomenon through the lens of
gender identity and relations, particularly the modern Republican Party's insistence on strict separation of
gender roles. "For women," wrote ''
Women's Wear Daily'', "this means that hyperfemininity, including the routine use of makeup, is the only acceptable norm." Williams also finds this excessive use of makeup an ironic contrast with the
transphobia 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 the
performative dimension of gender."
Identity Hunters saw Republican makeup as specifically political, and responsive to the
male 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." ==Analysis of Mar-a-Lago face==