A new trend is going viral on TikTok: ‘conservative girl makeup.’ From the name, you might expect toned-down, pared-back, natural makeup looks in the viral ‘Quiet Luxury’ style, but the reality is the opposite. In fact, the conservative girl makeup look is deliberately ostentatious and badly done.
So why are people doing it? Yet again, it’s an example of America’s political polarization. In a post-2024 election climate already fraught with culture wars and heightened partisanship, this satirical take on Republican women’s makeup styles has ignited both fascination and outrage online.
The trend was sparked days after the election but has reached fever pitch in the past few days as adopters seek to poke fun at those on the other side of the political spectrum, itself leading to a backlash against “liberals” and “leftist women.”
Newsweek has reached out to all the creators referenced in this article via social media and email.
The Beauty Battleground
The emergence of conservative girl makeup aligns with broader political trends and cultural battles in the United States.
Exit polls indicate that 53 percent of female voters supported former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the election, with 45 percent backing the Republican candidate, President Donald Trump. In particular, Harris led among young women by 18 points, highlighting a generational and ideological gap that extends well beyond politics into everyday life, personal expression, and fashion.
Since the election, public conversations about personal aesthetics have surged, such as those around ‘Mar-a-Lago face’ and plastic surgery.
‘Mar-a-Lago face’ is characterized by a Miami tan, excessive Botox, large lips and skin evocative of hard, shiny plastic. It is redolent of a high-glam culture that critics associate with Trump’s circle in Florida. This aesthetic is similar to what we’re seeing in the conservative girl makeup videos.
Videos extolling conservative girl makeup are primarily being posted by young women who, from their social media profiles, appear to lean more liberal than conservative.
What Is Conservative Girl Makeup?
At its heart, conservative girl makeup is a viral TikTok trend in which young female creators do their makeup badly on purpose, in an attempt to mimic what they believe is the typical Republican or conservative style of makeup.
The look is characterized by clumpy, spiderweb mascara, mismatched and clumpy foundation, contour or a spray tan that could not match any skin tone given by God, poorly lined, half-filled-in lips, with a finishing touch of cracked-crayon black eyeliner.
One of the first videos in this ilk was posted on TikTok back in November, by the creator Suzanne Lambert. It has received 4.7 million views at the time of reporting. In the video she says, “I noticed that all of the Republican girlies in my comments do their makeup the exact same, gorgeous way, so I thought that I would try do it myself.”
“We really want our makeup to cling to any dry spots and accentuate any texture,” she says in the video, which is set to Gretchen Wilson’s song ‘Redneck Woman’. “We want to choose a makeup that doesn’t match the undertones of our skin.”
“It’s giving drained, it’s giving dusty,” Lambert says in the video, as she applies the makeup which she describes as “streaky,” and not blending “well,” with an overall appearance of being “applied in the dark.”
“As a comedian, I am always evaluating the behavior of others,” Lambert told Newsweek.
“When I noticed that many of the conservative women coming into my comment section and leaving angry comments on my videos shared a very similar look and style, I knew it would be funny to act it out and recreate the look.”
In the days following the inauguration, takes on the trend have been coming thick and fast, with some creators taking it even further.
Duh Paris shared a similar tutorial. The result shows the creator with an orange and white complexion, crusty mascara, and a half-filled-in red lip with an overdrawn cupid’s bow sat in the middle of her mouth. Her TikTok has received 1.1 million views at the time of reporting.
TikTok creator Hayley, who also posted a Republican makeup video, told Newsweek over email that, “Many Republican women haven’t updated their makeup trends since the 80s,” a look she described as: “Heavy eyeliner, thin eyebrows, too dark foundation.”
“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,” Hayley said.
Why Has There Been Backlash?
Backlash to the trend has been swift. While some see it as a lighthearted reflection of the current state of polarization in politics, others have taken serious offense and have been quick to criticize the creators of the videos, sometimes in highly personal terms.
One comment on the creator Beautyandkoko’s video reads, “Ahh the good ole’ tolerant left. Attacking people based on looks. All this proves is that you really can put makeup on a p!g,” while another comment read: “The smell of tuna coming off you is going to scream blue haired liberal.”
Similarly, one user commented on creator Severn’s video that, “Don’t worry, you’re much bigger than Republican women,” and another said, “Leftist women are the meanest women out there.”
Hayley told Newsweek over email that most commenters have seemed in on the joke, but there was one who “said something about ‘it’s only girl’s girls when they are liberal, otherwise they don’t deserve respect.'”
“I commented back that women who vote against their own self-interest do not deserve respect… Those are not ‘girl’s girls’ in any way,” she said.
Speaking about the response to her video, Lambert told Newsweek: “It’s not surprising that it makes some conservative women upset, but I am encouraged by the number of people with different political views who have shown that they can take a joke. Humor has always been a part of political commentary.”
Echoing Hayley’s sentiment, she added: “There are others who are angry about it, but the people criticizing the video are typically the ones who would benefit most from the advice.
“Liberal women—after conservatives have made fun of them and called them ‘blue-haired liberals’ for years—are finally speaking up for themselves.”
What Happens Next
The trend has held firm on social media for over two months—a lifetime in TikTok years—but it remains to be seen if it will continue. What it does illustrate is the yawning cultural gap between different groups of women in American today: whether that’s about who to vote for, or how best to apply your concealer.
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