Beauty trends among American conservatives

Beauty trends among American conservatives in the 2020s include at least two notable trends. The first is Republican makeup, also known as MAGA makeup, MAGA beauty or conservative girl makeup, which describes the style and application of cosmetics and plastic surgery by men or women affiliated with Trumpism. The style refers to eyeliner, mascara, rouge and foundation, heavily applied, as to make its use obvious. This style contrasts with the natural makeup style. Republican Congresswomen such as Nancy Mace and women working in the second Trump administration like Kristi Noem, as well as several Fox News commentators, have been cited as examples.

The other trend is known by the pejorative term Mar-a-Lago face, which is often used to refer to the plastic surgery and fashion trend among American conservative and Republican individuals. It is described as excessive or uniform plastic surgery interventions such as lip augmentation, Botox, and jaw contouring, coupled with heavy makeup, spray tans, fake eyelashes, and dark smoky eyes. The trend has been described as a status symbol among Donald Trump's inner circle, signaling wealth, privilege, and alignment with Trumpism. Some commentators and surgeons have described the look as engineered and overdone, and have linked it to the aesthetics and aspects of Trump-era politics. Cosmetic surgeons listed facial surgery, injectable filler, and cosmetic dental work among the procedures constituting the look.

Plastic surgeons and consultants describe Mar-a-Lago face as a deliberately conspicuous and homogenized aesthetic, with one estimate placing the 2025 cost of a full set of procedures at around $90,000 plus ongoing maintenance. Journalistic and academic analyses have situated the trend within far-right and Trump-aligned visual culture, arguing that a recurring, highly stylized face helps signal allegiance to Trump and project shared values among his supporters. Some commentators relate Mar-a-Lago face to gender-affirming surgery or drag-like performances of exaggerated femininity and masculinity within the MAGA movement.

Suzanne Lambert, a comedian on TikTok, is credited with popularizing the Republican makeup concept through a video she made shortly after Trump's victory in the November 2024 presidential election. After noticing it on women who indicated they supported Trump when leaving comments on her previous videos, she attempted to replicate the style with her own makeup. She told viewers the goal was a "dusty, drained" look. Later, other Internet personalities with progressive political leanings who focused on online beauty advice made their own videos with their take on the look. Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a video of her makeup routine on social media that showed her using some of the techniques Lambert had mocked.

Some Republican women online have responded, criticizing Lambert and those who ridiculed the style as being hypocritical for allegedly otherwise preaching tolerance of others' choices. Others have countered by mocking "liberal makeup", focusing on the blue-dyed hair of Democratic congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. There have also been criticisms from the left. Academics and fashion writers have also written critiques, observing that the Mar-a-Lago face look embodies an exaggerated aesthetic of gender performance that evokes drag queens, suggests that the superficial is the only important aspect of political policies, and marks the merger of political and celebrity culture. Noted public figures described as having the Mar-a-Lago face include First Lady Melania Trump, Matt Gaetz, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Kristi Noem, and Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump. The trend is named for Trump's home in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.

Origins

American fashion conservative trends have been depicted in media, and reported on in their historical and political contexts. Since before the first presidency of Donald Trump, discussion and media scrutiny has focused on Trump's grooming and hygiene habits. Fast Company observed that his familiar hue and the makeup of Donald Trump was present as far back as his television series The Apprentice, which aired from 2004 to 2017. It was reported he appeared more natural until 2012 outside of broadcast appearances, closer to his natural Scottish and German heritage. In Town & Country, Chloe Foussianes highlighted the depiction and costumes of conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly in the political drama television miniseries Mrs. America, writing:

"Each side swathed themselves in the image of the future they wished to create, willing it into being through self-presentation. For Phyllis Schlafly and her well-coiffed citizen militia, the uniform consisted of plaid button-ups, carefully-draped cardigans, and floral prints sculpted into postwar silhouettes."

Mar-a-Lago face is named for Trump's home in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. El Confidencial reported in 2024 that the Mar-a-Lago face was first observed via Matt Gaetz, when he appeared at an event with a "completely different face". Vanity Fair Italia traced the origins of the Mar-a-Lago face concept to 2006, prior to Gaetz, citing the American reality television program The Real Housewives of Orange County as a potential origin of the trend. The Week called the look a "must-have accessory" for the inner circle of President Donald Trump. Melinda Anna Farina, an aesthetic consultant, identified the Mar-a-Lago face as attempting to emulate the appearance of Eastern European women.

Wee Kek Koon in the South China Morning Post observed that Mar-a-Lago face was similar to King Ling of Chu of the Zhou dynasty's preference for "thin-waisted" officials, noted in the Annals of the Warring States as well as the works of Mozi. Koon notes that Mozi also illustrated further Mar-a-Lago antecedents such as Duke Wen of Jin, whose officials dressed in "sheepskin coats, cowhide belts, and undyed silk caps". According to Women.com, Mar-a-Lago face is characterized by excessive makeup, fake tans, fake eyelashes, dark smoky eyes, and lip augmentation. Vanity Fair Italia cited Melania Trump as an inspiration for Mar-a-Lago face. However, Habertürk identified Ivanka Trump as an inspiration for Mar-a-Lago face. In The New World, Nicky Woolf wrote, "origins of the Mar-a-Lago face could well lie in the Fox News anchor look," citing a prevalence of Trump to understand the world in "large part through a television screen".

For explicit makeup concepts alone, Texas makeup artist Stephanie Louise got the assignment to make up Lara Trump, the then-former president's daughter-in-law, for her speaking slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention. In an Instagram video, she detailed the various products she used and her techniques: blending three different shades of eye shadow along with eyeliner and false lashes to create "a respectful eye" and eschewing contouring. The look may have helped Trump get her own show on Fox News. After the elections, Washington-based influencer and comedian Suzanne Lambert, who had supported Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates in the elections, noticed that many of the women attacking her and supporting Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump in comments on her TikTok videos seemed to wear their makeup in the same distinctive style. As a self-described "Regina George liberal", who advocates for Democrats and political progressives to respond to Republican attacks in kind, she decided to devote a video to trying to reproduce that style.

Analysis of Mar-a-Lago face

The New York Times called Mar-a-Lago face a "Trump woman" look, and noted it included but differed from "conservative girl" or "Republican makeup". However, Agence France-Presse framed Mar-a-Lago face and "Republican makeup" as the same phenomenon. The Hollywood Reporter describes Mar-a-Lago face as a "Fellini-esque exaggeration of the dolled-up Fox News anchorwoman look". One etiquette and image consultant told HuffPost that the aesthetic is designed to signal wealth and privilege. Beyond what this beauty trend may look like in practice, the use of plastic surgery to create a homogenized aesthetic has been attributed to the success of anti-feminist and far-right social media content. Megan L. Zahay, professor of communications at the University of Wisconsin, asserts that repetition of the aesthetic serves to amplify particular ideological beliefs, creating a sense of in-group homogeneity or consensus.

Barnard College professor Anne Higonnet argues the move towards this particular aesthetic serves as "a sign of physical submission to Donald Trump", in that the aesthetic creates traditional feminine and masculine features. Melissa Rein Lively, a MAGA political worker, was reported by Le Journal de Montréal to reject "any idea of submission or constraint" associated with Mar-a-Lago face, and that "no one forces me to do two hours of sport a day, to go to the hairdresser every three and a half weeks, to get my nails and eyebrows done, to get Botox." Juliet Williams, a gender studies academic and professor at University of California, Los Angeles, compared the phenomenon to "war paint" in "service of an anti-feminist ideology". According to Habertürk, Mar-a-Lago face is linked to a belief that the leader favors physically attractive subordinates.