Jarring Pics Of Kristi Noem That Prove Her Makeup Should Never Be Photographed Up Close

Earlier in her political career, Kristi Noem took a subtler approach to cosmetics. Those days are long gone. Noem looks unrecognizable when compared to her old photos, since she epitomizes the "Republican makeup" trend. While some people contend that this style is evocative of 2016-era makeup, the excessive pile-on of products also feels a lot like stage makeup. However, stage makeup is intentionally amped-up to be visible despite distance and theatrical lighting. Behind the scenes, it looks less appealing.

Unfortunately, Noem seems to have a similar problem with her makeup. Even when she's onstage giving a speech, stage makeup doesn't make sense because the cameras are rolling. As the following pictures show, the tighter the framing, the more Noem's makeup issues are magnified. At close range, the thick layer of products she wears really stands out. "When you have all of these different textures on your skin, and you've got such like a high amount of product buildup, what happens is the light is going to hit that," professional makeup artist Nina Ubhi explained on YouTube.

To make matters worse, Noem's constantly making the mistake of wearing cakey foundation so every line and pore is apparent in her close-ups. While matte foundation makes sense for Noem's media-heavy career, she'll really need to up her blending time to avoid mistakes like these in the future. 

In January 2025, with her thick layer of bronzer, Kristi Noem appeared to be channeling Donald Trump's signature look. Unfortunately, the Homeland Security Secretary took the orangey tones a step further and as a result, Noem looked like one of Willy Wonka's Oompa Loompas.

Noem's fake eyelashes were also cartoonishly massive, particularly when paired with her surprised expression. The sweeping lashes nearly touched her eyebrows, almost doubling the size of her eyes. The brows added to the caricature-like appearance. They're so tightly filled, they looked like they were drawn on with a Sharpie. 

Even though her bronzer's still a bit too much, in March 2025 Kristi Noem appeared to have scaled back, at least in terms of orangeness. Unfortunately, Noem's overly-matte base layer was showing off every pore of her skin, and her eyes were overwhelmed by a thick line of eyeliner. The too-prominent layer of blush also looked like it could have benefitted from some serious blending. While Noem's lashes were also not as gigantic as in her controversial airport video, they appeared strangely uneven, with the lower lashes looking longer on one eye.   

Kristi Noem's thick layers of product made her skin look super dry in July 2024, especially between the bridge of her nose and the inner corners of her eyes. As usual, she relied on a thick line of eyeliner along the top lid. While liner can make lashes appear thicker, it's not required, since Noem's already pumping up the volume with uber-long false lashes. Strangely, the chunky liner trails off into a teeny-tiny wing with a sharp, unnecessary right angle. Noem would have been better off ending the liner sooner and more subtly.  

In July 2025, Kristi Noem's eye makeup was working against her once again, creating the illusion of much smaller peepers. Darker eye shadow rapidly closed the distance from her eyebrow. To compound the problem, Noem looked like she attempted a double wing with her eyeliner, with one line swinging up to almost touch the end of her brow, and the other making a downward pointing crease. Noem's blush appeared to have been applied too heavily as well, and the overall result was clownish.

It's hard to decide what's more distracting in this September 2025 pic — Kristi Noem's outdated hoop earrings or her dry, patchy makeup. There's so much texture, it almost looks like a grainy Photoshop filter has been applied. Noem's base layer looks particularly uneven around her lower jaw, and there's a definite line of demarcation where her blush starts and stops. While this lower angle shot accentuates Noem's eyes, it makes her lips look more overfilled. Prominent brows, extra eyelashes, and dark eye makeup really swallow up the space between her eyes and brows.