The Biggest News Anchor Makeup Fails Of 2025 So Far

It seems that news anchors were loading up their lips, lashes, and epidermises with more cosmetic products than ever in 2025, and some of the results have blessed those in the "less is more" camp with a bevy of examples to point to when trying to argue their point. This era of makeup excess could be a culmination of social media bombarding users with images of filtered perfection and the cultural acceptance of the heavily made-up influencer aesthetic. But we can also blame Fox News for starting the insidious trend, which has now crept into the political realm. "Republican makeup" has been soundly mocked on TikTok thanks to the likes of Kristi Noem, who can't seem to cake on enough foundation.

The signature Fox News look is "Toddlers & Tiaras" meets "RuPaul's Drag Race," but without the high level of artistry. Everything is overexaggerated to the point where it feels farcical, and everyone looks the same. "You think of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends," professional makeup artist Meli Pennington said of the network's female hosts in an interview with The Atlantic. The men don't fare much better over at the formerly "fair and balanced" network, either. It's like the makeup team is given a nacho cheese dispenser filled with foundation that, like the gloopy condiment, is an unnatural color that belongs nowhere near the human body — and it's the only foundation they're allowed to use. Unfortunately, being the first major news network to embrace such a high level of glam doesn't mean its makeup artists have perfected the look, and Fox News hosts make up the majority of 2025's worst news anchor makeup fails.

Ainsley Earhardt isn't immune from making makeup mistakes, even if she did tell Elle that she's been compared to a Barbie doll with immaculate makeup. Maybe Earhardt needs to ask Mattel what color it blends with its plastic to ensure Barbie always looks fantastic in her signature color, because the "Outnumbered" host's muddled makeup in August 2025 clashed terribly with her blazingly bright pink blazer. Her foundation and splotchy bronzer were unsettling shades of fluorescent orange and sickly yellow, making her look irradiated rather than healthy and radiant.

In 2024, a source told InTouch that Sean Hannity was trying to turn back the clock by burying his wrinkles. "He gets the makeup people to put extra layers of foundation on his face and neck — all the way up to the hair roots," the insider dished. However, he lacked this level of coverage while filming a November 2025 Fox News segment. Hannity's foundation appeared to disappear when it reached his highest forehead crease, leaving the skin near his hairline much lighter than the rest of his face.

Do Harris Faulkner's eyelids and the arms of the makeup artist who painted them still function at the end of the day? And how can "The Faulkner Focus" host focus on anything with those falsies flapping around over her eyes? The heavy-handed use of eye makeup as seen in a May 2025 Instagram post has also created two murky rainbows. Each has an arch of black eyeliner, a smear of light purple, a thick smudge of darker shadow, and an eyebrow sandwiched between strips of skin that are lighter than the rest of her face.

There's face-beating, then there's what Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany did in January 2025, which was make it look like she beat some eggs to create that batter she so generously coated her skin with. It was then baked in with some caked-on powder, and her eyelids were iced with frosted eyeshadow, which stood in stark contrast with her overdone eyeliner. Then there were those supersized strip lashes that are a must for every female MAGA acolyte; the longer the lashes, the closer to Trump, apparently.

Jesse Watters thinks men shouldn't shop for groceries with their wives, but does he also consider it an affront to his manhood to get makeup advice? He certainly could have used some ahead of a November 2025 "Jesse Watters Primetime" episode — his dark bronzer wasn't blended, and he had foundation lips. Instead, he got roasted in a "Queer Eye for the MAGA Guy" video by Landon Reid, who believes Watters wears mascara and said of his glam, "Most people on TV aren't wearing this much makeup."

"CBS Mornings" anchor Gayle King couldn't apply strip lashes herself until Carmindy of "What Not to Wear" fame taught her how to in 2011. "I need some more practice before I really get it," King confessed to O, The Oprah Magazine at the time. By 2025, she was still seemingly struggling with getting those falsies on. In an Instagram post from November, it looked like her lash glue was visible and her slanting lashes were holding on for dear life. Her eyeliner was also too thick, further weighing her lids down.

Many conservative women have developed an obsession with being carrot-orange, just like Donald Trump, and Fox News hosts have also jumped on the trend. In September 2025, the makeup artist for "America Reports" co-anchor Sandra Smith steamrolled right over her eyebrows with the network's favorite flaming hot foundation. Harsh black eyeliner on Smith's upper and lower lash lines also did her no favors by shrinking her eyes and creating a Halloween color palette. It was completely incompatible with her mint green blazer, which was busy celebrating Easter.

Lara Trump's makeup mistake isn't just using crusty concealer that looks well past its expiration date. The Fox News host also botched a smoky eye in an October 2025 Instagram video. The politician has naturally deep-set eyes, but made them appear even more sunken in by covering her entire eyelid with the same purple eyeshadow instead of using a lighter shade in the center and corners to bring her lids out of the shadows. Making matters worse was the excessive under-eye makeup deeply embedded in her fine lines.

In a 2024 Daily Mail interview, Laura Ingraham shared how she feels about her Fox News glam. "For me, less is more, but you have to wear makeup on TV or you look pretty bad," she said. However, TV makeup can also make you look like a Krispy Kreme bandit. In July 2025 during "The Ingraham Angle," the news anchor's lips had that glazed donut gleam and a mask of dusty-white makeup around her eyes, possibly because her makeup artist went overboard with the setting powder when trying to brighten her eye area.

CNN's Dana Bash is no stranger to going makeup-free, so it was mystifying why she didn't do so in the photo above, which was taken during a baseball game outing with her dad in 2025. Those uneven slashes of stark black eyeliner ruined what would have been a soft and natural beauty look. Her goal was seemingly to highlight her eyes while keeping her skin bare, which there's nothing wrong with. However, light brown liner or mascara would have been a better choice.