Unfiltered Photos Of Ariana Grande Prove Her Makeup Should Never Be Captured Up Close

Ariana Grande has undergone a complete evolution from a young Nickelodeon star to America's favorite good witch on the silver screen in "Wicked." But anyone who's been in the spotlight and attended as many Hollywood events as the Grammy winner is bound to make some mistakes with their glam. Some of Grande's makeup fails have been obvious, but others require a more subtle eye for detail. Grande has her own makeup line, R.E.M. Beauty, which, maybe surprisingly, means she's more prone to mistakes — she's perhaps more inclined to take risks with her makeup looks than stars who don't dabble in the cosmetics business. 

"I think makeup is about self-expression. It's not about following trends per se," Grande told Glamour in 2022 when speaking about her beauty line. "The point of it is to express yourself and feel beautiful. It's personal," she shared. In the interview, the "thank u, next" singer said she loves 1960s pastel makeup shades and favors a cut crease. Since she's not worried about trends, she's likely also unbothered by her makeup mistakes, especially the ones that require a zoom and a keen eye. But unfortunately for her, that won't scrub the evidence off the internet. 

If you look closely at the left side of Ariana Grande's forehead at the New York premiere of "Wicked: For Good" on November 17, 2025, you'll see some unblended bronzer or dark foundation. It might be there on purpose, as it's a common makeup trick to use contouring to make someone's forehead look smaller. But it can't work if you don't actually do the contouring — as in, build the makeup, shape it, and blend properly. Sure, this blunder is easy to miss if you're at home doomscrolling, but her team shouldn't have let her on a red carpet like that. 

Ariana Grande's NYC press tour for "Wicked: For Good" was full of makeup mishaps. The day after the premiere, on November 18, she was photographed out and about in Manhattan in an all-black ensemble carrying a wand. As she promoted her role as Glinda, Grande wore powder and highlighter around her eyes and in the center of her face. It created a glowing, magical effect that made sense. However, she used way too much powder and the products were not blended well enough, making her appear ghostly in close-up snaps. 

It's easy to forget that the whirlwind that was the "Wicked" press tour began months before the first movie was released in November 2024. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo made one of their first and most memorable appearances at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The former child star looked perfectly sophisticated in white, but there was no denying her visible bronzer lines, especially near her cheeks. It's a relatable mistake, but such an easy one to fix with some blending. 

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and Ariana Grande should definitely have kept her CinemaCon makeup there. She wore black while promoting "Wicked: For Good" with Cynthia Erivo at Caesars Palace in April 2025, so her makeup was muted and pretty neutral. It probably looked fine from afar, but up close, the bronzer and foundation application looked slightly heavier on the right side of her face. There was also a stray sparkle above her right eye, and the tip of her nose was noticeably too contoured, appearing darker than the rest of her face. 

Ariana Grande has been attending the Grammys long before she was first nominated in 2014, and won for the first time in 2019. The bronzer she donned at the ceremony in 2011 was impossible not to see. But it takes a good eye to notice that this whole look contained layers of failure. Hypothetically, her white dress meant that her face was a makeup artist's dream palette to do whatever they wanted. So, why did they let the then 17-year-old "Victorious" star attend music's biggest night with a peach lip, peachy-pink blush, and shimmery peach eyeshadow (with extra-thick eyeliner as the cherry on top of the monochromatic mess)?

Ariana Grande wore a pale pink dress to the "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" New York premiere in July 2011. Her makeup application wasn't messy, but considering her dress, her color choices were totally off. She was wearing dark charcoal gray eyeshadow paired with a red lip and reddish-pink blush that was too heavily applied on one of her cheeks. From far away, the overly-glam look might not have been too bad, but up close the bold makeup overwhelmed Grande's delicate features.