Celeb Makeup Disasters

Let's face it: It's really easy to look good when you have a team of professionals to prep and primp you to perfection. Celebrity makeup artists can make any canvas look stunning, and when you're starting from a base of seemingly unattainable beauty, how can you go wrong? Shocking as it may be, it's all too common for stars to hit red carpets and special events looking like a hot mess from the neck up.

Whether it's unfortunate lighting, heavy-handedness with blush or bronzer, a cakey base, smudged mascara, kooky contours, or just an unflattering shade of lipstick, the following celebrities either went overboard with cosmetics or simply made really unfortunate choices in products and colors. Thankfully, when worse comes to worst, you can always just run to the bathroom with a cotton ball and some remover and start over, but for the sake of our eyes (and their reputations), here's hoping these celeb makeup disasters will not be repeated.

Cosmetic chameleon Jessie J rocked lilac lipstick to the 2014 BRIT Awards and quickly regretted it. Though it matched her nail polish perfectly, the lip color clashed terribly with her skin and seemed to drain the bronzer from her face.

The "Bang Bang" singer's pale purple pucker became a trending topic on Twitter, where some compared her to a "corpse," while others likened her (via the Daily Mail) to the stars of Titanic freezing to death at the end of the tragic film. Other than the lipstick, — which no one could see past — Jessie J looked incredible. Her nude, bedazzled jumpsuit hugged her enviable curves, and her hair was perfectly coiffed.

The style risk-taker took the loss in stride, tweeting: "The lip didn't work. Get over it. I have. Onto the next look!"

Pamela Anderson has made her career out of being blonde, blue-eyed, bronzed, and busty, most famously as lifeguard C.J. Parker on Baywatch. Since the shows '90s heyday, however, the beauty's style has not changed — that that has dated her in recent years.

Take this 2014 cosmetic catastrophe: Anderson's trademark buttery blonde waves are all over the place except for, well, in their place. She has bronzer on her hairline and a hint of her nude lipstick on her otherwise perfect white teeth. Her eyebrows are super skinny, her eye makeup is super heavy, and there's simply too much of everything, which is pretty much her signature.

Anderson told Harper's Bazaar (via Hello!) in 2017, that she gets her smoky eyes by applying more and more eye makeup throughout the course of a day. "It gets better throughout the night," she said, adding, "I'm not great at washing my makeup off at night. Things usually get carried away before then. I like to start off classy and elegant, but my look evolves behind closed doors."

We're not sure what her look started like at this event, but if this is how it evolved, who knows what sort of disaster she had going on in private?

Chrissy Teigen became famous for modeling swimsuits and dating (and later marrying and procreating with) John Legend, so you wouldn't think she'd have any beauty misses. Alas, even Teigen admits to some past failures in the makeup arena.

The Sports Illustrated stunner is naturally pretty pale, but she went way overboard with the spray tan when she accompanied Legend to the 2008 Grammys. She posted a photo from that night as a throwback on Instagram, writing, "Grammys 2008. 10 years ago. This tan! lmao" She also posted a photo of her self-tanner smeared all over her bed linens, resembling an almost inverse chalk outline on a crime scene. 

She later told People that while she used to get a spray tan every two to three days, she's giving up the "exhausting" habit since becoming a mom. "I'm very fair-skinned without a spray tan. People don't realize how incredibly light I can get," she said. "I'm a spray tan addict, but admittedly I haven't been doing it for a long time because I just don't f**king care anymore with the baby!"

We're used to seeing Christina Aguilera in one of two ways lately: either almost naked-faced or wearing so much makeup that she tiptoes the line between Old Hollywood glamour and RuPaul's Drag Race — but she somehow makes it work.

That wasn't always the case. In 2004, Aguilera transitioned from clean-cut "Genie in a Bottle" blonde pop star to wannabe Snooki (before there even was a Snooki). Her skin was an unflattering, unnatural shade of orange. Her pink eyelids made her look like she just got hit with a pollen bomb. Her eyebrows were almost non-existent. Her blush could have made Boy George tell her to give her face a good scrub, and her eye makeup was so smokey, that we're surprised she didn't suffer lung damage.

That said, the "Accelerate" singer still thought she looked great. She later told In Style that she believed her dark hair made her "more mysterious," adding, "It made me feel vixen-ish."

Lindsay Lohan's makeup history is as colorful and checkered as her criminal history. The troubled actress started out as a fresh-faced, freckled ginger. Then her hard partying caught up with her appearance, prematurely aging her and resulting in a slew of mugshots.

At an October 2011 appearance at one of her many court dates, Lohan did her best to appear somewhat conservative and put together, but unfortunately, her best wasn't enough. Her bottle-blond hair washes her out, and her eyebrows are way too dark and overdone compared to her pale hair. Lohan's fair skin shows her trademark, adorable freckles, but perhaps in an ill-advised effort to bring more color and contours to her face, she sports a lot of blush that's far too dark for her skin and applied in severe, unnatural, dirty-looking stripes. Combined with her clumpy mascara, this look is surefire way to get in trouble with the Fashion Police.

These days, we take for granted that Kendall Jenner is a supermodel because we're so used to seeing her on runways and in print campaigns for various brands, but during New York Fashion Week in February 2014, the satellite Kardashian sister was still a runway rookie. It may seem impossible to make her look bad, but makeup artists at Marc Jacobs managed to do just that.

A blunt wig, bleached eyebrows, slightly smoky eyes, and shiny nude lips made Jenner look more mannequin than model. The only thing distracting her from looking like Powder's weirdly hot cousin? Her top was completely see-through, exposing her nipples to the world.

"I just recently turned 18, so this [Marc Jacobs show] is my big kick-off to start and grow my career," she told Into the Gloss at the time. "The New York fashion scene is crazy, madness, but I love the energy. I love everything about it — like the hair and makeup today, it's incredible. I've never had my eyebrows bleached; I don't even look like myself."

In 2004, Charlize Theron won the best actress Oscar for her star turn as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. For the part, she put on weight and wore facial prosthetics to make herself almost ugly.

At the Academy Awards, Theron, clad in a stunning gold Dior gown, looked inhuman. Aside from her preternatural bone structure, height, and general elegance and grace, her spray tan was so dark and so orange that the world wasn't sure if they should get her medical attention for sun poisoning or pressure-wash the bronzer off of her body. Thanks to the artificial darkness of her skin, her think eyebrows disappeared into her forehead. Her brown smoky eyes looked tired instead of edgy due to her all-over color, and most of her face didn't match her neck.

On the bright side? Theron's hair and lip gloss looked lovely, and, well, she won a freakin' Oscar.

Lady Gaga can be stunningly gorgeous — when she wants to be. However, sometimes Mother Monster just wants to look ... well, like this. 

In this 2013 red carpet snap, Gaga sports bleached brows, a crimped, frizzy wig, and creepy all-black contact lenses. The look is made even worse by a case of severely overpowering over-powdering. The music superstar looks less like her usual funky, cute self and more like a demonically possessed cousin of Dee Snider.

Hopefully, Gaga embraces a different look for her rumored makeup line. The Blast reported in May 2018 that Gaga and her Ate My Heart Inc. applied for a trademark for a cosmetics brand called "Haus Beauty," named after her infamous Haus of Gaga. Haus Beauty will reportedly market and produce foundations, lipsticks, eyeshadows, eyeliners, and more. So far, there's no word on whether it will also include her bizarre "Born This Way" style of prosthetics or any of the creepy products featured in this unfortunate look.

Nicki Minaj is one of the prettiest women on the planet (even without a ton of makeup,) but that didn't stop her from stepping out with this unblended mess of contouring at the American Music Awards Nominees press conference in October 2011. The visibly dark stripes make the "Anaconda" MC's nose look insane and, even worse, gives the illusion of a five o'clock shadow on the lower half of her face.

Thankfully, this seems to be the only time Minaj fell victim to such a catastrophic contouring incident. In 2013, she actually praised the practice, telling Extra, "I've never had surgery on my face. [People will] see contour and they'll think you had surgery on your nose. No no no! Look at RuPaul's Drag Race, and you'll see how you can make your nose look any shape you want." We doubt this is the one she wanted. (And we won't even get into those ridiculous lashes.)

Katy Perry is a beautiful girl with coloring that can pull off any number of makeup looks. Unfortunately, she also has a tendency to really overdo it, which often results in super-cakey foundation or, even worse, this Cabaret-meets-Culture Club look from the Glastonbury Music Festival in 2017. 

Perhaps Perry wasn't quite ready for just how much her cropped 'do would expose her face (or how much the peroxide shade would wash out her skin), but this rainbow mess of makeup ages her severely (as does her heavy foundation, which creases near her mouth.)

The Cover Girl brand rep told People that her makeup styles have evolved over time. "When I was younger, I'd wake up early to make sure I had a full face of 'natural look' first thing in the morning. That's a couple hours of sleep I'll never get back!" These days, Perry embraces all out glam (and sometimes garish), telling People, "I love makeup's power to transform and empower."

Rihanna has flawless skin, gorgeous green eyes, and a fierce attitude that enables her to pull off literally anything — even green lipstick — and make it look incredible. However, before finding her footing, the "Love on the Brain" singer had some visible difficulty finding foundations and concealers to match her skin tone, as seen here at the 2010 NRJ Music Awards. Her under-eye concealer was so light and poorly blended that she had the dreaded "raccoon in reverse" look.

Perhaps RiRi's early cosmetics struggles are part of what inspired the stunner to launch the incredibly successful Fenty Beauty, which includes a sweeping collection of foundation shades. She told InStyle that she wants everyone to feel included in her cosmetic line, which also boasts highlighters, contour kits, and lipsticks.

"When I was a teen back in Barbados, I was in a pageant, and my mom did my makeup for it. I will never forget the feeling I had after seeing how even my skin looked when she put foundation on my face ... I loved it," she said. "It's like Photoshop. I like my makeup to look like skin — really good skin."

Demi Lovato's neutral skin tone and perfect complexion make her an amazing canvas for all sorts of makeup looks. She looks great in just about any color, and her bone structure can handle everything from "no makeup" makeup looks to actual no makeup to smoky eyes to a bold lip. The girl is beautiful!

That said, the singer's eyebrows were severely overpowering her done-up face on The X Factor in 2012. She later confessed that she'd used Latisse, a serum designed to grow longer and thicker eyelashes, on her brows — a move that she regretted after seeing herself on TV.

"It's a miracle. It's a product that helps your lashes grow really long. I was like, 'Oh, this will be a good idea to make my eyebrows fill in,'" Lovato recalled. "And so I used Latisse on my brows and they, like, took over my role as a judge on The X Factor. I mean, they had an opinion of their own. It was in HD, it was so bad. I don't know what I was thinking!"

Courteney Cox is so pretty, but everything in this 2014 look is a bit much, particularly the eyeliner and facial fillers. The Friends star reflected on her extreme look in 2017: "What would end up happening is that you go to a doctor who would say, 'You look great, but what would help is a little injection here or filler there.' So you walk out and you don't look so bad and you think, no one noticed — it's good. Then somebody tells you about another doctor ... The next thing you know, you're layered and layered and layered. You have no idea because it's gradual until you go, 'Oh s**t, this doesn't look right.' And it's worse in pictures than in real life."

She added, "I've had all my fillers dissolved. I'm as natural as I can be. I feel better because I look like myself ... I've had to learn to embrace movement and realize that fillers are not my friend."

Victoria Beckham admits that her 2007 look: fake tan, bleach blonde Kate Gosselin hair, smudged eyes, frosted lipstick, bandage dresses, and a perpetual scowl was possibly her worst style ever.

She wrote a letter to her 18-year-old self in Vogue UK in January 2017, warning "Posh Spice" against many of the choices she made with her appearance. She specifically admitted to having breast augmentation, calling the decision "stupid" and "a sign of insecurity." Of her makeup, Beckham wrote, "Let your skin breathe; wear less makeup. (And don't ever let that make-up artist shave your eyebrows! The effects last forever.) You will always be addicted to Elnett hairspray but you will tone it down. Less of the 'Hello! I just got stuck in a wind tunnel', please."

She added, "But I look back at you and smile. It will add interest to your life to go from one extreme to another. I love the fact that you will feel free to express yourself."

J. Lo no-no! Jennifer Lopez is famous for her glow, but that luminous look was drained from her face with her heavy pastel eye makeup and lipstick at a March 2015 taping of American Idol. In this image, her preternaturally ageless skin looks older thanks to a foundation crease near the sides of her mouth, and the cool shades wash out her signature golden skin.

Fortunately, Lopez's makeup rarely misfires, and she even launched her own customized cosmetic line though Inglot with the help of her longtime makeup artist, Scott Barnes. To date, the line has lipsticks, bronzers, eyeliners, eyeshadows, powders, and blushes. She told Allure, "I'd love to eventually get into skin and complexion. I'd rather take it slow, do it right, and let people know that they can count on me that when I put something out I'm not just putting my name on it."

Selena Gomez wore so much fake tanner and bronzer at the 2018 Met Gala that she was nearly unrecognizable. Her burnt orange skin and shiny complexion, combined with her messy updo, glitter-caked eyelids, and nude lips that disappeared into her chin all added up to what certainly wasn't the best night for the usually stylish and stunning starlet.

Gomez herself seemed to acknowledge the fashion and cosmetic failure, posting a video on Instagram of herself sprinting through an underground parking lot with the caption, "Me when I saw my pictures from Met."

However, a source close to the former Disney star denied that she was unhappy with her look. "In person, she honestly felt great but not everything looks the same as it does in person," the source told People. "She was just clapping back at people who were commenting on her tan and hair and wanted to make a joke about it." Right.

Naomi Campbell didn't let fellow supermodel Coco Rocha down easy when she flat-out slammed Rocha's purple lipstick in a 2013 episode of The Face. While arguing with Rocha over their respective contestants' prospective campaigns for beauty retailer Ulta, Campbell snapped, "I don't think so. I wasn't letting that go, not with the lipstick color you were wearing, dear. So check your lipstick before you come and talk to me, because you're wearing it!" 

It was, admittedly, not the best shade for Rocha, but it wasn't necessarily terrible. She later doubled down on her violet pucker, tweeting a series of photos to Campbell in which she sported dramatically curved brows, heavy purple eyeshadow going up to her brow bones, and lavender lipstick, writing: "Hey @naomicampbell I checked my lipstick. Is this better?" 

Still not having it, Campbell replied: "Who, what, moved on, next!"