Reese Witherspoon Makeup Mistakes We Can't Ignore

As Reese Witherspoon said in a 2018 Elizabeth Arden ad, "Never underestimate the power of the right lipstick." But we should never underestimate the power of the wrong one either. Just like us, Witherspoon has experienced the awkwardness of a shade that just didn't work. "The Morning Show" actor told Allure she wore a lot of dark browns when she was younger, which isn't the perfect lipstick match based on her skin tone. "It looked terrible, and it was immortalized on my driver's license photo when I was 16 years old," she said. Cringe.

But, as much as we hate to say it, that isn't the only cosmetics mistake our little black dress queen Reese Witherspoon has experienced during her lengthy career. Though Witherspoon is totally gorgeous without makeup, she's still experimented with a lot of different colors and styles as her beauty has evolved — and, unfortunately, some of them seriously missed the mark.

Reese Witherspoon had a noticeable makeup faux pas in 1995 when she appeared at the "Waterworld" premiere wearing a far too light foundation for her skin tone. She was seemingly wearing faux tan on her body but not her face (or may have kept her face out of the sun), resulting in her complexion looking ghostly. To avoid making the same mishap, get a second bottle of your favorite foundation a couple of shades darker than your natural skin tone to ensure your face matches your body at all times, no matter what season it is.

Though we loved seeing Reese Witherspoon experiment with makeup in her early 20s, unfortunately, her "54" premiere look wasn't her best. She layered on intense, bright blue eyeshadow and red lipstick with another light foundation, which looked more like costume makeup than a glam, red carpet look. On top of that, the shadow was muddy and ill-defined on the outer corner, and she needed more blush and bronzer to warm up her complexion. We'd have recommended a lighter pink lip to let the electric blue shade have its moment.

Reese Witherspoon had a relatable moment at the IFP Gotham Awards in 2017 when she dealt with a lash mishap. The star was wearing individual falsies that were clearly lifting toward the inner corner of her left eye, as evidenced by close-up photos from the event. A couple of the clusters had come away from her lash line, which made her eyelashes look clumpy and unkempt, as the loose pieces almost reached her eyebrow. Lash mistakes can be seriously embarrassing at public events, so it's smart to keep a tube of lash glue in your purse for emergencies.

When Reese Witherspoon arrived at a screening of her movie "Mud" in 2013, she didn't have the youthful, bright undereyes we're used to seeing. The then-brunette star rocked a smoky shadow, but appeared to experience some fallout that emphasized the dark circles under and in the corner of her eyes. Her makeup artist seemingly didn't color correct with an orange concealer, which could have helped camouflage her dark circles.

In 1996, a young Reese Witherspoon learned the hard way that some makeup products cause a white flashback under flash photography. At the "Freeway" premiere, her face was almost white against her dark red lipstick, which could have been the result of a foundation containing SPF or a powder with silica. Not only did she look extremely pale, her complexion was totally flat. It wouldn't have looked quite so harsh had she or her makeup artist used a warmer blush or bronzer to give her a healthy glow and add dimension.