Melania Trump's Biggest Makeup Mistakes Are Hard To Ignore

Melania Trump has made a few makeup mistakes over the years. While the first lady is typically associated with polish and poise, she's on some occasions, taken some swings with her look and gotten it wrong. To be fair, her makeup mistakes are ones that could happen to anyone. She's drawn in her eyebrows too heavily; she's gone wild with dark eyeshadow without proper blending. She's even worn false lashes that were so thick and fake-looking that they made her eyes appear smaller rather than youthful. And of course, there's the dreaded frosted eyeshadow. Everyone's learned that lesson once. 

Makeup mistakes are a common experience for anyone who spends a lot of time in the public eye, and with how often Melania gets glam, it's understandable that she's had a few flubs along the way. And Melania is a master of evolution. Melania's had a gorgeous transformation over the years, but she was always gorgeous. Throwback snaps of Melania remind us what a supermodel stunner she's always been. Even her hair has changed. In fact, Melania looks wildly different with her natural hair color. Since she's always changing things up in terms of her grooming and preening, a few makeup mistakes are bound to crop up over the years. 

Like so many people in the '90s, Melania Trump over-plucked her brows. The otherwise gorgeous supermodel made the unfortunate choice to make her brows super-skinny. The reason thin brows are often unattractive — and Melania's were no exception to this — is that they create an empty space on the face where a natural, full-frame is expected. They can appear aging and much more harsh. Thankfully, this was a trend that Melania did not carry with her into later years, opting for much more flattering, full brows. 

Ah, frosty eyeshadow. Even sleek Melania Trump has fallen for the dangerous allure of frosty shadow. To be fair, this was way back in 2003 when she attended the Luca Luca show with Donald Trump and model Esther Canadas. Frosty shadow Melania arrived with a subtle smokey eye and a bright wash of shimmery shadow in a pale blue tone to match her ice blue dress. Frosty shadow ends up looking unflattering because it's reflective, and eyeshadow is flattering when it emphasises the natural contour of the eye lid. Instead, frosty shadow makes this area appear flat. Thankfully, Melania left that makeup mistake long in the past. 

The trick for a flawless smokey eye is to blend mindfully. Not blending enough can lead to streaky eyeshadow with a clear outline of the shadow, as opposed to the desired effect of a soft, diffused edge. Over-blending means that the eyeshadow can get out of control, as eyeshadow creeps up towards the brow bone and the inner corners of the eyes, giving a "panda effect." Since Melania Trump loves a smokey eye, it's unsurprising that she's struggled on a few occasions with keeping her blending under control. Her charcoal-tone shadow covered almost the entire surface of her eyelids at the Republican debate in New Hampshire in 2016. It was distracting. 

Melania Trump made the mistake of applying black eyeliner to the bottom of her eyelashes. While we know she loves a heavy eye look — and that this usually looks dramatic and flattering on her — thickly lining the underside of one's eyes in black liner can look harsh. The makeup technique often makes eyes look smaller than they really are. Instead of opening them up, thick liner along the bottom lashes emphasizes dark circles and can appear aging. In 2016, when Melania was in Detroit, Michigan, with Donald Trump, she made this makeup mistake. However, she's avoided it since, so it looks like she learned from the error. 

Both Melania and Donald Trump love looking tanned, and while she tends to pull it off better than he does, she made a mistake at the NBC Town Hall for the Today Show on April 21, 2016. Her bronzer was too heavy in some places, while not present enough near her chin, making her look patchy. Melania's application of bronzer on her cheeks was too heavy. Instead of a natural, sun-kissed hue, her bronzer was like a wide slab of color on her cheek, and the rest of her foundation was too pale to pair well with the bronzer.

Melania Trump loves her false lashes, and often they look natural and enhance her beauty. The goal from false lashes is to discretely widen the eyes and make them look more open and alert. However, when lashes are too thick and heavy, they have the opposite effect, essentially shrouding the eyes under a hood of darkness. Melania made this mistake in 2020 when she spoke in the East Room of the White House in honor of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Her mega lashes were on display in a not-so-subtle way. 

In December 2019, Melania Trump attended the ceremonial lighting of the National Christmas tree. She wore a lovely white and red pattern coat, but made a strange choice in terms of her blush. She liberally applied a dark, orange-tone blush all over her cheeks. The blush looked very unnatural and heavy on Melania, since the tone didn't mimic a natural blush hue. Her heavy eyebrows didn't help the overall look, either. It was definitely an evening of makeup mistakes for the first lady. 

While full brows are youthful and frame the face, heavy brows can have the opposite effect. They drag features down and distract from beautiful features in a person's face. Melania Trump learned this lesson the hard way at the White House Fourth of July picnic in 2025. The first lady made the rookie mistake of filling in her brows from beginning to end with a heavy hand of product. The final result was an unnatural, geometric shape to her brows. Less is more when it comes to brows, and a lighter touch ends up leading to a more natural arch.