Kristi Noem's Eyebrow Blindness Is So Obvious In These Photos

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has a tragic case of eyebrow blindness. The term is not a medical condition; rather, it's a makeup phenomenon in which people struggle to accurately see how their eyebrows really look on their face, and can't assess when a brow trend isn't right for them. 

Eyebrow blindness can happen for myriad reasons. Some people overpluck, others overfill their brows, loading them up and weighing them down with too much product. In other cases — and this is a common one with Noem — the eyebrows are artificially, unnaturally blockish, with a blunt edge near the nose. All of these situations are unflattering, largely because a well-groomed, natural eyebrow, even when enhanced with brow product, should shape and frame the face. Eyebrows are hugely important for balancing features and creating harmony. For Noem, clearly a makeup lover, her eyebrows have consistently plagued her, and it seems like she's the last to know.

Because people see their own eyebrows every day, spotting unflattering grooming techniques can be hard. Hence the term "eyebrow blindness." For Kristi Noem, this was painfully evident when she spoke at the Hill Nation Summit in July 2025. Her brows looked artificially perfect, as if applied with a stencil. They appeared as two thick lines of darkness, rather than natural brows composed of individual hairs, making for one of Noem's less-flattering looks. 

Kristi Noem addressed a crowd in San José, Costa Rica, in June 2025 with eyebrows that pulled focus from the rest of her appearance. Noem was replicating the 2016 Kylie Jenner brow: a dark, statement brow style with an extreme arch. The look resulted in a fake, unflattering face frame, and this wasn't the first time she's messed up her makeup. Noem has quite the collection of big makeup mistakes, making this instance of brow blindness one of many flubs. 

Kristi Noem's face transformation has been a sight to see, especially after diving headfirst into a MAGA makeover. As part of her Mar-A-Lago face, she's shown off some seriously dark, sharp, artificial brows. While at a press conference in Indiana in October 2025, Noem addressed an audience with extremely dark, drawn-in brows. A helpful makeup tip is that brows should complement a person's hair color, and for those with darker hair, going a shade lighter with the brows creates the most natural contrast. Unfortunately, Noem's brows were way too dark to appear soft and flattering.

Ideally, eyebrows should look well-groomed and natural without drawing too much attention. But this was not the case for Kristi Noem when she spoke in the Oval Office in September 2025. The edges of her brows were too blocked-off to come off as natural, and the sharp shape was something Noem clearly missed. This phenomenon, known as "Instagram brows," became trendy in the late 2010s, and the fact that Noem was styling her brows like this in 2025 showed that she was hanging on to outdated trends.

Even back in 2021, when Kristi Noem was the Governor of South Dakota, she struggled with brow blindness. Long before the most-recent wave of media attention, Noem was drawing in her brows in a way that made them, again, appear blockish and blunt. Natural brow growth doesn't begin in one, clearly-defined line, and the fact that Noem drew her brows in with a harsh line emphasized their unnatural shape and looked way too intense. 

Kristi Noem's biggest cosmetic problem is that she often goes overboard. Noem got busted for overdoing it when it came to her eyeliner, and the same goes for her eyebrows. She seriously overfilled her brows at an event and drew far too much attention to them. Brows should enhance features rather than distract, and here, Noem's eyebrows were the main talking point. Eyebrows shouldn't be the main focal point on anyone's face, and the fact that Noem's brows grabbed so much attention meant that she really overdid it. 

Full eyebrows generally look youthful. With age, brows naturally become thinner due to hair loss, and thick, bushy brows are a symbol of youth. With Kristi Noem's undeniable love of plastic surgery, it's clear that she'll spare no expense when it comes to looking younger. Unfortunately, her interest in full brows has led to eyebrow blindness around how much product to use and how darkly to apply it in an effort to look younger.

Severe, drawn-on eyebrows have been nicknamed "Sharpie brows" because they look like they were drawn on with a Sharpie. This was an apt description for Kristi Noem's brows when she arrived at the Oval Office on June 10, 2025. Her brows were much thinner than they sometimes look, but they were just as harsh as ever with their blunt tips and sharply drawn-on appearance. It's a beauty mishap that Noem urgently needs to address.