Norah O’Donnell has always been stunning, but we typically see the CBS star post-hair and makeup and with professional lighting. So, what does she look like without all of the above? We did a quick scan of her socials, and … yup, still stunning. 

Summer 2025 saw O’Donnell share an Instagram photo dump highlighting her love for hydrangeas. The last slide included a makeup-free snap of her holding a basket of flowers (that were not hydrangeas, but that’s besides the point), and while she did look different without all the glam, she certainly didn’t need any product to highlight her iconic light blue eyes. That said, we’ll give her props for donning a striped blue shirt that brought them out even more. 

While we’re on the clever move of wearing a shirt that emphasized her eyes, it bears mentioning that that wasn’t her only hack for keeping an unfiltered and makeup-free snap so flawless. O’Donnell also wore a hat for the pic, which kept the lighting even and nixed any unflattering shadows. TBH, that tracks. After all, while O’Donnell has undergone a transformation in some ways, her career as a broadcaster stems right back to her childhood. It’s not exactly untold that O’Donnell spent part of her childhood in South Korea, but as she revealed in a 2017 episode of “CBS This Morning,” she was also cast to do English lessons on TV during that period. With all that in mind, we’re not shocked that when it comes to being on camera, O’Donnell is a seasoned pro. And really, who needs a filter when you’ve got decades of industry know-how?

One detail filter-free pics have made clear about Norah O’Donnell is that she actually looks younger without makeup than she does with it. Perhaps that’s why, in March 2025, she wasn’t averse to sharing another bare-faced pic on her Instagram. In a post encouraging her followers to donate blood, O’Donnell looked as fresh-faced as could be — though this time, she was likely posing under way harsher lights (and there was no hat in sight). That meant there were some shadows, but even that little detail didn’t stop the CBS star from looking her best. 

As for the unfiltered pics of O’Donnell while sporting a full face of glam, some may remember that when Pope Francis died, she jetted off to the Vatican to cover the story. While there, her colleague Chris Livesay shared a snap of them behind the scenes. The light was fairly harsh, and unfortunately, that meant O’Donnell’s makeup looked a lot thicker than normal, which in turn made her look slightly older. However, as most know, TV makeup generally looks a little out of place IRL, so we won’t read too much into that. 

Ultimately, with or without a filter, and bare-faced or fully made-up, O’Donnell is head-turningly beautiful. The fact that she knows how to find her light and keep shadows as even as possible is just the cherry on top.