Early in her time as Donald Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt suffered some makeup fails that have caused some chatter, but there’s one mistake she continuously makes. She fielded questions from the press outside the White House on February 21, wearing a jacket with fur trim over a cheetah-print top, and while her makeup overall was inoffensive, Leavitt’s extremely dark eyebrows stood out. They start out thick and get thinner, but it’s the shade, not the shape, that really draws attention. The overly penciled brows were not a one-off. Earlier in the month, Leavitt’s eyebrows were even darker when she held a presser inside the White House. Just as her job officially started, Leavitt attended Trump’s inauguration on January 20, and her devilishly dark eyebrows were on display.

The avant-garde brows have not gone unnoticed by the public. “Karoline Leavitt president-elect new press secretary needs to grow some real eyebrows … They painted on fake ones look terrible on her,” a user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote before Leavitt officially joined the administration. Instagram Reels have been made mocking Leavitt’s overindulgence in beauty products. “They eyebrows are DIABOLICAL,” one Instagram user commented. Somewhat surprisingly, the sinister eyebrows are not just a product of overdoing it to be camera-ready on press days. To celebrate Thanksgiving 2024, Leavitt posted a photo to Instagram of her holding her baby — and even in that setting, her eyebrows were four shades too dark. 

It’s rare, but Leavitt has been photographed without makeup, as she was spotted leaving Trump Tower in April 2024 with a more muted makeup approach. That closer-to-natural fresh-faced look was more fitting. In fact, people have pointed out that going heavy with the makeup brush has aged Leavitt significantly and in the wrong direction. 

A lot has been made of Karoline Leavitt’s age, as she was the youngest person appointed as White House press secretary. Between the heavy brows and her all-in approach to makeup—no matter the occasion—Leavitt often ends up looking older than her years, giving trolls plenty of ammo. “There’s no way Karoline Leavitt is 27. She looks like she’s in her mid 40’s,” one tweeted. A similar comment was lobbed at the press secretary in the Thanksgiving 2024 photo she posted holding her infant.

Some online users have posited that the press secretary started adopting her makeup techniques when she officially became a woman working for Donald Trump — for instance, the dark eyebrows are a bad makeup habit Lauren Boebert infamously employs. Love them or hate them, the furiously dark brows were a makeup technique Leavitt used long before being tapped for the Trump admin. In December 2020, Leavitt uploaded a photo of herself posing outside the White House as she flashed a giant smile. Her makeup, in general, was subdued compared to her later look, but the eyebrows were still super dark in contrast to her skin tone.

The consistently dark brows are Leavitt’s own handiwork, as she posted a makeup tutorial to Instagram in November 2023. Leavitt recorded herself getting ready in the bathroom before appearing on Fox Business and showed a step-by-step process of her makeup application. On top of showing how she applies foundation and contouring, Leavitt went over her eyebrows with two different products. Leavitt mentioned in the caption that besides little “touch-ups” on set, she does her own makeup for TV.