A close-up photo of Karoline Leavitt from Vanity Fair’s stunning pieces about White House officials got a lot of attention this week for revealing what appear to be familiar dots around the press secretary’s lips.
The comments section for Vanity Fair’s Instagram post includes responses like, “The injection marks really sing in this one!” and “Love the evidence of her gender-affirming care.”
This is not the first time Leavitt’s cosmetic choices have sparked conversation. And as many have pointed out on TikTok and beyond, “conservative girl makeup” and “Mar-a-Lago face” have become politically coded beauty trends in our culture.
The extreme close-up ― an approach not limited to Leavitt in the article, and which photographer Christopher Anderson has defended as a signature feature of his political portraiture ― offers a glimpse into the cosmetic choices involved in these beauty trends.
To better understand what viewers were reacting to, HuffPost asked a dermatologist, two plastic surgeons and some professional makeup artists to explain what might be going on and how to avoid the look yourself.
Learn more here.
