8 Pics Of Karoline Leavitt Without Her Usual Full Face Of Makeup

When someone has a camera-facing job, it's natural that they'd wear a full face of makeup. So when pics crop up of them with a toned-down or makeup-free look, it can feel jarring, but also refreshing. Just as you wouldn't recognize certain news anchors without makeup, you might not clock that the eight pics below are of Karoline Leavitt. It's obvious in some of the more recent snaps, but Karoline Leavitt is nearly unrecognizable in pics before her "Mar-A-Lago face" transformation from before she became the White House press secretary in January 2025 at age 27.

While many wouldn't usually expect a high-ranking White House official to post GRWM Instagram videos, Leavitt's a sharer, and she's shared with the world exactly how she does her makeup. The recipe includes a duo of foundations, heavy contouring, dark eyebrow pencil, blush and bronzer, and layered eye makeup. Then there are the lips, which have had a news cycle of their own thanks to visible pin-pricks that many speculate are filler injection sites. She tends to over-line and over-gloss her puckers. But she's also shown a different side of herself, where she lightens the makeup load to reveal something softer, as these pics prove.

After giving birth to her son Niko in July 2024, Karoline Leavitt posted a pic of herself that appears to be makeup free, or at least without the usual thick foundation that covers up her freckles. As it was the summer time, she appears to have a subtle tan, which looks more natural than the heavy contour and bronzer she often sports in the White House briefing room.

In May 2025, U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looked nearly unrecognizable at a press conference outside the White House without her usual full face of makeup. The New Hampshire native has been repeatedly dragged for dressing and looking older than someone in her late 20s, but this moment showed that Leavitt can look her age when she wants to. It just requires a toned-down hairstyle and less makeup.

Karoline Leavitt has received a lot of criticism about the state of her skin for someone who hasn't hit 30 yet. This photo, posted in 2017, may hold one of the reasons why: She looks pretty sun-kissed. And as most of us know, regular sun exposure is one of the everyday habits that make you look older. Perhaps with time she's learned to limit her UV exposure? Or maybe we can't see it beneath her usual heavy makeup.

After visiting the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2025, Karoline Leavitt crossed the White House lawn, where photographers snapped pics of her with a noticeably lighter makeup look. Some might wonder if she learned from her caked-on makeup fails from the past? Though Karoline Leavitt will never live down her biggest makeup mistakes, could she have seen the error in her heavy-handed ways? No. Unfortunately, this was an anomaly.

Though she still had visible makeup on when she posed with Donald Trump at Trump Turnberry golf course in Scotland in July 2025, Karoline Leavitt did look distinctly softer with her subtler makeup. There also isn't any trace of heavy contouring, over-lined lips or filler injections, which help the look appear more natural and fresh. It's also a relief that she didn't overdo her cosmetics given the casualness of the venue.

Karoline Leavitt, husband Nicholas Riccio, and son Niko spend occasional weekends in Palm Beach, Florida, per Leavitt's Instagram. Presumably she often has to follow her boss there for work and ends up making a mini-vacation out of it. On one such trip in May 2025, she posted a refreshing makeup-free pic while posing with her family.

Although this pic of Karoline Leavitt addressing reporters outside the White House in February 2026 still shows some contouring product and other makeup elements, it's done with a lighter touch than her usual press conference look. When she's in the briefing room in front of cameras, her features tend to be more defined, as in heavier-looking eyebrows, color on the lips, and a layered look with the eye makeup. We can't see any of that here.

Back in January 2018, Karoline Leavitt, then 20, posted this pic of herself in Rome, Italy. It's a much lighter makeup look than we're used to with Leavitt. Though we presumed her under-eye bags were a result of her workplace, it's clear they've featured as part of her look for years prior to joining the White House staff. She was defining her brows and leaning into black mascara then, but certainly in a subtler way than she does now. "The way ur so pretty in this what did you do to yourself," an Instagram user commented on the pic, noticing the change in Leavitt's beauty game over the years.