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For decades the reputation of Hollywood’s finest stars have been centered around the adjectives, “fake” and “plastic”, giving non – Los Angeles residents the impression that the people here are just as fake as their looks. This idea has been a part of Los Angeles culture for a while now and integrated itself highly into the world when it saw a resurgence of “full glam” makeup on celebrities in the 2010s. Heavy eyeshadow, dark eyeliner, and a bright colored lip was the go-to look for celebrities especially on red carpets, giving life to the unhealthy beauty standard being showcased by celebrities still to this day. Social media has had a highly influential impact on the rise of “full glam” makeup as it gave people a platform for teaching others around the world how to contour your face so much that you look almost unrecognizable, an ideal that has been heavily desired.
But, it’s not a coincidence that the “full glam” aesthetics, through devices like social media, added to LA’s reputation of being “fake” and “plastic”. “full glam” makeup is a dramatic look with multiple layers of makeup, essentially to heavily cover up one’s face, instead of embracing their natural features. This type of makeup look made people believe that they can look like the celebrities they see on red carpets, only those celebrities were not just using makeup. Kylie Jenner launched Kylie Lip Kits in 2015 and they became extremely popular, especially amongst young girls. However, Jenner had work done to her lips in order to make them look bigger, giving false hope to her customers who bought her lip kits to have lips just like hers. This is just one of the many examples in Hollywood where “full glam” makeup took over and resulted not only in it being the look for celebrities to be showcased in, but also the look that any common citizen desired even if it was unattainable.
However, recently “full glam” makeup looks have been sitting on the backburner, as celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Zendaya, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and even Kylie Jenner have been attending events in what would be called a “soft glam” makeup look or sometimes no makeup at all. The “soft glam” makeup look is one that is used to naturally enhance a person’s features without overbearing their face with makeup. It’s a makeup look that doesn’t alter the appearance of someone so much that they look like they had surgical work done; it’s an honest representation. Zendeya, Ariana Grande, and Selena Gomez all showed up to the 82nd annual Golden Globes at the start of the 2025 awards season in a old hollywood, “soft glam” makeup look with Zendeya’s outfit even being an homage to Joyce Bryant, the black-club singer and Hollywood icon of the 1940s (Vogue). And even Kylie Jenner, one of the first celebrities people used to think of when thinking of “full glam” showed up in just a light and natural makeup look, altering her historical reputation in Hollywood. This year’s Golden Globes ceremony can go down as one that gave rise to a different reputation for the celebrities of Los Angeles; that showcasing with less, is actually more.
And speaking about less being more, Pamela Anderson has been going to events with no makeup on since she attended Paris Fashion Week in 2023. In a video for Vogue France, Anderson says, “ I’m not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room, I feel like it’s just freedom. It’s like a relief,” (Anderson, Vogue France). Anderson later expressed in 2024 that this journey of wearing no makeup has been one of focusing on returning back to “self love” and “self acceptance” (Allure). This kind of decision by Anderson, coming from the 90s icon who’s heavy makeup looks and bombshell hair that defined her in Hollywood, gives us insight into what LA’s reputation might look like in the future; one where honest self-representation might be at the forefront and “plastic” and fake” are on hold … for now.
