Makeup Blunders Reba McEntire May Wish to Forget

Reba McEntire’s gradual smoky eyes were subtle and timeless when she showed up at the “America’s Got Talent” photocall in September 2023. She highlighted her blue eyes with a silvery shade in the inner corners and gave them some depth with an eggplant-colored shadow that matched her dress. Unfortunately, the rest of her face looked washed out, especially under the bright camera lights. The “Turn on the Radio” singer should have turned up her bronzer and blush, as you could only see a faint layer on her cheeks.

With McEntire’s fair skin, it’s easy to go overboard with color, so it’s best to use a light hand for everyday makeup. However, when it comes to the red carpet, the flashes from cameras can cause colors to fade, so celebs often appear paler than usual. All McEntire needed was a deeper shade of blush, especially on the apples of her cheeks, and her makeup would have been perfect.

Reba McEntire has worn wigs to awards shows (such as the 2024 ACM Awards), which explains the various shades of red she sports. During the October 2019 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony, she sported a deep-auburn color with wispy bangs and her hair teased high on her crown. The hue looked amazing on her and brightened up her features, but she failed to darken her eyebrows as well. While it would have been perfect for her lighter red-hair moments, the light-brown shade looked too ashy and made her brows disappear on her face.

Matching eyebrows to red hair is tricky because you don’t want them to be overly orange or purple. For dark copper hair like McEntire’s, you’ll want to choose a medium to dark brown with just a hint of red to match the cool undertones. Just a three or four shades darker would have made her eyes pop instead of having them fade away.

It looks like Reba McEntire didn’t get the memo that foundation matching is all bout the neck (or follow TikTok’s hack to accomplish it). The country singer looked like she had a floating head with her too-pale face while at Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night in March 2017. Meanwhile, McEntire’s body was two shades darker with a warmer undertone that may have been the result of some self-tanner. When getting your body bronze and glowy, it’s easy to forget to go with a darker foundation as well, so many end up with a face that doesn’t match.

When this happens, at the very least, some bronzer can help make the face and body look more cohesive. I like to brush some on the upper part of the forehead, bridge of the nose, tops of the cheeks, and around the jawline. This creates a natural highlight in the center of the face that really draws out the features. While McEntire’s makeup mistake may not have been as evident away from the cameras, the bright lights definitely didn’t help.

Looking at Reba McEntire’s makeup for the “Genius: A Night For Ray Charles” taping, you would think the event took place sometime in the 1980s — but you would be wrong. It was actually in 2004, which was the wrong place and time to wear bright-pink eyeshadow, frosted silvery-blue eyeliner, loads of mascara, and fuchsia lipstick. While Y2K makeup was all about shimmer and fun colors, McEntire should have just chosen one area to highlight and left the rest of her face neutral.

We applaud McEntire for trying out pink, as many folks with red hair shy away from the shade. However, the cool tone of her makeup clashed with the warmth of her marigold hair. What’s more, there was just too much of everything all at once. If she wanted to rock ’80s shimmer on her eyes, the “Somebody Should Leave” singer should have traded the pink shadow for a neutral gray or taupe instead. Perhaps this was before McEntire settled on her signature look, but sometimes, makeup experiments simply go horribly wrong.