7 Weird Secrets You Learn Doing Makeup For US Politicians

7

You Get Shockingly Close To The Most Powerful People On Earth

Natalie did Jimmy Carter's makeup once. He wasn't president at the time or in the middle of building a house for homeless people out of bones he'd personally removed from Goldman Sachs bankers. He was just being interviewed for a documentary. But he still had a Secret Service detail.

"You get background checked. There were three occasions I was supposed to do Jimmy Carter's makeup. Every time I had to submit to a complete criminal background check."

But, Natalie was surprised to see that "when I actually went, no one went through my kit at all. And I thought, wow, if I were ..." she trailed off at that point, but then noted, "I would have had complete access to this person. They even left the president and I alone at the room."

6

Everyone Has Their Own Style, And It's Important To Respect That

Leah has done Bernie Sanders' hair. Love him or not, one look at the man should inform you of what a task that is.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

5

Sometimes You've Got To Convince The Men

"You can smell the fear on them," Natalie says of many male clients. "I've gone as far as let them hold the mirror so they can see I'm not caking powder on them or making them look like a woman in any way shape or form."

Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

4

There's A Reason So Many Public Figures Look So Strange Lately

Leah pointed out that most politicians, particularly the men, have a cadre of advisors around to make sure the makeup artist doesn't -- purely hypothetical example here -- do them up like an Oompa Loompa with a liver disease.

"And their handlers are there with them, and they're making sure I don't mess up or change their look."

But that doesn't stop one troubling trend: literally airbrushing makeup onto clients.

"The other thing, like if you watch a lot of television nowadays there's like a wide ring around their forehead ... I think they do that in Washington studios ... they do that airbrush makeup where it's sprayed on."

CNBC

3

You've Got To Be Apolitical To Do This Job

Leah did the makeup for a Republican primary debate in South Carolina back in 2012.

"I did that debate. I did everybody's makeup except Mitt Romney; I don't know if he had his own makeup artist, or his wife did his makeup, or if he didn't wear makeup ..."

Leah seemed to think everyone she's worked with were nice people. She might just be protecting her livelihood, but then again, successful politicians are successful because they have charisma.

"The politicians are always in a good mood. They're always people people. They're always nice to talk to ... they're glad I'm there, so we started with Michele Bachmann, and then Herman Cain, and Jon Huntsman, and um, the last person was Rick Santorum, but he was the last person to get on the ticket to run ... so they had to put him in the debate, but maybe a month before he wasn't, so by the time I got to him, his campaign manager was a little frazzled because it took me so long to get to him."

CNN

2

Yes, Everyone Wonders About Donald Trump's makeup

Natalie's never done Donald Trump's makeup. But she and all of her colleagues have spent a lot of time pondering it:

"There are always conversations, in general, about who is doing Donald Trump's makeup, because so many times it looks so orange. I mean, it's not a slight on the guy. But that has been a conversation. People have asked me, do you think he does his own? Because it looks really white around the eyes, and like, orange elsewhere, and it's not even blended or anything. If it needed to be orange, and that's what he wanted, whoever did it didn't blend it."

At one point, Stacey was actually set to do Trump's makeup back when he was running for office. He didn't wind up doing the appearance, but she walked through her thinking:

"People have always said, 'Oh my God Trump is orange.' He looks white underneath the eyes ... I don't know if he has a makeup artist on his payroll ... I don't think any makeup artist would be like, 'Oh, oh, that's my work! I make President Trump orange.' So I don't know if he does his own, or if he likes it a certain way and they just have to please their client."

1

You Get An Inside Look At Famous Politicians, And What You See Might Surprise You

Jimmy Carter apparently has the most beautiful eyes in the world. Natalie got a real good look at them:

"My first impression is his eyes were the most beautiful color of blue I have ever seen. Up close, wow, the blue was just the most beautiful color of blue. I never thought about that before ... but they're also very sensitive. So he has an assistant, and she has to sit on every set before he sits down, and she knows what type of lighting is OK with his eyes, and she sits down first and lets the gaffers know, OK, this needs to come down."

And Ben Carson has Jimmy Carter's beauty inside:

"Ben Carson, he was quiet, he was chill, he was very quiet, very respectful, very approachable. He let me do whatever I wanted and needed to do with no issues." Stacey, who also worked on him, said exactly the same thing.

While doing this job, you can't help but notice shitty makeup jobs on TV politicians. Leah said, "It's really hard sometimes to watch TV, and their makeup is horrible, and their hair is messed up. Y'know, sometimes I put makeup on a guy and it looks like he has lipstick on, and it looks like he has a drop of lipstick on him, and I had nothing to do with that. Some guys' lips are red, they just have a lot of pigment."

So, the next time you see a politician looking like this:

Ted Cruz

... It might not be the makeup artist. God help him, he may really look like that.

Natalie's got a website for her makeup business right here. Stacey Frasca's website is right here and you can find Leah Greene on Facebookistan.

If you ever see Ted Cruz be sure to gift him one of these. He needs it more than anyone.

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