Miley Cyrus is one of the most famous faces in the world for many reasons. First, she’s a former Disney Channel child star beloved by millions of Hannah Montana fans. Second, she has become a breakout musical star whose singing talents earned her even more fans all around the world. Finally, she’s a style icon…the kind of person who has fans and haters alike wishing they could match her swag.
In fact, Cyrus is so on point with her overall aesthetic that when she does mess up, it instantly burns itself into our brains. For example, her makeup game is usually so advanced that we can only assume she is from the future, but when she fails, she often looks like someone from the past…specifically, a cavewoman.
Don’t believe us? Well, prepare to believe your eyes. Keep reading to discover Miley Cyrus’s biggest makeup fails!
When her lashes were out of control
When it comes to creating an iconic look, wearing big eyelashes is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. Done right, it can make someone look like she’s fully in control…the ultimate embodiment of girlboss power. That’s likely what Miley Cyrus was going for when she sported some long lashes at the VH1 Divas event in 2012. Unfortunately, her gambit failed, and she looked more like a muppet that came to life than a walking, talking diva.
At this event, her long lashes looked obviously fake. They stretched out a bit too long and drew attention to just how tryhard her whole look was. That’s because the lashes overtook her entire look that night. Miley Cyrus learned the hard way why long lashes are so notorious…if you mess them up, these not-so-luscious locks are basically all that anyone will notice!
High contrast, low quality
A side effect of Miley Cyrus being so famous is that fans can instantly tell when she changes her usual look up. For example, she historically goes very light on her eyeshadow, but she changed things up on us at the Versace Fall 2023 Fashion Show. That’s when she decided to bust out a dark and smokey eyeshadow. Unfortunately, most fans quickly agreed that the new look was an instant fail compared to the star’s usual aesthetic.
The heavy eye shadow and heavier eyelids contributed to a look that was more sleepy-looking than sexy-looking. On top of that, it created a killer contrast with the light foundation she was wearing. The result is that Cyrus looked as white as a ghost. To this day, she’s still haunted by it…just call this look the Ghost of Makeup Fails Past!
The setting powder snafu
It was pretty wild seeing Miley Cyrus looking ghostly pale at the 2023 Versace Fall Fashion Show. That event cemented one surprising fact about the musician: that she doesn’t always learn from her fashion fails. A decade before that, the star looked ghoulishly ghostly at one of her most otherwise buzzworthy public appearances.
In 2013, she was invited to the Maxim Hot 100 party and decided to dress to impress. That meant pairing a Valentino jumpsuit with a red lip color that made her look fast, fearless, and fun. It wasn’t until she got under all the spotlights, though, that it was apparent she had put on too much setting powder. The bright lights seemingly lit up each speck of the powder, and the effect was that Cyrus looked a bit like a powdered donut rather than a pop star.
Looking washed out on the red carpet
Like many of our favorite celebs, Miley Cyrus is a double threat. She never wastes an opportunity to remind us that she is an awesome actor as well as a world-class singer. Her performance was particularly good in Paranoia, a 2013 film that showed the world her acting range. Unfortunately, the world premiere of that movie showed us so much more.
At this Los Angeles premiere, Cyrus decided to play against type and wear a simple look…the polar opposite of her usual glam aesthetic. But it turns out there’s a fine line between simple and plain-looking. Her relative lack of foundation, blush, and contours combined to make her look like a photo that had been left in the sunlight for a week. Between this and that clumpy mascara, it seemed clear Cyrus was trying too hard to look like she didn’t try at all.
Miley Cyrus looked like a creepy doll at the Grammys
One of Miley Cyrus’ strangest acting roles was in an episode of Black Mirror. That episode (“Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”) had the singer playing a flesh-and-blood version of herself (albeit with a different name) as well as a creepy robot duplicate of herself. For many fans, it was downright unsettling to see Cyrus in the form of a creepy doll. To us, though, the sight was all too familiar.
That’s because Cyrus looked like a creepy doll during the 2008 Grammys. The issue stemmed from the fact that she put eyeliner all around each eye. The effect was striking, but not in the way the singer intended. Her eyes looked overly small and overly close to one another, making Cyrus look even more like an inhuman creation than the character she would later play on TV.