If you want to come see how Doja Cat does her makeup, prepare to eat your words because the experimental beauty queen isn’t answering questions at this time. After spending Paris Fashion Week making most with her makeup — did you see her white and blue makeup at Monot’s Spring/Summer 2023 show? – Doja Cat took to Twitter to find that some people had less than nice things to say about her appearance. Not that the “Planet Her” rapper cares. On Tuesday, October 4, Doja Cat made it clear that the way she wears makeup isn’t about looking attractive or following “makeup rules.” Her makeup is about self-expression and artistry, as makeup should be.
Paris Fashion Week brought a treasure trove of experimental and edgy looks from Doja Cat. When the star attended Vivienne Westwood’s show, her eyes were adorned with strong, black, graphic wings reminiscent of one of Batman’s Batarangs. For the Givenchy show, Doja Cat stunted with studded eyebrows and streaky black lips. However, one of her most iconic looks from Paris Fashion Week was a full-body metallic moment. For the AWAKE fashion show, the “Get Into It” rapper put her whole body in liquid gold, transforming it into a magnificent bronze sculpture or a life-size Oscar trophy. The make-up was gorgeous, but it wasn’t designed to accentuate features society deems attractive or to draw in the male gaze, a fact some reviewers disputed.
“This painting makes her look ugly. When doing makeup like this, you should always accentuate your features. She looks like a tired old statue lmao,” one Twitter user shared in a now-deleted tweet that no one literally asked or forced to post.
Doja Cat, for her part, did not take the criticism. Since the tweet was deleted, Doja has responded via screenshot and shared a villain manifesto with her 5.4 million followers. In just two sentences, Doja Cat exposed *and* dismissed the misogyny and toxicity inherent in this kind of criticism. Her tweet, which was really more of an artist statement, ended with her declaring that “all my makeup has a story and there are absolutely no rules and if there were, it’s not you who would do them,” Doja Cat tweeted.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Doja Cat is right. Makeup should be about self-expression, not concealment or reconfiguration to meet someone else’s standards. If you want it to accentuate your features, go for it, but don’t ugh someone whose yum is experimental with a pressed pigment palette.
While the Grammy winner has never been one to shy away from big beauty moments, she recently threw off beauty standards in favor of what she thinks is beautiful. Back on August 4, Doja Cat took to Instagram live to shave her eyebrows after shaving her hair. During the video, she said, “I feel like I never should have had hair anyway. I never liked having hair. I can’t tell you once , from the beginning of my life, I’ve never been like, ‘That’s cool.’
After the shave, Doja Cat’s account was then inundated with comments from ‘fans’ expressing concerns about the mental health struggle they assumed her choice to go without a wig and eyebrows must have indicated. Naturally, Doja Cat shut that down, but that hasn’t stopped critics from weighing in on how bad her beauty choices are. It’s amazing how many people can’t stand the thought of a woman wearing makeup that doesn’t meet their beauty standards.
When it comes to stars breaking the norm, no one quite does it quite like Doja Cat. Bleached eyebrows are practically commonplace now, but there are very few truly browless celebrities running around. There are even fewer female celebrities rocking trendy cuts, but Doja Cat is not a follower or someone who sticks to the status quo. She will continue to tell stories through her makeup and her true fans can’t wait to hear the next one.