Pamela Anderson Is Going Makeup-Free

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | August 18, 2023 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | August 18, 2023 |

Last year, I went to a Halloween party, and encountered five different couples dressed up as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Clearly, they’d been inspired by Hulu’s controversial series, Pam & Tommy. The faux-Tommys rocked white undershirts, sunglasses, and Sharpied arm tattoos. The Pams had pushed their boobs up to their chins, overdrawn their lips, and applied several pounds of black eye makeup. One woman took it a step further: she’d blocked out her real eyebrows with foundation and then used eyeliner to recreate Pam’s super-skinny brows. I was impressed. She really looked like Pam!

Pamela’s trademark makeup also made a splash on social media. TikTokkers posted tutorials on how to do her matte lip and smokey eye. Someone even created a “90s Pam Makeup” filter. Finally, Gen Z could see what they’d look like with brows plucked within an inch of their lives! To my horror, some of them actually suggested bringing this look back. NO, you fools, learn from our mistakes!

But, as “90s Pam Makeup” made its glorious return to the Zeitgeist, the real Pam Anderson had moved on. In a new interview with Elle, the 56-year-old shares that she’s currently embracing the makeup-free look. Pam explains that, early on in her career, she didn’t have a lot of input in terms of her appearance: “I just went along with what people were telling me what to do.” Then, in 2019, Pamela’s longtime makeup artist, Alexis Vogel, passed away from breast cancer. The pair had been working together since 1993. Pam’s response was to abandon her signature look:

“She was the best. And since then, I just felt, without Alexis, it’s just better for me not to wear makeup.”

The new look has been “freeing, and fun, and a little rebellious too. Because I did notice that there were all these people doing big makeup looks, and it’s just like me to go against the grain and do the opposite of what everyone’s doing.”

She adds that coming to terms with getting older is a “journey”:

“I think we all start looking a little funny when we get older. And I’m kind of laughing at myself when I look in the mirror. I go, ‘Wow, this is really…what’s happening to me?’ It’s a journey.” But largely a happy one. “I feel rooted for. I feel good. I’m in a good place.”

Pam says it’s extra weird to find out her look is being used as inspiration for designers:

“You used to go to photo shoots, and they would show you mood boards,” asking whether you wanted to look like Marilyn Monroe or Brigitte Bardot, she recalls. Now, “they show me 10 pictures of me, and they go, ‘Which one do you want to look like now?’”

Here’s Pamela’s stripped down photoshoot with Elle:

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A post shared by ELLE Magazine (@elleusa)

And another mostly makeup-free photoshoot with Women’s Wear Daily back in February:

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A post shared by Pamela Anderson (@pamelaanderson)

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A post shared by Pamela Anderson (@pamelaanderson)

The header pic was taken in April, so, clearly, Pamela still dabbles in cosmetics. But, even so, it’s cool to see someone like Pam embrace my signature look: zero makeup cuz I can’t be bothered to wash that shit off before I go to bed.