Here's What Adriana Lima Looks Like Without Makeup

For supermodels like Adriana Lima, cosmetics are tools of the trade, but even a massive makeup fan such as herself occasionally allows the world to see her natural beauty.

Lima began helping Victoria's Secret sell its feathered fantasy in 1999, and her beauty looks were always impeccable for its annual fashion show, whether she was rocking a sultry smoky eye, razor-sharp winged eyeliner, or a glossy bubblegum-pink lip. Her association with the lingerie brand helped make her one of the world's most well-known models and gave her access to some of the beauty industry's most talented makeup artists. They're so good, in fact, that Lima sometimes doesn't want to smudge their masterpieces after they've worked their magic. Apparently, taking a makeup wipe to her face feels a little like Cinderella's sparkly princess gown being poofed away at midnight. "When I love the makeup, I just keep it on," she told "Good Morning America" after getting glammed up for the 2018 Harper's Bazaar Icons party. "The next morning, you open your eyes, and you wake up like this."

Another questionable supermodel beauty secret involves one of Lima's favorite makeup products: mascara. "I like to keep adding layers on top of each other. Like, I don't wash them off. I know it sounds crazy, but I add layers for one or two days," she told Byrdie. So, maybe it's hard to catch her with lashes that aren't completely mascara-free, but her face looks pretty bare in some of the selfies she's shared.

It's easy to diminish the work models do down to posing for photos and strolling down runaways. But there's so much more involved, from travel to fittings and long hours in makeup artists' chairs. Those photo shoots can also take much longer than you might think, as Adriana Lima revealed in a 2016 Instagram post. "We work as hard as any other individual. Today I had 10 hours of work day, shooting with a very bad cold, coughing no stop and a massive headache," she wrote. "That did not stopped me on doing what I love." By this time, the Brazilian model was a mother of two daughters, Valentina and Sienna. To get back home to them, she had to catch a delayed flight from New York to Miami, where she arrived in the middle of the night.

Lima's post included a close-up shot of her face, and it appeared as though she wasn't trying to hide her exhaustion with makeup. There were slight dark circles beneath her eyes and redness around her nose, likely a side effect of her cold. "[I] wanted to share the face of a hard working model," she added.

Sharing makeup-free photos isn't something Lima does often; she once told InStyle that she even applies makeup before she goes to the gym. She just happened to be the face of the Puma x Maybelline line of sweatproof makeup when she divulged this detail.

After Adriana Lima attended "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" premiere in November 2023, the Celebface Instagram account shared photos of her from the event alongside some of her older snaps. In the comments, Instagrammers speculated that the Victoria's Secret model looked different due to undergoing cosmetic procedures. Page Six then amplified their opinions by sharing a selection of the procedures they suggested, including a "fox eye" lift and Botox.

Lima responded to the chatter by sharing a photo of her bare face on her Instagram Story. In it, her eyes lacked the lifted look that so many Instagram users had commented on. "The face of a tired mom of one teenage girl, two preteens, a 1-year-old learning to walk, and three dogs," Lima wrote. "Thanks for your concern."

Lima has been responding to questions and comments about her looks for years. When she was just 35, she spoke to the Toronto Sun about being in the upper age range of working models. "I am so happy that the fashion industry is not afraid to embrace a more mature woman. I believe these days women are aging so gracefully and beautifully," she said. She also told the outlet that aging isn't something she worries about. Something she does think about is her lipstick and mascara; she told Business Insider she has no plans to embrace a more natural look as she gets older, saying, "I'm having the f***ing makeup on."