Makeup-free Selena Gomez upstages glam ‘mean girl’ Hailey Bieber

Even though Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber haven’t directly said they’re feuding, it’s easy to think that Gomez had some Bieber-directed strategy in mind when she posted photos of herself, sans makeup, that instantly became popular Monday.

Several hours earlier, Bieber, pop culture’s latest “mean girl,” shared a video of herself on Instagram Story, getting the full beauty treatment to attend the Vanity Fair Oscar party Sunday night — her first public appearance since her social media drama with Gomez began, fueled by her perceived attacks on the hugely popular singer and actor who used to date her husband Justin Bieber.

Bieber began her Oscars dress-up video donning a simple blank tank top. With precariously long fingernails, the 26-year-old model used her Rhode skincare line’s “glazing fluid” to give her skin what’s become her “signature glazed, dewy” look, before the hair and makeup stylists arrived to glam her up for that night’s festivities. Several hours later, Bieber made a splash when she arrived at the party, wearing a sleek, black custom Saint Laurent dress.

In contrast, Gomez was very de-glam in her Instagram selfies — and people loved them. Perhaps not coincidentally, the 30-year-old pop star and entrepreneur also appeared in a simple black tank top. She captioned her photos “Violet chemistry,” a shout-out to Miley Cyrus’ song from her new album. Gomez, already the most followed woman on Instagram, racked up 1 million likes in eight minutes Monday, reaching more than 19 million likes and counting by Tuesday afternoon. Celebrity friends like Cyrus, Paris Hilton and Jessica Capshaw replied with praise and heart emojis.

Selena Gomez Shares Makeup-Free Selfies with Nod to Miley Cyrus' Song 'Violet Chemistry' https://t.co/cE8J0yHbwy

— People (@people) March 14, 2023

By Tuesday afternoon, Bieber’s Oscars-prep video had disappeared, while a report surfaced in Page Six that her oft-troubled husband was acting “weird,” appeared “tormented” and was wearing a blanket when he snuck into the Vanity Fair Oscar party to join his wife. In the past week, BuzzFeed News also reported that Hailey Bieber was dealing with being labeled the “mean girl” in her drama with Gomez and said she had lost nearly 1 million Instagram followers since the latest conflict began.

As a result of the drama, people have stopped seeing Bieber as a popular “style icon” and are having trouble buying her as the “girl next door,” as pushy publicists have tried to brand her, BuzzFeed News also reported.

“The ‘mean girl’ label can be incredibly hard to shake,” Lauren Beeching, founder of Honest London, a social media and reputation management agency, told BuzzFeed News. “You can’t really see the true her online, which I think is her biggest weakness.”

Rumors of tensions between Gomez and Hailey Bieber go back to at least 2018, when Justin Bieber ended his long, on-off relationship with Gomez and began dating Hailey, who’s the daughter of Stephen Baldwin, six months later.

The latest social media conflict between the women erupted last month after Gomez went on TikTok to say she wished she was “as pretty” as supermodel Bella Hadid, according to a detailed BuzzFeed News timeline. Gomez then posted another TikTok story in which she talked about “accidentally” laminating her eyebrows too much.

The perceived shade from Bieber came when her pal Kylie Jenner uploaded a a screenshot from a FaceTime between the two women, in which they zoomed in on — yes — their eyebrows. While Jenner said that people were “reaching” to assume that she and Bieber were laughing at Gomez’s overly laminated eyebrows, that didn’t stop fans from digging up theories and attaching significance to any of the subsequent social media posts coming from any of the parties.

While Gomez and Hailey Bieber have yet to take direct shots at each other, fans also have been pulling up old tweets, viral clips and commentary to discover new evidence of animosity or mean-girl behavior. Taylor Swift was even dragged into the drama at one point.

The back-and-forth has left people divided. Some have accused Gomez of needlessly igniting the rivalry with Bieber, BuzzFeed News said. But the more overriding narrative says that Bieber has always been spiteful towards Gomez, as well as obsessed with her and trying to copy her every move, BuzzFeed said.

The result is that Bieber has gotten the “mean girl” label. It doesn’t help that Bieber first became known as the aspiring model daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and the niece of Alec Baldwin. Her identity next became wrapped up in her marriage to a globally famous pop star. Unlike Gomez, a top-selling recording artist, actor and entrepreneur, Bieber has yet to show any unique identity or talent of her own, aside from being pretty and comfortable in front of the camera.

Therefore, it’s easy to attach a label to someone who’s more or less a blank slate. Being called the mean girl also is nothing new, according to BuzzFeed News. TikTok users have recently shared stories about meeting her and saying that she’s “rude” and “not nice,” said Beeching, the social media strategist.

Going back to 2020, Bieber said she was aware that people thought of her as “mean,” during an interview for megachurch Hillsong’s YouTube channel, BuzzFeed News said.

“I think anyone who knows me personally knows that’s so not me at all,” she protested.