Did it work?

Mayor’s pricey hair and makeup: In one year, Brandon Johnson's campaign has spent $30K on hair, makeup
Johnson is “mayor 24-7,” a spokesman says. “Appearances matter.” Most of his spending went to a South Side makeup artist, and a West Side barbershop was paid $4,000.
By Robert Herguth
Jun 7, 2024, 5:30am CDT




A makeup artist working on Mayor Brandon Johnson last year. Johnson has spent more than $30,000
on personal grooming through his campaign fund over the past year, records show.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest campaign-finance report lists a $4,000 payment from his political fund to a Palatine beauty salon, a March 27 expenditure it shows was for “event expenses.”

Hearing that came as a surprise to Anthony Jones, who owns Anthony Jones Salon in the northwest suburb. He says he never got that money, nor would he have had any reason to because he’s never done any work for Johnson or his campaign.

“I’d love an extra $4,000, but we never got any money from them,” Jones say. “Nobody from the campaign has ever been in my salon.”

Asked about that, the Johnson campaign’s Bill Neidhardt says the report was a mistake.

“The vendor that does our expenditure reports, we gave them the name of the business” for the disclosure filing made to the Illinois State Board of Elections, “and they wrote down the wrong one,” he says.

The report should have shown the money was spent with AJ Styles Barber & Beauty Salon, 6624 W. North Ave., according to Neidhardt, who says the mayor’s campaign filing “will be amended” to say that.

“Anyone who knows Brandon Johnson won’t be surprised he goes to a barber shop on the West Side, right outside Austin,” he says.


But some might be surprised at how much the mayor spends on personal grooming, which he pays for with money contributed by political supporters to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund: more than $30,000 in the past year, according to elections board records.



The Palatine salon where Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign says it erroneously reported spending $4,000 this year.

The West Side barber shop and salon where Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign says it spent $4,000.

Nearly all of the money went to makeup artist and self-described “skincare enthusiast” Denise Milloy’s Makeup Majic, which is based in a home on the South Side. More than 30 payments were reported going to her in 2023 and 2024, records show.

The payments prior to Johnson’s 2023 election listed various reasons, including:

“Candidate makeup for TV.”

“Candidate makeup for debate.”

“Candidate makeup.”

“Makeup retainer.”

After Johnson took office last year, the payments to Makeup Majic have been explained only as “event expenses.”

Milloy says she’s “not at liberty” to talk about the work or the money from Johnson’s campaign.

Johnson won’t comment.

Previously, a campaign spokesman for the mayor has said Johnson is proud that many of his campaign contributions have come from “working-class people” individually and through labor unions, which have given heavily to his election efforts.
RELATEDBrandon Johnson’s campaign fund has accepted millions from unions with City Hall contracts

Asked about Johnson’s spending — including his having a makeup artist paid a retainer, which hair and makeup sessions were for which events and whether any of the payments were for anyone other than the mayor — Neidhardt says in a written statement: “The mayor does not spend taxpayer dollars in preparation for the many public appearances and events he attends every day.



“Instead, he is using his own campaign funds to pay Black- and women-owned businesses a fair wage in compensation for their work in preparing the mayor and individuals associated with the campaign for public appearances, events, media segments and other availabilities.

“Hair and makeup services are commonplace among high-ranking public officials.”



These were among payments from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign to a South Side makeup artist this year, according to reports it filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.


Illinois State Board of Elections

But Johnson appears to have spent more on hair and makeup than some other elected officials, according to campaign filings, though politicians sometimes don’t make clear in their required reports on fundraising and spending just what they spent their money for.

Johnson’s predecessor Lori Lightfoot paid an Evanston business a total of about $2,000 for “event-makeup services” listed under four expenditures last year in her campaign filings.


Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle paid $217 to a South Side woman in 2019 for makeup, she reported.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign fund, which he largely underwrites through his own personal fortune, has made 11 payments totaling $6,000 to a South Side beauty salon between 2018 and 2022 for “hair and makeup” for “events like TV shoots,” according to records and interviews.
RELATEDMayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign returns contributions improperly accepted from city contractors

Paul Vallas, who lost to Johnson in last year’s mayoral election, didn’t provide any details for hundreds of campaign expenditures beyond saying they were for “services.” But Vallas says he doesn’t think he spent anything on hair or makeup through his campaign, noting that he’s bald: “I’d like to take credit for being frugal, but nature took care of that.”



Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas at a 2023 campaign debate.

Neidhardt says the $4,000 that Johnson’s campaign paid AJ Styles in Galewood covered “hair and makeup” and involved “multiple events.”

“He’s mayor 24-7,” Neidhardt says. “Appearances matter.”