Why hello there dear reader, how are you doing today? I wanted to take a minute (or 30) to write a post about something that’s been really chapping my hide lately. I hope you stay with me here.
By now pretty much everyone on earth knows about the major photo editing that magazines do on all their photos. They do things from nipping in waists to thickening hair to adding cleavage, etc. It’s never-ending what they do. But what’s bothering me now is the heavy photo editing popping up on social media lately, specifically Instagram.
I feel like the editing on Instagram in a way is actually more damaging to young minds than magazines. Magazines present a glossy amazing “fantasy” spread that (I think) most people realize isn’t attainable in real life. I feel like most people look at say the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and realize how heavily edited the photos are. I believe most people also realize that these models have an entire clothing, makeup, hair and lighting crew behind each and every photo.
Instagram is different in that it’s supposed to be “insta” and therefore more personal. It’s supposed to represent an immediate shot of something as it happens. It’s meant to show one person’s life in snapshots. However, increasingly some large makeup brands, YouTube personalities, bloggers and makeup artists are showing extremely staged photos that are obviously not even taken with a phone. I’ll admit, I too have been guilty of this. The staged photos definitely get a lot of “likes” and seem to be quite popular. But that’s not even the main issue I am seeing.
What really bothers me is the extreme editing of the selfies I am seeing on these popular accounts. I mean some of these are so heavily edited that there is literally NO texture or shading left on the person’s skin. They look like plastic mannequins with perfect makeup on! Most recently a certain brand has been showing photos of their new liquid lipsticks with these lip photos that are probably the most edited pics I have ever seen. These lips do not look like they belong to a human. They are PERFECTLY smooth with no texture on them or the surrounding skin. And the thing is, when I went to the model’s Instagram account, there are many other photos of her where you can see she has beautiful and normal lips, with lines and everything. There were obviously many people involved in these photos, which were taken by a professional photographer using professional equipment and editing software. And then the brand chose to show them on their account. That’s all fine and dandy but what bothered me were the comments I saw over and over and over. People were saying things like “Wow her lips are perfect!” and “Why don’t my lips look like that?” and “How can I get lips like this?” and “Makeup so good it looks animated.” Many of the people making these comments are young teens/women who many not be aware how fake some of these photos are. They think that this perfect, smooth skin is somehow attainable.
The other side to this is they are making the makeup look so perfect, but it doesn’t really look like that in real life. We all know by now that mascara ads are completely bogus, but now so many makeup brands are using super enhanced photos on Instagram to sell their products including foundations, eyeliners, nail polish and lipsticks. You kind of expect it from the really huge companies like Cover Girl and Maybelline but not necessarily from smaller companies. I can’t tell you how many times I have posted a blog photo of a lipstick or nail polish that I have swatched and then I see the brand’s photo of it and it looks nothing like mine.
It’s one thing when it’s a company that makes money off of the products they sell, but it’s entirely different when a huge YouTube personality or blogger edits their selfies. And again, I am not talking light edits to remove a blemish or lighten dark circles a bit. I am talking MAJOR editing here. I feel like A. This vlogger/blogger has a responsibility to show the product as it really is and B. They also have some kind of responsibility to be honest to the possibly millions of young girls who follow them. I don’t really expect a company to care much about the impression they may give young girls, but I do feel some of these vlogger/bloggers could do some serious good if only they were more real. And ironically it seems the bigger some of these accounts get, the more they edit their photos. And the biggest ones are the ones who could have the most impact on young women if they showed what they REALLY looked like sans filters and edits. I do understand that some of the enhancements in photos is because you get better at taking pictures and get better at doing makeup as time goes on. But you can usually tell the difference between skill and editing. At the very least they should include a disclaimer saying that the photo is edited and may not represent what the product looks like on you.
The sad thing is the most heavily edited photos are usually the ones that get the most “likes” and comments. I’ve talked about this with some fellow bloggers who have seen the same trend and agree. It’s almost as though if you want to keep growing your account you are forced into more and more “perfection” in your photos. What was a great photo 3 years ago isn’t enough now. If anyone has anything less than perfect cuticles *THE HORROR* or god-forbid dark circles, the negative comments start flowing. I’m even seeing people now making their swatches a perfect rectangle in order to make them more pleasing to people. NOPE. In my opinion that’s just going too far and I’m not participating. In my eyes a swatch is to show people what a color and product looks like. It isn’t supposed to be a perfect looking circle or square. A swatch on my nails is NOT a manicure, therefore I am not going to spend 20 minutes making every single photo look amazing just to show the color representation. It’s gotten out of control and I for one am trying to buck the damn trend. I refuse to be pressured into being like everyone else and if that means that I don’t have a bajillion followers then so be it. I care more about being myself than any kind of BS idea of appearing perfect.
Ok I have yammered on enough now. This is a topic I could go on and on all day about but I need to stop at some point. 🙂 Let me know how you feel about this. Do you agree that it’s out of control or do you feel differently?
-Kelly
44 comments
Im with you on this. It looks fucking ridiculus! I actually get kind of mad when people use blur to make the eyeshadow blending look better.. Like … wtf? How bout learing to blend better? A sliiiighlty trained eye will notice that blur, others may not, and it just feels like cheating.
No pores, no lines, no nothing. Just plastic and sad :/
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Oh man, that is most definitely cheating!
I totally agree that it’s gotten out of control. I don’t even believe the lip swatches anymore when a brand releases them because many times I bought a shade and it looked nothing like what they showed. 🙁
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I feel like the lip swatches are the worst ones.
Hi Kelly! I do agree with you that it’s out of control. Sometimes even I catch myself looking at someone’s PERFECT makeup and feeling badly about my own skill. Then I have to mentally slap myself back into reality. It’s not real. And it doesn’t look like that in person.
I personally don’t take photos with my cell phone, either for my blog or my instagram. I received a very nice camera upon graduating college, so that’s what I use. It has a nice feature on it that smooths my skin and hair. Whenever people leave me comments saying how nice my skin looks, I always reply back telling them about that feature on my camera and, “This isn’t how my skin looks in real life.” I don’t want to mislead people into thinking I have perfect skin- no one does.
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I’ve definitely shared photos (usually nail ones) that were taken with my Canon but there isn’t any editing done to them. I have found though that the camera for iPhone 6 is really very good so I usually just use it now.
Ohhh, I don’t have an iphone. I have a Windows phone and my camera on it might as well be from a Razr phone circa 2006. I kinda have to use my Canon, haha. I am due for an upgrade in November, though, and I can’t wait to get an iphone 6 for this reason! It’s kind of a pain having to use my canon for everything.
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Awesome post, couldn’t agree more. Thanks!
Thank you for this post! I’m not a beauty blogger and hardly anyone follows my instagram, but it’s still disheartening to compare my selfies that at best have a filter on them to some of these famous bloggers and make-up instagram accounts who look magazine-airbrushed all the time.
Like you said, we expect it from big brands and professional commercial spreads, but Instagram is supposed to feel more natural and spontaneous, and these heavily edited, over-produced photoshoots end up feeling disingenuous.
I am so with you. It doesn’t bother me as much with sponsored posts. Guess in my mind those are “ads” so its to be expected. Playing with filters its fine, but full blown photoshop…*sigh* really?
I’m another in total agreement with the above! I want to see how real makeup looks on real women! It’s like a woman can never look good enough as she is. What really gets me is the anti aging products that they show on really young women. What 40 year old can ever look like that in reality. I think that every woman is beautiful in their own way. Are we supposed to all look like an impossible ideal?
It’s just bad on women’s self esteem!
I love this post so much!!! I am a blogger (humor, not beauty) and I just joined Instagram this week. The first thing I noticed is how many of my friends make these “perfect” photos for people to see. Hello, I’ve been to your house, I know your kids are running around nude and there is food on the walls. Stop trying to fool me. But the beauty side of Instagram is just out of control. I told the Hubster I would have to dip myself in plastic to fit into that crowd. Instead, I’ll continue to post normal pictures and not worry about a freckle. Because freckles happen in real life and I’m too busy living to photoshop myself into “perfection.”
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Kelly, after seeing a recent post somewhere what apps to download to make yourself look better (Facetune, anyone?), I was shocked at how much time bloggers/vloggers/grammers take with their “selfies”. Yes, out of control is a great way to describe it, and it’s another impossible ideal.
This particular person (who had a lovely selfie without touch ups), brightened eyes, smoothed skin tone, puffed out hair (and even erased strays), changed shadows…oy. I guess I’m satisfied with how I look, and also can’t be arsed to spend an extra 20 minutes enhancing myself.
I know my kids and my friends will like my photos. Good enough!
I totally agree with you on the over editing of everything. Even Snapchat is getting in on that action. It’s just sad that the beauty industry feeds off of insecurity in order to make money instead of the opposite. I also think it’s interesting that certain looks have come about because of Instagram editing, such as the Instabrow.
Good post, I totally agree!
This is so true! It’s nice to hear somebody cares about this situation. It’s so sad that the media uses crazy editing and (with or without knowing, who know?) Is giving girls, ladies, women of the world a complex about their image and what’s “beautiful”, or “perfect”. It’s best to surround yourself with people who are “real” so to speak, people who inspire you to be you with the”flaws” that everyone has. Sometimes I get caught up in perfect this perfect that and it’s just unrealistic and you just reminded me to think real clear about what someone’s beauty really is. ESPECIALLY MY OWN!!!! ☺?????
I totally agree! When I look at bloggers/vloggers and IG I want honesty and transparency. I want to see what products actually look like in real life. If I want to see a super-perfect, idealized version of a product, that’s what an ad campaign is for.
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I do some VERY basic editing on my pictures and that’s only because I have a fairly low-grade camera on my phone, and I edit it to make it look more true-to-real-life, as far as color/opacity. But the overly editted pictures bother me too, because it’s so unrealistic.
I could not agree more! I’ve stopped following so many accounts because I don’t want to see plastic faceless. I love your pics and your blog because you are so real. We are close in age and it’s nice to see someone our age not trying to look like an 18 year old.
*fakeness*
I totally get the frustration. I don’t really follow IG accounts that are really edited, they kind of function more like commercials than insights into someone’s life. Personally, though, I’m still much more frustrated with the brands. I don’t care much about how smaller individuals behave online, and tend to feel like marketing departments can have a much wider reach of influence that I think trickles into everyone’s unconscious understanding of what a “beautiful” image looks like. And I think they can be much more purposeful in their approach than an individual is likely to be. I don’t give them a pass just because we’ve come to expect their bogus imagery.
Hi Kelly!
I’m glad you mentioned this–I shelter myself from social media but I do check out videos and blogs. Lately, I’ve been seeing what I thought were editorial-quality images. At first, I thought it was just me but I’ve been seeing it more and more often. And you know what’s even more frustrating? I can’t get away from it–even if I want to!
For example, I just got a Galaxy Note 4–it’s awesome but the first time I used the handy selfie feature was when I needed to apply makeup. I didn’t have a mirror app and thought I wouldn’t need one with the selfie feature. Unfortunately, I noticed something totally creepy: the face on the screen wasn’t quite mine. My jaw was narrowed, my small eyes are suddenly not small, and my blotchy skin appeared even. Uh hello? Trying to apply makeup here–not have my camera distort my face.
I have no idea how parents will handle it today: I luckily grew up before the age of social media in a makeup-optional town and lots of people were NOT fashionable. I remember trying to convince fellow girlfriends that sweats were not acceptable for school. I think those days are over for the young now with social media.
Whoa, that automatic selfie editing is seriously messed up! That really gives me the heebie-jeebies…At this rate, nobody will know what anyone-including themselves- really looks like anymore.
Wow, great that somebody with a blog your size said something. I do love pretty pictures on Instagram but sometimes it’s going too far. I have to admit my Instagram pictures are taken with my “real” camera, because there are the same as on my blog. A week ago I shared a picture smiling and got a comment saying how i had “gross yellow teeth”. For real? My teeth are in no way snow white, but are the natural yellowish color. I don’t know what she was expecting, cause a) I’m not going to bleach my teeth and b) sure as hell won’t spend time photoshopping them. A few week sago I saw a blogpost from a big blogger on how to edit instagram selfies and she did exactly what you described: skin smoother, eyes more highlighted, hair bigger, and in the end she was just a plastic doll.
The time to edit a selfie is confusing. I mean I’ll snap a photo and use filters to either color correct due to poor lighting or to not look like a zombie but full on editing for an IG photo? No. If there is a photo of me that I don’t want to share unless I open it in a separate app, edit it, THEN go back into my IG and post it…no then I just wouldn’t use the photo. Crazy days.
For lip swatches It weirds me out seeing the mannequin lips/skin but I try to take it for what it’s worth…I just try to get a sense of the color and try and ignore the creepy smooth features. Things have definitely gotten more strange with new technology.
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I totally agree with you. Swatches should be INFORMATIVE rather than flawless. I want to see how the product looks like in real life, on real women. Of course, some of us are better at applying makeup than the others, but good applying has nothing to do with editing.
I get really frustrated with, say, nail polish swatches that show awesome colour and promise opacity in two layers when in reality I get a streaky polish which is also much lighter/darker. I want to know if I need more than 3 layers to get full opacity; I want to know if the polish is bubbly; I want to know if it is too thick or too thin. I want honesty, especially from bloggers who are not affiliated with the makeup companies. I have commercials to tell me how perfect the product is, I don’t need the same biased opinion from bloggers, thank you very much.
And – yes – total misunderstanding of the “insta” aspect, not only in beauty. I know people who go on vacation and keep posting photoshopped photos taken there for like 6 months. Instagram just loses its cheerful capturing-moment-as-it-is vibe this way.
I don’t have IG because my smartphone is pretty old, but I visit IG pages online sometimes, and I get tired of the fakeness quickly. I want to see realistic swatches.
thank you for this! the instagram over editing is crazy! i am shocked how many pro mua’s over edit. it’s disheartening. especially when you can follow them on snapchat and see how different [and more beautiful and real] they look on their snaps versus their instagram photos.
what REALLY pisses me off is the denial of it! there’s a makeup brand that’s local to me and their photos are always so heavily edited and they bash anyone who claims their photos are photoshopped. i’ve been working toward a photography degree and i’m pretty sure i know [bad] photoshop when i see it. like how can you have no texture to your skin but your brow hairs are super sharp? “it’s just the makeup!” oh really…
haha sorry, mini rant over. but your post is really well said!
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I completely agree with you. Not only is it misleading and horrible for the self-esteem of younger women, it’s hell on us older gals. I’m 55+ and when I blog swatches of nail polish, what you see are my hands, wrinkles and big knuckles and all. I used to edit out any cuts in my skin, because I’m an active, clumsy person, but now I think it’s better to just not include any finger that’s injured.
I don’t believe most lipstick photos any more. They look two-dimensional, fake, and plastic. It’s bad enough that we can never get real pictures of mascara since all the models are wearing fake eyelashes that could cut pizza!
I fully agree with you. There’s some local bloggers from my small country thatI trust, and I usually don’t read foreign blogs about cosmetics, especially big ones. I keep checking yours because it was one of the first ones I started following (together with Scrangie and a few that no longer operate). I don’t particulary like vlogs and instagram, and I’ll never get the point of taking selfies. It’s not like your face changes so dramatically every few hours that you absolutely must share the photo of it severeal times a day. I was perfectly fine when it was ok to have less-than-perfect cuticles and assymetrical eyebrows.
After thinking about this a bit more, I think we should call out the companies that are using photos that have been heavily Photoshopped to the point where the people look like plastic dolls. Tell them it does NOT help you make buying decisions because you can’t tell what the makeup actually looks like. Similarly, let them know that XYZ blogger has realistic-looking photos and swatches, and that you like that much better.
Sadly, some companies will delete you and block you for a comment like that. I know a blogger that was blocked by a certain company for expressing her distaste in their constant photoshopping.
I totally agree! And this is why you have been my favorite blogger for years. You speak your mind and you’re real. These unattainable images that are out there can be so damaging to someone with already low self esteem. Women and girls need to learn to love who they are. They are perfect just the way they are, ‘flaws’ included. Society needs to step back from pushing for perfection, we’re humans not Barbie dolls!
I love you for this blogpost!
And then there are accounts like depechegurl where I can’t be sure if she really is perfect looking with her makeup skills, or she’s just damn good at Photoshop, since the lines on her lips are exactly the same across a set of more than 6 colors of the same product line.
Good point, Anie! I also call BS on bloggers who claim to reviews dozens of lip colors (eye shadows, eye liners, etc.) each week and somehow manage to give each one a 12-hour wear test. Really? How many hours are in their weeks, anyway?
YES!!! That is total bullshit that any blogger tests every single eyeshadow color and lip shade in a collection yet also manages to get a review posted first. It’s false. And yes, one certain Photoshop-happy brand (Anastasia) does block people who call them out. They are big babies.
I want to believe it’s her skills (I follow her) but yeah it’s sometimes hard to know…
I don’t know if it’s a generational thing, but I love the editing features! For me, it’s not about hiding features, but accentuating. I follow a lot of instagram/makeup girls and seeing them gives me energy and inspiration! I strive even harder to get at their level. It’s not so much to copy them and look like them, but to achieve my own success comparable to where they are at. Their beauty is evident in many ways, and Instagram is a great way to express their creativity. I agree that trying to achieve the “perfect” texture or feature isn’t a reasonable or healthy goal for people to have, especially when companies and popular people use editing to pretend that “perfect” is achievable when beauty shouldn’t be a concrete and one-sided idea.
I also agree it may be damaging to some who can be easiy influenced by looking a certain way to gain popularity, but if they can somehow find a way to extract confidence from picture editing and looking their best and showing what their potential is, then I think just let them do their thing! A lot of people forget how wise the younger generations are – much more than we have ever been at that age. I’m sure many of them understand society’s standards and can still work around it and feel beautiful as they are, with whatever tools they have!
As long as people understand what their own beauty is, then it shouldn’t bother them how others are perceived. :~)
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I’m so glad you put this out there. I couldn’t agree with you more – Instagram is not a place I go to see perfection, and if I think back, my recent feeling of inadequacy in my own makeup skill level pretty much started and intensified around the time I began following several major cosmetic companies… Perhaps I simply need to do some unfollowing.
I agree with you. A touch of editing to blur out a blemish, sure, but it’s getting out of hand with the airbrushing and other tricks. It’s long driven me crazy in big brand adverts where said brand’s amazing mascara makes the model or actress or singer (whoever is the pitchwoman) look like she’s wearing 4 pairs of false eyelashes. That bugs the hell out of me. Totally dishonest, even when they say lash inserts were used. (Is that just their term, I wonder, so they don’t say fake lashes?)
I’ve also gone searching for a certain product, to find swatches, and am astounded at what I find at times. Some people just are in that uncanny valley territory, where the heavy makeup and airbrushing make them look unhuman. That’s a total turnoff. I actually find it refreshing if I find someone with less than perfect skin or a couple lines around the eyes is swatching and doing reviews. We all get lines around the eyes, etc., so what’s wrong with seeing that in makeup reviews and swatches? If you make it past 30, you’re going to see creases and crow’s feet. But maybe as a society we don’t want to be reminded of our flaws. Maybe we just want to see the plastic faces and hope they can be achieved with whatever product is being swatched/pitched?
I agree with you & enjoy your candid opinions.
So true! Why can’t women accept that we are beautiful without completely eliminating, erasing these “imperfections.” There is beauty in the ‘imperfections’. The frustration you feel is why we started Pretty in my Pocket. We believe and fully support the Beautocracy. We love that you are a part of it. Thank you for this amazing post. We support the cause 100%. We believe that real women are real pretty!!!!
YES. this same BS was actually why i started blogging in the first place. i’d gotten way too many nail polishes that looked absolutely lovely in the wrinkle-free airbrushed lightboxes that so many of the big-name folks use… but that looked nothing at all like that in the real world. i want a review to be exactly that – an informative story about how it worked for a real person in the real world, not a perfectly staged professional advertisement!!