Social media platforms such as Instagram are forever skewing society's conception of what is considered "beautiful". I mean, when you're constantly affronted with photographs of perfectly retouched celebrities and Instagram models, it's hard not to aspire to such standards. But, as we all know - it's just smoke and mirrors - the people in question spend hours editing their selfies before posting them to their fans, many of whom remain naively enamoured by their contouring skills, impossibly smooth skin, and figures which are "beach body ready" come rain or shine.
However, more and more Instagram stars are using the platform to draw attention to the reality behind it all. Food bloggers have been admitting that fad diets have been making them unwell, and Rihanna recently proudly displayed her leg hair. Now, one prominent beauty YouTuber, Lauren Kurtis, has revealed how much editing goes into her Instagram posts...
The 25-year-old Instagram user and vlogger showed her 1.5 million followers how she edits her photos with two side-by-side photographs. "I think there needs to be more transparency on social media, so here is a side by side comparison of before and after editing this pic," she wrote;
"Besides the obvious colour editing (which has warmed up the image therefore boosting the colour of my tan), I whitened the whites of my eyes which were yellowed after the colour edit, and then fixed the gross fake tan on my hand. I also lightly smoothed over my legs as I was freezing which makes my skin go a little blotchy.
"Of course none of this editing was necessary and I’m sure many of you would prefer the original image, but I absolutely love the process (I studied photography straight out of high school and editing was always my favourite part) and so that’s why I do it! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post - Instagram is really just smoke and mirrors"
Curtis's fans loved that the beauty YouTuber was so candid about the editing process, and many stated that the edits were so subtle that they would have never noticed that the image had been altered in the first place.
"If only more people were as honest and interested in bettering themselves and helping others as you are," one Instagram user wrote, while another corroborated: "I didn’t read that you’d edited one, and just swiped across as usual. I thought to myself, she looks more beautiful in the second photo!! So interesting! Maybe the untouched versions of us emanate beauty more because they’re true. Food for thought".
A third individual clearly noticed a difference between the two, writing "Omg it looks so different! Her face! Obvs she’s beautiful in both but this is actually really interesting".
Well, I don't know about you but I think Lauren looks gorgeous in both pictures - but good on her for being so open about everything that goes into being #Goals.