Are we really having less sex?
Are we really having less sex?

Kate Demolder

Real Weddings: Iseult and Michael tie the knot in Smock Alley Theatre
Real Weddings: Iseult and Michael tie the knot in Smock Alley Theatre

Shayna Sappington

How to quit social media comparison for good
How to quit social media comparison for good

Niamh Ennis

Weekend Guide: 12 of the best events happening around Ireland
Weekend Guide: 12 of the best events happening around Ireland

Sarah Gill

How to handle the co-worker who brings everyone down
How to handle the co-worker who brings everyone down

Victoria Stokes

Majken Bech Bailey on her life in food
Majken Bech Bailey on her life in food

Holly O'Neill

A new Netflix series about the Guinness family is in the works
A new Netflix series about the Guinness family is in the works

Sarah Finnan

Why the music of Sinéad O’Connor will stay with us forever
Why the music of Sinéad O’Connor will stay with us forever

Jan Brierton

My Life in Culture: Artist Jess Kelly
My Life in Culture: Artist Jess Kelly

Sarah Finnan

This enchanting home on Lough Derg is on the market for €950,000
This enchanting home on Lough Derg is on the market for €950,000

Sarah Finnan

Image / Style / Beauty
premium
STYLE

Will filter free images be a legacy of the pandemic?


by Rose Mary Roche
27th Jul 2021

Getty

"These impossibly perfect faces dominate social media platforms, striking not only for their homogeneity but also for their similarity to beautiful androids."

A renewed appetite for genuine imagery during Covid-19 (grey hair, stretch marks and curves) is to be welcomed but is it enough?

Wide empty eyes, pore-less skin, full pouting lips, button noses and impossible proportions are the typical hallmarks of an image edited with the Facetune app, which has now been downloaded over 50 million times globally. These impossibly perfect faces dominate social media platforms, striking not only for their homogeneity but also for their similarity to beautiful androids. Teeth-whitening, waist-whittling and skin-smoothing tools are all popular. In its infancy air-brushing was seen as a professional technical...

You have reached a premium article.

For unlimited digital access to the stories worth paying for, subscribe now to IMAGE from just €4.99 a month
Subscribe