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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to wonder why the "fake look" is so popular?

211 replies

Namila · 13/01/2018 21:23

Obviously light-hearted and I fully appreciate that people have different tastes and like different things. Apologies if you feel offended by this post.

However.

Every time I turn the TV on, it seems like the prevailing beauty standard is what I heard to be called "the fake look": fake tan, fake lashes, fake eyebrows, fake hair, fake nails and often times some fake features due to plastic surgery. It seems like these beauty interventions are meant to look obviously fake and very easy to spot.

Many of these women truly look fake as they resemble plastic dolls, but usually not in a flattering way!

I wonder why the current ruling beauty ideal implies so much "fakeness". Of course women have always spent time and money trying to improve their appearance to a certain degree, but I feel like this is a whole new level Confused

What do you think the popularity of this "fake look" tells about our society? Do you reckon the trend will go away?

OP posts:
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6
zsazsajuju · 13/01/2018 21:25

i hope it will. I was a student in the 90s during grunge so it was the opposite then. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back!

Trashboat · 13/01/2018 21:27

Well tbh, I was watching eastenders before and it doesn't look like Tamsin Outhwaite had had anything done. She looks fab, and I was caught quite off guard at how surprised I was that she has had nothing done.

I hope the trend for looking like blow up dolls goes away. It's quite worrying.

TeachesOfPeaches · 13/01/2018 21:29

So many women are starting to exactly the same.

BalloonSlayer · 13/01/2018 21:29

I think zsazsa is right. It's a pendulum. In the early 1960s women had their hair set,many wore curlers every night, and we're covered in make up. Then came the hippy movement when they grew their hair, abandoned make up and let their body hair grow.

c3pu · 13/01/2018 21:30

That and the endless use of Snapchat filters to make a woman look like a rabbit or something godawful.

Thistlebelle · 13/01/2018 21:30

I don’t think it is “the prevailing look”.

That might be the look you see on soap operas, in tabloids or on reality tv but it’s not the look you see on most TV, film or fashion magazines.

I don’t know or work with anyone who dresses like that.

MiserableAsSin · 13/01/2018 21:31

I really don't think putting your hair in curlers is remotely comparable to having a plastic ass, for example .

BalloonSlayer · 13/01/2018 21:32

Op didn't mention "plastic ass"

Unicorn81 · 13/01/2018 21:33

Urgh yeah and the stupid pouty face selfies. Teenagers with mad looking coloured in eyebrows, wtafmis that about, just leave the eyebrows alone!

ChickenVindaloo2 · 13/01/2018 21:33

YY I agree. Is it no longer ok just to be a groomed version of yourself? Why do we need to emulate a cheap porn star. Weirdly, men do seem to go for it. Or maybe just, ah, your less discerning man ie not the kind I would be interested in anyway.

icantthinkofanotherusername · 13/01/2018 21:34

I think these woman are just not happy with their body. I hate my body and if I had the money I would have my lips done. My chin. My hair. Eyelashes. Fake tan
ECT....latwly It feels like you can't win no matter what you look like. If he natural it ugly if you try to improve you self your fake
It's a shit world we live I today

DonnyAndVladSittingInATree · 13/01/2018 21:36

It’s about money. As most things are. Lots of money is invested in pushing a heavily made up look in advertising so that people will spend their money on achieving the look.

Amanduh · 13/01/2018 21:38

Is the Tamsin Outhwaite mention a joke?! Its painfully obvious she’s had a LOT done!!

NSEA · 13/01/2018 21:38

I keep watching films from the 80/90s and feeling so disappointed that if made today the hair would be poker straight and make up perfect. I love the hair in films like honey i shrunk the kids and jumanji. Not a perfect hair in place.

TakemedowntoPotatoCity · 13/01/2018 21:40

It is truly an awful look, and reflects the shallow, selfie and reality tv obsessed society young people are subjected to. I wouldn't want to be young again at this point in time.

CorbynsBumFlannel · 13/01/2018 21:42

I agree. It’s not just on tv either. On the school run there are so many mums who have had that much filler in their top lip that the skin above their mouth has become part of their lips. Might look ok with dark lipstick on but it looks weird without!
And very very few people suit those ridiculous massive black groomed eyebrows. You have to have very dark features to carry them off.

CorbynsBumFlannel · 13/01/2018 21:43

I thought Tamzin Outwaite was refreshingly lined last time I saw her on tv???

arriettyspiders · 13/01/2018 21:44

Amanduh - I agree about Tamsin. There have been some unkind comments about her appearance, but I do think she's had some of the old botox and fillers.

Fosterdog123 · 13/01/2018 21:45

I don't think it will swing back. This is the new normalised standard of beauty now and there's no going back.

Redblob · 13/01/2018 21:46

I agree. A lot of the girls I work with in this job and my last job (both in different counties, so not like it’s just a local thing) have all got the fake eyelashes and fake tan and done up 100% of the time. These are young girls I’m referring to in their 20’s. Such a shame and puts a lot of pressure on other people

NashvilleQueen · 13/01/2018 21:46

I hate the over-done look. Lots of young women on a night out with fake tan, ridiculous high sheen contouring, crazy false eyelashes and tons of make up. Of course they can look however they want to and far be it from me to criticise. But it seems like such a lot of work and I am sure most of them would look just at lovely, if not better, with it taken down a notch or two.

mintbiscuit · 13/01/2018 21:46

Is the Tamsin Outhwaite mention a joke?! Its painfully obvious she’s had a LOT done!!

Yes to this!

stoneagemum · 13/01/2018 21:50

An early 20's colleague of mine showed me a group photo of her and her friends and asked me a question about something (it was I while ago I don't recall the details)
My response was I don't know you all look the same. Which is true, I struggled to pick her out as they were 6+ carbon copies of fakeness.

Trashboat · 13/01/2018 21:50

Is the Tamsin Outhwaite mention a joke?! Its painfully obvious she’s had a LOT done!!

Well it wasn't, I thought she had wrinkles, thin lips and looked a bit, well, 'imperfect', I.e how a normal late 40s woman should look irl.

Maybe it was the shitty make up they put on her, but honestly I though she looked 'undid'

Palavra · 13/01/2018 21:51

Most women I know wear make up, me included, and go for a naturalish look. For women and girls who don’t go for the natural look (and prefer the plastic look) it’s just a harmless choice. I like make up for enhancing some things and covering up others - I use it as a tool to make my face look as if it was just naturally better looking. I can respect someone who’s not going for a natural look - they want something else out of make up, they aren’t hiding their make up and some are definitely quite artistic about it! Imo we just have different aims about how to use it. 1/2 the time it’s a poor quality attempt to try and look natural (a lot of plastic surgery) but 1/2 the time, especially with eueleshases and fake tan, they’re embracing the plastic look because they think it’s nice and they like dressing their body up, and they’re very forthright about it!

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