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

[Namila]

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

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

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.

Her forehead above the eyebrows didn't move, and she had that odd gathering you see with people who have had botox and fillers. I think she'd have looked better without it, personally, but it's her choice of course.

Sorry Tamzin with a 'z' I've never seen it spelt that way before.

I don't wear makeup.

That said, maybe they (the people who look, err, "fake") just like the look.

They do all look the same stone age.
Like identikits.
Same eyebrows, same hair, thick foundation.
And as for the contouring, they must take hours to get ready.
When I was a teenager in late 80s my friends and I had our own ‘look’, we went to great lengths to avoid looking/ dressing the same on a night out.
I find it quite sad.

@Namila

I don't get it either OP. Years ago (pre 2000's,) women had plastic surgery/botox/face lift etc when they were 45 or older. When they were kind of starting to look a wee bit older. But now, celebrities as young as early 20's are having procedures. And they flat out do not need them!

I know it sounds awful, so apologies, but I have noticed when women start having stuff done in their mid 20's, that they look 10 years older than their age by around 30-32.

It's very sad, as they almost always look quite a bit worse several years after having fillers/botox etc...

I saw a young woman the other week who I haven't seen for 2 years, (who used to work at my place.) She is 27/28, and she was soooo pretty; think Reece Witherspoon. And she has had her lips done, (like collagen,) and she looked like she had been punched in the mouth. I couldn't take my eyes off her mouth, she looked AWFUL.

Kind of like this girl above (I got this image from google, it's not anyone I know...)

^

Her lips went from looking like the one on the left, to the one on the right...

When people have procedures, it is often a very unattractive look, but I wouldn't say anything horrible to them, as I feel a bit sorry for them.

arrietty what 'gathering'? Where? Intrigued and want to seek it out now!

I agree with you OP
I'm in my 50s, so fully expect to not like every fashion that comes along - I certainly wouldn't expect any generation to be wearing the same 'look' as their parents, but the whole troweled on orangeness, with spiders instead of eyelashes and then the stick of charcoal where eyebrows ought to be really is ridiculous, and surely can't look nice to anyone's eyes ?

I struggle to tell women apart, now. Hair is so styled/coloured, skin tone is not natural, face shape etc.

It's also hard to get to know s9me9ne, when they are effectively wearing a mask. It literally obscures their character.

I agree OP, I am not a fan of the fake look either.

I often wonder what happens when women who wear so much heavy, makeup with contouring/highlighting/fake eyelashes etc meet new partners - and they see them for the first time wearing none.

I'm not sure
I think sadly we are in territory where an insanely high level of grooming is seen as a basic standard

But this week I interviewed a 28 year old who was so plastic it was quite freaky
Her face looked like she'd painted on completely different contouring, that was covered in a sheen, her fingernails were sharp and ludicrously long, she had solid blue eyeshadow on, tottered in in crazy heels, and had hair extensions down to her waist, I think I could see the join in her hair.

Given that loads of places in the local high road are now nail salons and hair extensions, oh and we're not allowed any tiny bit of face hair, I suppose we will get more of this. But what struck me was that I couldn't see what she looked like. Great if you want to alternate between different disguises, I suppose.

Then again, if I pop to Superdrug or something to get hand cream, I'm horrified by the squillion million products. It's fine if you enjoy it, but if it becomes a new normal for women at work, that will be awful.

The point about the obviously fake look is to demonstrate to other girls/women "THIS is how much effort (time/money) I invest in my looks".

It's not that much different to MN posters seizing on a thread of perceived inferior parenting to denounce so they can say "look HOW MUCH more effort I put in than you".

It's a competition thing. Unnecessary overhead, like peacocks.

I watched a video on youtube on these two women who apparently spent tens of thousands of pounds to look like barbie. Absolute madness!

Young women in their 20's are going in for fake lips, filler, botox - like it's maintenance. It's not - it's altering & sad. Fake lips IMO are the worst, they're distracting & ugly.

I thought Tamsin's eyes looked quite feline and immediately thought she must have had a face lift.
I dont like these fierce brows everyone has, are they stencilled on??? And the wierd contouring which looks like stark brown stripes once you're within talking distance. Not attractive to me.

I was reading a news article about chloe khans (chloe mafia) rags to riches transformation and she actually looks like a different person now having spend apparently 100k on plastic surgery. It's amazing what money can buy and she's only 26.

I agree with the PP who said that the prevailing fashion in the sixties was very fake. I was born in '61 and I remember my mum and my aunties with huge bouffant beehives supplemented by wigs and 'switches', heavy panstick foundation, elaborate winged eyeliner, several pairs of false eyelashes at once on both top and bottom lashes and white lipstick. They looked completely fake. It's a look I have always steered clear of as to me it looks like old people or drag queens (nowt wrong with drag queens, I just don't want to look like one).

The backlash to this look came in the late 60s. Then long, straight, hippy style hair was in and women were painting cute little freckles on their glowing complexions and wearing cheesecloth and loon pants. I remember with fondness a beautiful pair of loons embroidered with elephants that I bought at a jumble sale.

Young people will soon drop the fake look as it becomes associated with their teachers and parents, just like like every generation rejects the old and embraces what seems new to them. And just like all of us, they will look back at photos of their younger selves and marvel at how hideous they looked.

I think it's due to the selfie craze. It's always been known that to look good in photos you need to emphasise make up and I think it's an extension of that. I hate the way teenagers are walking around contoured and with eyebrows that are coloured in with what look like felt tip. In the 90s(when I was in my 20s) it was all natural look that was popular. Think All Saints and combats etc.

Young women in their 20's are going in for fake lips, filler, botox - like it's maintenance.

That's it, isn't it? I think all sorts of things have become 'maintenance' that really shouldn't be.

I'm 45 and have never worn fake eyelashes. I love make up and always wear mascara but that's enough for me whereas my 17 yr old DD wears them to every party.

There's good money to be made in hoovering up a vast number of duckface photos, storing them for about 10 years, finding the offenders, and then striking a cash for deletion deal.

Does it not depend what you're watching? I don't see this, but I don't watch crap like towie or soaps.

Maybe watch some different things on tv?

nauticant!

I agree OP. Hand in hand with that seems to have come body mannerisms/contortions (can't think how to put that) that have been standardised - pouting or (full) lips slightly open, poking your tongue out, head tilt, eyes wide for the (dewy-eyed aren't-I-innocent looking) look, arched back, hand on hip, pigeon toes to make yourself look like a little girl, bum out, seductive look over the shoulder. All designed to look innocent yet sexy. It's bizarre. The sexualising is so over-done. It all seems so screwed up to me. Men that are transgender seem to embrace this look (sorry to bring trans into it) thinking that's what we women are. It's so refreshing seeing teenage/20s girls/women that don't follow this (there are some thankfully - I've two late teen/early 20s kids).

I've noticed this alot and it worries me the pressure my 12yo dd is going to be under. I have never worn makeup in my life/had my nails done or really cared about anything like that but even me at 35 am starting to feel like a social outcast for just not doing those things. As for my dd she has no interest in makeup or anything yet but her and her friends all look like clones it's like there's no individuality anymore and it's sad.

Young women in their 20's are going in for fake lips, filler, botox - like it's maintenance

I also don't think this is true. My daughter is 20, neither her or any of her social circle have work done and none of them wear false eyelashes. Make up yes, hair straightened yes, but no fake eyebrows, eye lashes, Botox or anything. I don't know any students who could afford it.

For me it's a small percentage of the population and there's always been a small percentage who go over the top.