Sick of the Love Island aesthetic

[Raspberryclouds]

Don't know what else to call it, and don't want to name names or post pictures of people as that's unfair but it's everywhere and makes me feel inadequate.
They've all got a tan, gleaming white teeth, microbladed eyebrows, mermaid hair (they never have short hair like me!)
Plump lips, false eyelashes, freckles, perfect cheekbones and perfect figures, flawless skin. Oh and all have these perfect tiny noses whereas mine is wide.
I know a lot of it is Instagram/filters but most of them look the same in reality.

I feel like some sort of potato in comparison because it seems that this is what's considered attractive. I live in Manchester city centre and there are ten a penny slim, statuesque stunning women with long flowing hair going on a night out.
I didn't think I was awful, but just feel so basic and unremarkable.
I can't afford to get consistent beauty treatments, eyelashes are expensive, I put a fake tan on myself but can't afford constant spray tans, constant teeth whitening and so on.
I need to learn to be happier with what I've got, but just feel so dull, does anyone else feel like this.

See Bella Hadid (I know she's had surgery) Emily Ratajkowski, etc..
I just feel like a bag of cabbage next to people like that.

I can’t tell whether you are looking for a glow up or for everyone else to glow down as it were?

I love short hair.

I’d have thought, living in Manchester City Centre you’d be seeing lots of more alternative, student-type aesthetics as well.

I rarely see that aesthetic now. Maybe on a Saturday night, occasionally. I also feel potato like in comparison but maybe I’m now so old I just shrug, envy them their youth a bit, and carry on with my night.

You’re comparing yourself to Bella Hadid! Well 99.9% of people are spuddy compared to them! You’re on A hiding to nothing there, we all are!

There has always been different beauty looks in fashion, from the 20s -50s -90s Pamela Anderson etc

this is a trend/ phase and in a couple of years something else will be considered beautiful. There has always been a wide range as to how much effort people put into their looks. I do appreciate you’re saying you feel that look is very high maintenance but I disagree that one needs to look like that to be beautiful. I think this is more coming to terms with yourself than what everyone else looks like.

It takes an awful lot of time and money (and in many cases invasive treatments/surgery) to look like this. So... you either to choose to do it or not. If not, then own it and reconcile yourself to the way you look.

Are these women beautiful with their short hair?

I think so (googled short hair)

Personally, I'm more interested in what someone is capable of than their looks. Without the pretty face, perfect figure and nice nails, what's left? What can someone actually do? The state our world is in, it needs a lot more than pretty people fretting about their hair and nails.

The Love Island aesthetic is awful and plenty of people don’t think it’s attractive.

in terms of making you feel better about yourself (I am sure you aren’t dull, but I recognise that’s how you feel), could you look at changing your make up or getting some styling? Lots of companies like stitch fix will send things which they think will suit you.

Yeah but a lot of them just look the same, very formulaic with little individuality. Whatever floats their boat tbh. You need to remember that comparison is the thief of joy and find a way to accept yourself as you are.

I think feeling inadequate goes hand in hand with youth. I wasted my whole twenties decade hating myself by comparison with others. Now I’m nearly 50 I don’t care half as much. I still care a bit when I see others my age look amazing. But I find as time goes on in all balances out.

my advice is stop focusing on your looks and focus on something else that brings you joy.

TBH, the Kardashian/Love Island/TOWIE look is so generic to me. No thought to individuality, what suits individual features, colouring or face shapes. That feels more “basic” to me. I prefer a more individual look where a person has thought about what works with what they have naturally and complements it. Each to their own.

The love Island/TOWIE style will date quickly, if it hasn’t already and people will move on. Your look might be in fashion next or it might not. Does that matter to you? You need to work on building your own self esteem around how you look and who you are, that way you’ll care less about the fashions other people choose.

Where are going in Manchester? I ask because whilst I agree there are lots of people looking like this, I see plenty of other sorts out and about (myself included) and I am there often, I used to live there but moved to the burbs a few years ago.
This look isn't something I aspire to, I don't really like it personally so it doesn't upset me. I do think if I did like it and spent a lot of time looking at it I'd feel bad too as I'm a million miles away from looking like that!
Is the issue that you try to get this look but can't? Do you want to look this way or do you want to find your own style?

The LI ‘look’ is fashionable at the No moment in the same way the Pamela Anderson was in the 90’s. I spent my entire teens trying to look fashionable and feeling massively inferior to those girls.As an adult I know those LI and Real Housewives ( more my age-ha!) are absolutely stunning, however my look and vibe are very different. I’m happy with myself the way I am, in my slightly boho eclectic phase
What I’m saying is that comparison is the thief of joy. Find what looks good for YOU and don’t pay too much attention to others . Work on why you feel less than, rather than trying to work on that aesthetic

The Love Island aesthetic is damaging to both sexes. Men have unrealistic expectations and women feel inferior and inadequate in comparison. For most women, maintaining that physique & grooming is a full time occupation, which is why they're all influencers' rather than having a 9-5. But most real people know that it's not realistic, you sound quite young to be comparing your looks to these women - have confidence in who you are.

I totally understand what you are meaning. Every decade has a fashion or style and if you don’t have it you compare yourself, usually negatively. The twiggy of the sixties, for example, is so different to the love island image but some women starved to be like her.

Previously it may have meant having your hair permed or (different decade) ironing it flat. But today it includes paying for nails, eyelashes, hair extensions, tans, teeth whitening and contouring and that’s before lip fillers, botox and other more expensive surgery.

It’s a pressure that some people feel and some people feel invisible amongst all of these clones and some people feel unattractive.

You di need to feel happier with what you’ve got because comparison is the thrift of joy.

I agree with this. They certainly look very pretty and I'm not knocking that but they all look exactly the same now.

Bella Hadid doesn't look like Bella Hadid. She's had a shit-ton of surgery to look like that. Do you really want someone chipping away at bits of your face in order to look like everyone else?

The current cheap, overdone look is really ugly, it's not something to emulate. Just wear what you like. If you compare yourself to other people you'll never be happy.

Thank you, it is just a lack of confidence.
I dislike my wide nose but I don't have the money for a nose job.
I do see a lot of 'alternative' types too but they've also got folk-like faces, tiny noses, large eyes and lips, perfect freckly cheekbones.
I really do need to boost my confidence and love what I have got and what I am selling.

I really dislike the look you’re describing, to me it’s very fake, and resembles a sex doll. I always wonder how much of it is hiding all sorts of insecurities and fears by covering up the individual and creating this plastic version of a person.

Embrace the things that are good about you, and try not to compare yourself to an aesthetic that doesn’t reflect who you are or add value to your life.

So do something about it. You can only fix yourself, so if you’re unhappy with your appearance only you have the power to change it.

Wanting beautiful people to hide away or for others to pretend they aren’t attractive is never going to happen and it’s something you have no control over.

I just don't see them as looking like normal human beings really. It's not worth comparing yourself to these plastic people. They might as well be cartoons really, with their filters, surgical alterations and fake everything.

I live in a rural area, so I don't really ever see the wannabe-Kardashians-on-a-night-out look. On the rare occasion I do (on a trip to a city, or when one unexpectedly crops up in my area), tbh I have to remind myself not to stare. But not in an admiring way, more out of surprised curiosity. Whereas every day I see normal, nicely-dressed people whose clothes or hair I like and could emulate if I wanted to.

How many of them have happy stable lives, with people who will love them when they’ve put on a few pounds and have crows feet? That’s what’s important. Concentrate on important stuff.

There have always been societal standards of beauty.

Personally I think beauty standards now are much more diverse than they used to be. When I was a teenager the ‘look’ was white, skinny, and blonde.