What’s pretty these days

[Starsineyes91]

Anybody else confused what counts as pretty/attractive these days.

It’s like you’re only allowed to look natural if you’re very young and naturally pretty.

Its so confusing every woman and her dog is expected to have a face full of filler and be deep orange at all times with obligatory fake black eyelashes.

I think society has forgotten what a natural pleasant face looks like, I see women with barefaced or light make-up being called drug addicts or other nasty slurs, because they have some natural texture and shadows.

Might get me flamed but some of the women doing the shaming of more natural women are plain Jane’s who have paid a lot to look like unattractive transvestites. But so many men will choose them over an attractive natural girl.

Don’t get me started on the obsession with filtered photos. Society has become so toxic for girls and women.

Knew this would be nw! I'm on a decent wage. There are lots I know who aren't. Boggles my mind how they afford it.
Except it sort of doesn't, because I know quite a few women who are seemingly qualified to inject stuff into people's faces for less than I pay my hairdresser.

I think you probably judge more harshly than anyone else. Take a step back from focussing on how other people look and approach with kindness.

I think Botox filler face is a total
working class marker and it is very cultural.

MC or UMC here and no one has filler face and if they have any “work” done it is very very subtle and the look is more refreshed rather than “done”

I would quit the SM and work on feeling whole in yourself.

50 here no work done and feel incredible. Fitter than ever and strong.

I couldn't care less what other people think is pretty.

@Starsineyes91 I have 3 young adult daughters and it wasn't drummed’ into them to look like this at all - honestly I think you are viewing the world through a tiny lense

I think you’ve got me confused, it’s the other way round. I find a lot of women who partake in these enhancements/image to be very judgemental to plainer women, like mocking them for having the same lips etc that they themselves were born with.

This

OK please give actual examples in detail if how others have been mocked?

And unless people seek out deliberately sources that say us women have to fill our selves with fillers, plastic surgery smother fake tan and make-up etc. Where and how is it 'expected' I don't do any of it and a lot of people I know dont

Typical

As it happens I'm a man and personally find heavily made up women unattractive. Several of my friends have said the same.

You want me to give every personal interaction I’ve experienced or witnessed to you ? No, I’m not going to do that just to be poo pooed anyway and told I’m lying. Your stance seems very negative, I know to expect this from some mumsnet’s as they struggle to believe things outside their own personal bubble. @Edingril

Well that’s fine for you and your friends but so many women have come out and said that men they interact with compliment them on their natural bare beauty, when in-fact it took an hour of applying all kinds of makeup to achieve that natural look. Men are generally clueless on women’s grooming/beauty routines, and when they see them for the first time with a scrubbed face they are genuinely shocked and ask if they are ill.

No man of my acquaintance has ever been like that. I've never met one who actually cared whether a woman wore make up or not. I rarely wore it myself and seemed to have no trouble attracting men (not so much now I'm retirement age, thank goodness!).

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/09/a-warped-concept-of-beauty-has-taken-hold-among-young-women

I’d consider it to be “beauty” or fashion, rather than pretty.
Frankie Bridge. She was very pretty. Now she has the look.

Hers isn’t the strong look you’re talking about, but a version.
Things have just stepped up from plain old hair & make-up.

Think others do actually know what you’re talking about…
Seems to be every other check-out girl, waitress, where I live.

OP, where I live (London) nobody looks the way you describe. Nobody is orange and fake-looking.

I went to Liverpool about a year ago and you do see some women walking around the shopping centre with rollers in their hair and fake eyelashes / overdone fake tan. I think that is the look you’re describing? But it’s very regionally-specific.

I have 2 daughters and they hardly wear any make-up. I think you need to look beyond these specific women in your area because they are a vanishing minority, to say the least.

I live in a part of the country renowned for fillers, Botox, fake eyelashes. In reality, most of the people living there don't look like that. I travel into London often and you almost never see big filled lips and huge eyelashes there.

@Thetigerdrankmywine were they Russian or Eastern European women?

Its so confusing every woman and her dog is expected to have a face full of filler and be deep orange at all times with obligatory fake black eyelashes.

I’m 40 and I don’t know anyone who thinks this or looks like this.

The thing about MN is that users come from all sorts of backgrounds and areas. I frequently see people say about all sorts of things “But in real life NO ONE does that.” or “Are you living under a rock? It’s EVERYWHERE in real life.”
So I believe OP that where she lives a lot of women and girls genuinely believe that you need to make your face look very artificial in order to be attractive.
It’s just as true that where I live in London perhaps one in a hundred women has lip fillers or false eyelashes.
I don’t think it helps to tell OP that she’s making it up, and I’ve no idea what the answer is when it comes to teenage girls, but it’s sad when anyone wrecks their face with fillers.

I'm 45 and use as little make up as possible, given
I have rosacea.
Otherwise I have been "blessed with good genes"
and don't have any kids, so that's that.
Oh, and I don't care about what anyone (men) think anymore (married for 20 years).
😁

Valid concern OP, if only for the amount of money that in my opinion is wasted as a result.

It's a fashion, innit.

London (central) has been more laid-back about 'grooming' for decades now, but you would have to be very blinkered not to realise that women in much of the country put obvious effort into their appearance. The currently preferred look is very heavy makeup with pharmaceutical adjustments.

It's mainly young women, not a class thing Louise Hunt (RIP) sported the full face, for instance.

It'll wear off and be replaced by some other 'obligatory' look. I'm glad to see the mega-brow's already on its last legs, I find them very distracting!

I think it happens in pockets where it either becomes normal to you or it doesn’t. I live in the NW, and see very few people in my local area with this look, and none of my friends, although we are a bit older. But I’ve just started having a lot of meetings with a new department at work, and it’s really striking that a huge proportion of the younger women have this look- lips, brows, skin, sometimes even cheekbones very obviously enhanced. There are always posters ready to jump on anyone who criticises it, but it doesn’t look good and you have to assume it will get worse with time.

In my world it's the opposite. DH and I exchange 'the look' when seeing those women who have the ridiculous massive pouty filled lips. To me they look stupid. None of my friends or family or colleagues look like this and most people I know think natural looks nicer or just light makeup.