Does anyone else look really awful on FaceTime?

[Intothefuture]

I have been video calling family and friends and look horrendous. All my features look bigger and distorted . Everyone else on the call looks normal.

Do I look like that in real life?

Thanks for the tip re the angle of the phone. I just gave everyone a view of my treble chins and wonky nostrils which I didn’t know I had.

Yes. I get the dawning realisation of what I actually look like.

Yes! ALL I can see are my deep '11'lines on my forehead. I'm determined to now get filler once this is over.

I look horrific. I am okay in mirrors but looks awful on film/camera.

My face looks so long, and my nose so beaky, on video calls. I truly hope they don't look that way to others in real life. It's not what I see when I look in the mirror, anyway. It saps any confidence, still. At least I'm not alone in feeling this way.

My nose looks so pink and shiny. Probably because I'm drinking more. Also my 11 lines make me look really frowny. I'm getting Botox when this is over.

This is why i don't use video calls. I know i'll look shit because i always do in selfies. I don't get the modern obsession with being able to see people you're on the phone to tbh.

Zoom has a touch up function in settings.

What?! This is a game changer.

Oh thank goodness it's not just me!

I have crooked teeth. They don't look toooo bad in real life.
On a video chat, they are crazy! My mum thinks it's because the light hits the most crooked one which makes it look even more protruding. Like Nanny McPhee.
So awful.

Never again now!

Worst thing is when your face freezes for them

Haha yes. I'm nearly always stuck with my eyes shut, mouth open. So not only have I realised my face looks like a bag of scanners, it's also incapable of pulling a normal expression.

And don't worry it's not what we really look like. It's because the camera lense is indiscriminate - noses look huge because they're closer than eyes etc - whereas the human eye adjusts features for distance automatically. I was worried about this and googled a while back.

In order to get a non-distorted photo or video the lens has to be at least 5 feet away from your face (much longer than our arms!)

I try to use my laptop rather than phone so it can be further away, and set it up on the ironing board with a box on top, so I can angle the camera so I am looking slightly up which helps a lot.

As a pp said, trowel on the make up. I don't wear any make up normally apart from a bit of powder, not because my skin is amazing; it certainly isn't, but it is a lot worse if I wear make-up. But without it, on a video call I look like a freshly-thawed corpse.

All I can think about is the horrific pose my face will be trapped in.

And now that's all o can think about!

@blueskys72. I've had the same crease in my neck since I was very young, I first remember noticing it at 13!

I feel mine's only come fairly recently! I do NOT like it at all

I have large features (big eyes, big lips, big hair) which do NOT translate well to video calls. However, I have found a way round this - which has led to more than one person commenting how "lovely" and "normal" I look on calls.

Very simple: prop your phone (though I prefer not to use a phone if possible as it is harder to the following)or laptop or iPad up on something which puts the screen at about eye level. I prop mine on a hat box or pile of books. Then make sure you keep an appropriate distance away, and are ideally facing a source of natural light.

I'm quite deluded and think I look ok - it's always a shock to me when I don't.

I think a little bit of make up and some lipstick makes a bit of difference. I had to zoom one day last week when I couldn't find my hair brush - that was scary.

I sit with the window in front of me, and a blank wall behind. Screen at eye level - I think there are an awful of people on the news who have not realised that we are looking right up their noses.

FaceTime makes me look really pale & my parents really tanned

I look awful on FaceTime.I absolutely hate it plus watching everyone faffing about just distracts me .

I look inhuman on FaceTime. Last time I called my parents they got all concerned and recommended I be tested for anaemia. I look perfectly normal off camera!

It’s all about natural light. My study desk is right underneath the window and the sun streams in (the appointment to measure up for a blind was booked for 30/3. Ho hum!).. It makes my skin look perfect and my hair shiny. Needs heavier make up, more eyeliner and darker lipstick but basically I’m looking good and have been feeling a bit cocky about my VC style.

However last night I FaceTimed some mates for drinks from the sofa. No natural light, no careful screen placement, no make up, no blow dry. Jesus fucking christ! The chins! The tache! The pasty dough face with raisins for eyes! Fuck me, I may never leave the house again.

I just tried the touch-up thing on Zoom. Absolutely no difference. I still look like a reflection in a fun-house mirror. Woe!

I look dreadful but it is fair to say it is an accurate representation of my actual face.

Use the laptop rather than a phone so Skype, FB Messenger or Zoom. I did a Whatsapp call yesterday and you can only use the phone so it's obviously like a closeup. Laptop is better.