Retouching the Faces of Beautiful Women

Women have been under the microscope for decades. We’re expected to stay youthful, beautiful and keep a tiny waistline. The pressures are many, not to mention unrealistic. Keeping it all in place while maintaining a flawless look doing it. I don’t know about you but the work is exhausting! The game of pretend can eventually lead to great unhappiness, as it can build a sense of constant dissatisfaction.

An announcement in early 2019 made by CVS could indicate changes are being made to steer the beauty world in a new direction. The drugstore’s makeup and beauty line will cease the altering of their photo displays for purposes of achieving perfection in ad images. It has taken their commitment to “keep it real” even further by asking brands they carry in their aisles to make the same promise by 2020.

Retouching photos has been widely used in advertisement to create the illusion of flawlessness which has somehow become our definition of beauty. Images of women’s bodies and faces have been equally manipulated to create perfection. This is increasingly problematic as women are being held to an impossible standard trying to fulfill this unattainable beauty goal. We will never look like the women in these ads but we keep working at it because the marketing world set such standards. Over time, this control over images has influenced how beauty is defined.

Young girls and women alike are strongly affected by what they see in the ad world. Comparing how they measure up to the women in the images is one of the drivers of the explosion in the plastic surgery industry. In 2018, plastic surgeons had the highest average in compensation. The thought that doctors can make us look like the models in the ads is deceiving and damaging to our psychological and emotional health. An inability to live up to the fantasy can leave some in depression. These dangers are real and lurk in the minds of the most impressionable youngsters.

The decision made on the part of CVS is significant. Hopefully, other beauty brands will begin to follow suit moving society into a new era. I believe it was important to highlight the story as a writer of women empowerment. Similar to many of you, I have felt the pressures to look a certain way to match up to whatever the outside world has dictated for me. As mothers, leaders, teachers, caretakers and empowered women that we are, it’s crucial we pass on a different message of beauty to the next generation, as well as take the advice for ourselves.

Each one of us is unique in their own way. The beauty you reflect comes from inside and shines outward. There’s nothing wrong with augmentation, adorning your face with a pretty lipstick, mascara, eye shadow or any other makeup. It’s fun to dye our hair or use different wigs if we choose to, as a way of reinventing ourselves when we’re looking for a new look. However, when using the embellishments as a way to conceal our true self because we’re ashamed or dislike the person underneath then we need to re-evaluate. Using enhancers to change who you are shouldn’t be a consideration. Everyone holds their own individual beauty, acknowledgment of it is empowerment. I’m not referring to conceit but instead the natural embracing of all your internal and external gifts.

You are beautiful just by owning who you are as a woman.

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