With the birth of Generation YouTube, the beauty community has grown into a hive of artistry, self-expression and self-transformation.
However, as an industry solely based on the construction of appearances (whether we deem them fabulous or not) we’re bound to enter into a few internal debates over appearance vs. reality and the injustices of ‘false advertising’.
These are exactly the kind of issues YouTube beauty guru Goss Makeup Wayne Goss tried to bring into the open recently by exposing the ‘trickery’ used by fellow beauty gurus who use ‘live photoshopping’ software in their tutorials to give the appearance of flawless skin.
Wayne caused quite a stir at the end of last month when he released a YouTube video entitled “Warning. You’re being lied to. Please Watch.”. Although he actively admits to using flattering professional lighting in his own videos, Wayne exposes the blemish blurring of the photoshop filter by comparing the appearance of his makeup free face firstly in natural lighting then with using the live photoshop software.
He reveals that the software itself can be purchased for under £100 online, and warns not to believe every flawless face you see on YouTube. Wayne has noticed numerous reputable artists using this filter who are making money off the sales these so-called skin-perfecting products they use in tutorials.
In his video, Wayne comments “I just want to turn your attention to the fact you’ll never look like this, ever, because it’s not physically possible, and this is why we feel so f*cking ugly about ourselves because we’re seeing these pictures on Instagram with the filters and the lights and now we’re seeing them in living, moving motion and that is fundamentally wrong.”
He initially noticed the filter when watching another renowned makeup artist put products on a model’s face, which when covered by the artist’s hand was displaced, revealing “all the pigmentation and the layers of foundation” underneath before snapping back to an almost unnatural flawlessness when the face was redetected.
To watch full video see link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1lovMzixm0
Although Wayne exposes the software, he tactfully refuses to name any abusers of the programme, instead describing the offender as woman in her “mid to late fifties” who has “had a line out for 20+ years” and is “always talking about the natural look”. How mysterious.
However, after some smooth undercover sleuthing, fellow YouTuber Sanders Kennedy found similarly filtered videos on the YouTube channel of makeup superstar Bobbi Brown. Sanders also evidences the filter in one of Bobbi’s videos. Sanders takes a slow-mo clip of the displacement of the filter as it transfers to Bobbi’s hand, making her hand suddenly appear 20 years younger before bouncing back onto the face of the model.
For Sanders Kennedy’s full video see link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4sWl–Hd9Q&t=1286s
Oh Bobbi! Say it isn’t so! Though we must admit she does fit Wayne’s description far too well to be glossed over. Though retiring from her company in December last year, Bobbi Brown has become a household name since establishing her makeup line in 1991 (that’s “20+ years”- suspicious!), all the while championing a simple, “natural” makeup look.
The company has recently released a statement in response to Sanders denying all accusations and the offending video has been removed by the user.
(Need a lift? Or just ‘live photoshop’?)
But regardless of whether Bobbi uses this kind of filtering or not, it’s important to be aware that it projects an unachievable standard of beauty that in the words of Goss “is fundamentally wrong”. Not only would this degrade Bobbi’s faithful fans and fellow artists, but on a wider scale this blatant false advertising could be construed as misrepresentation and fraud. If she is advertising the skin-perfecting qualities of her product while underhandedly using live photoshopping software that abnormally perfects the skin and taking profit- well, I hope she has a good lawyer #prayforBobbi.