Part of the fun of TikTok and other similar social media apps are the filters. They morph your face into a horse or tell you what kind of fruit you are. But there is a category of filters that are more damaging to how we view ourselves and those are beauty filters.
For the most part, you can tell when someone has one on, but technology is advancing and the newest TikTok beauty filter called Bold Glamour actually looks too realistic and doesn’t glitch even when you’re covering your face.
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A new TikTok filter is going viral for how realistic it looks and how it actually becomes your face instead of sitting on top of it
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"This filter has been used over 2 million times. It’s crazy"
"I don’t look anything like this but the filter itself is natural, like, there’s some skin texture there. I’ve seen other people use it and then do a big reveal and they looked pretty much exactly the same. Perhaps just less contoured makeup. I don’t want to say this about myself, but I actually look ugly when I take this filter off. I’ve done a lot of work to unlearn that I owe prettiness to anyone. I don’t think my brain knows how to deal with looking like this one minute and then this the next. So here’s a reminder for anyone who needs it: filtered skin is not a skin type. And we’re already the perfect edit."
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When TikTok user joannajkenny made her video in which she talked about the Bold Glamour filter on February 26, it had been used over 2 million times, but a couple of weeks later, the number is 15.5 million and it’s still growing.
The reason behind the filter being so popular might be because it’s different from all the other filters on the app. Other filters don’t look as natural - you can see that they are sitting on top of your face and if you turn away or something gets in the way of your face and the camera, it glitches and comes back only when your face is clearly in the shot.
Maybe on some people, it looks more realistic than on others, some look more like AI-generated faces than others, but the point is that you can wave in front of your face or rub it and it won’t come off as it becomes your face.
People tried to wave in front of it, turn their face away or rub it, but nothing takes off the filter as if it was your true face
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Facial plastic surgeon Dr. Monica Kieu used the filter on herself and compared the before and after, explaining what changes the filter actually makes. She noticed that it gave her smoother and glowy-looking skin. It made her brows thicker and darker as well as the eyelashes.
She used the filter on a bare face and the filter put on some eye, face and lip makeup, using universally flattering shades. The slight contouring on her nose made it thinner, her upper and lower lips appear plumper and her eyes are slightly bigger.
The plastic surgeon also noticed that the face makeup makes her cheeks pop and her favorite part was the under-eye highlighting because the “whole center of the face looks really bright and just well lit.”
This is what the filter does on a person who looks like a woman, but you will notice that men have less of a change in appearance as the filter skips the makeup part. However, a bit of minimizing and increasing facial features make them look like a conventionally better version of themselves.
Not only does the filter not glitch, but for many people, it looks realistic because it doesn't exaggerate their faces too much
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There were a lot of opinions about the filter. Actually, the most popular videos are of people trying to use the filter and reacting to it. The general consensus is that it is terrifying how realistic it looks and it makes people feel bad that they don’t look like that in real life.
Some people could accept that they don’t look so glamorous in real life like the filter makes them look, but then they are worried about the younger app users whose minds are so impressionable.
It smooths out the skin, highlights the right spots, darkens the eyebrows, enhances the eyes and plumps the lips
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According to the Dove Self-Esteem Project, more than a third of teenagers spend 3 hours or more on social media, so it is a big part of their lives. Also, “With 4 out of 5 girls saying they compare the way they look to other people on social media, posting the ‘perfect selfie’ can feel like an obligation rather than a bit of fun.”
Their surveys revealed that 25 percent of girls think that they don’t look good enough in photos if they don’t edit them, so 85 percent of them had used retouching apps even when they were younger than 13 years old.
People who tried out the filter were surprised by the results but they were also worried about what it can do to people's self esteem
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Psychiatrist Josie Howard noticed in her practice that more people come to her with body dysmorphic concerts and she links that with these types of filters: “People begin to expect themselves to look like their filtered self and can become obsessed with achieving that in the real world, which leaves them depressed, anxious, lonely, and disappointed.”
The negative feelings associated with these filters prompt people to undergo cosmetic and even surgical procedures, which was confirmed by a study in the American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery.
Because it is known that unrealistic beauty expectations can lead to various mental health and self-image problems
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While it’s a creepy feeling in general to realize that technologies have advanced so far that we sometimes can’t even tell apart an actual face from an AI-generated one, it's even more concerning how the technologies add to the unrealistic beauty standards people strive for but are left disappointed.
Do you think this new filter is a big deal? Do you think people take it too seriously? Or does it contribute to the already existing problem of making people feel like they are not pretty enough? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.