"Makeup, that's it."
That's how makeup artist Polvilas Staniulionis captioned the photos she posted on Reddit earlier this month. The photos aren't of her, but of a woman she recently worked with. The left photo shows the woman without makeup, the right shows the woman with—simple enough. Yet, it's a dramatic difference: while the woman has an natural, average (not a bad thing) look to her, with makeup, she looks like a typical Hollywood socialite, easily. With makeup her freckles disappear, her skin has more color, her cheekbones look for defined, eyebrows are sculpted and her nose looks thinner. But while it seems that Staniulionis wanted to showcase her talents and the power of makeup, some users on the Reddit post seemed to have gotten angry at the woman who had the makeup put on.
"The girl in the photo is apparently not satisfied with the way she looks without makeup and uses makeup to artificially portray a person more people would find attractive," user plokoonismyfave said. "If a guy wore prosthetic muscles under a long-sleeve shirt (a la Superman costumes), you would likely feel as if you had been deceived, regardless of what you thought of the person."
Another user, RG150, agreed. "I think it is deceitful, men go for looks, and for most looks are an important aspect of your potential partner.
"It's actually difficult in identifying those two pictures as the same person! It's not just a slight difference, it's massive.
"Women who plaster themselves with makeup are only putting themselves under pressure to keep hiding their true selves."
But not everyone felt that way. Another user, a woman named Kate, tried to bring the conversation back down to Earth.
"These pictures are a bit unfair because most women don't make such a dramatic transformation," Kate said. "This isn't really indicative of the norm. Most women don't have professional makeup artists doing their makeup so most won't be able to achieve this."
Staniulionis probably understood that the woman's looks would get commented on. Unfortunately, some women have to deal with this everyday, online and in person, whether they want it or not.
