Instagram Influencers Are All Starting To Look The
Same. Here's Why.
Between makeup and Facetune, we're creating a homogenized expression of beauty.
By Julia Brucculieri
“Why be you when you can be me?”
That question was part of a ’90s social ​marketing campaign​ created by
Concerned Children’s Advertisers and Health Canada. In the clip, two
young girls are walking through a “boutique” that offers products and
procedures to help consumers change their appearances and
personalities.
“Don’t settle for just being yourself,” a woman’s voice says as one of
the girls is examined by a makeup artist who covers her lips with bright
red ​pigment​. “Why be you when you can be me?”​ ​she says.
The ad campaign seems more relevant now than ever, with that
question representing exactly the type of attitude social media is
perpetuating​: Why be you when you can be like all the popular,
beautiful people, like Kylie Jenner?
Social media influencers these days are starting to look like beauty
clones​. You know the look: a full ​pout​, perfectly ​arched​ eyebrows,
maybe some expertly ​applied​ eyeliner, ​topped off​ with a​ healthy dose
of​ highlighter and cheek contouring. With a few makeup brushes, a
contour palette and some matte lip color, you can be well on your way
to looking like everyone else.
Why, though, is looking like everyone else something we aim for? There
are a number of factors that play a part, including a possible desire to
fit in and a ​tendency​ to ​mimic​ celebrities and influencers.
Others have written about what has ​been dubbed ​“Instagram makeup”
and “Instagram face” before, but the trend is still going strong. HuffPost
spoke to Rachel Weingarten, a beauty historian, Renee Engeln, a
psychology professor and author of ​Beauty Sick: How the Cultural
Obsession With Appearance Hurts Girls and Women​, and Dr. Michael
Brustein, a clinical psychologist, to get some answers.
So, How Did We Get Here?
In the days before social media, as Weingarten explained to HuffPost,
our beauty habits were defined by factors like geography and ethnicity.
For example, she said, if you lived in a certain part of Asia, you may
have used skin whiteners, or if you lived in France in the 1700s, you
probably powdered your wigs.
“It kind of was ​isolated​ to a moment and a place and maybe your
religion and beliefs,” she said, adding that around the late 1800s and
part of the 1900s, magazines were opening people’s eyes to new things.
“But the time that things really started to affect beauty was probably
the ’40s and ’50s, when celebrities started to show up in magazines as
beauty ideals,” she said. “Then everybody started copying the
celebrities.”
Thanks to the internet, Weingarten said, people no longer have to
travel to see beauty trends from all over the world, nor do we need to
wait for them to make their way to us. Because of that, we learn about
trends that are popular in other parts of the world more quickly than
we ever would have in the past, and we can participate in them. (Just
think about Korean beauty and how quickly it exploded in the U.S. You
can even buy specialty products at CVS and Walgreens.)
“The other thing that happened is people are no longer clearly defined
by their ethnicity, their race, even their gender,” Weingarten said. “So,
there’s this weird ​conformity​ where it used to be if you were Asian or
Caucasian​, that limited your beauty. If you had African-American hair,
that made you look a certain way. You don’t have to do that anymore.”
“What we have now is a sort of aggressive version of what the ultimate
in multicultural beauty could look like,” she added, explaining the
popular makeup looks we see on Instagram ― again, it’s the sharp cat
eyes, full matte lips and ​well-groomed​ brows ― could technically work
on someone with any skin tone or nationality. In that sense, the look is
accessible, which is perhaps why so many people online conform to it.
People Want To Fit In
And speaking of conforming, people want to fit in. One way to do so,
especially online, is to model yourself after social media’s most popular
figures.
Celebrities, especially those like Kylie Jenner, who has ​cemented​ a
massive following on her selfie-filled Instagram account, “have really
come to represent beauty trends,” Engeln said.​ ​Brustein agreed, noting
that celebrities are ​a huge driver of​ society’s beauty ideals, and in
attempting to fit in with these ideals, many people mimic celebrities.
Generally speaking, celebrities and Instagram models are seen as
“what’s considered attractive,” Brustein said, adding that he thinks
people want to fit in and ​live up to ​these ideals to help make
themselves feel good.
“They’re modeling it after celebrity, and I think, really, that’s what
drives it,” he said. “‘If I have this, I feel good, I feel worthy, I feel
validated​.’ And then they put it on their Instagram and it’s ​reinforced
through social media as it’s passed around. It makes people feel
confident.”
“Humans are social creatures by nature, and we have a powerful drive
for social acceptance,” Engeln added.
At present, it’s all about the Kardashians and what some have called
“The Kardashian Effect” ― i.e., “the Kardashians’ ability to influence
consumer habits.” Look at Kylie, known largely for her overly ​plumped
pout. So many people wanted the now-20-year-old’s lips for themselves
that they were willing to physically harm themselves to achieve the
look, even if it was temporary. Kylie’s influence over beauty trends has
helped her create a billion-dollar beauty empire.
“At this point, [Kylie’s] look has become symbolic for beauty for some
reason. It is more inclusive, let’s say, than the blond, blue-eyed look of
the early ’70s or the ’50s. People feel that this is accessible beauty,”
Weingarten said.
Obviously filters and editing apps play a role in this trend, too. Not only
are individuals styling themselves like each other, but they’re also
editing their photos using the same tools. For instance, an app like
Facetune allows users to smooth their skin and/or make their eyes
appear bigger and brighter.
Then there’s the cosmetic surgery aspect. While not everyone is open
about possible work they’ve had done, there is a chance people are
enhancing their looks with needles and fillers. We know Snapchat and
Instagram filters are inspiring individuals to pay a visit to the plastic
surgeon, but one could argue that the seemingly “unfiltered” images of
“​flawless​” individuals have a similar influence.
What Does It All Mean?
For Weingarten, Brustein and Engeln, the emergence of this
homogenized ​expression of beauty can be problematic.
On one hand, some people may find that conforming to a beauty
standard can help with confidence and self-esteem. As Brustein
explained, “fitting in gives people a sense of ​cohesion​. They don’t want
to be seen as the outsider.”
That confidence boost, though, will likely be short-lived, especially if
you become increasingly obsessed with presenting an altered version of
yourself on social media.
“In the long run if you’re ​preoccupied with​ fitting in, it could lead to
negative emotion or distress because your identity is tied in with
meeting these expectations that are derived from a social norm
developed by the media or by a celebrity who we imbue with power,”
Brustein said.
It should be noted that not everyone who participates in the current
Instagram trends will find themselves sinking into a black hole of
dissatisfaction with their own lives. It’s all about keeping things
separated and not allowing your social media self define who you are,
Brustein said.
Weingarten finds the trend of people looking the same “very
disturbing,” and in her opinion, it ​quells​ “the experimentation that
teenage girls used to have.”
“The pressure to look a certain way starts younger than ever. Girls don’t
get to try on and fail anymore,” she said. “One of my ​fondest​ memories
of being younger was trying on these ridiculous makeup trends, but
[now] they’re just copying, there’s nothing original there anymore. It is
sad.”
As Engeln put it, the fact of the matter is “we don’t all look alike.”
“We don’t all look young and we don’t all have full lips and smooth skin,
and when you see this kind of ​uniformity​, it’s a real denial of human
physical features,” she said. “I think that’s ugly no matter what. That
kind of denial hurts people. It makes them feel erased, and for women
in particular, it makes them spend ​God knows how much​ time trying
and trying to reach that look that they may be genetically unable to
reach.”
It’s also important to remember that not ​everyone ​on Instagram or
social media in general is perpetuating this homogenized beauty ● Who do you follow on Instagram? How do you
standard.
engage with this service yourself? Do you have a
“One of the good things social media does is allow people to seek out favourite filter or app for editing photos?
feeds that do represent more diversity. So you don’t have to have a ● How much of what’s spoken about in this article
feed where everyone’s face looks the same. You can opt out of that,”
have you seen in your own life, or that of your
Engeln said. “I think that’s the promise. Social media is ​democratizing​ in
some ways. You’re not just letting fashion magazines ​dictate​ what faces friends? (Do you know people who do their
we see. I think that’s really great.” makeup this way?)
● What do you think drives beauty trends in
Additionally, there’s no need to shame those who participate or ​find
solace in​ conforming to the current beauty trends. There’s nothing Taiwan?
inherently wrong with wanting to fit in, but, as Engeln explained, when ● Are kids here educated about the use of photo
we’re constantly seeing images that are so far from what people look
editing techniques and how to read images?
like in real life, there can be some psychological costs.
Should they be? Why/why not?
“It’s not just [that] you see that picture of someone else looking perfect
and you feel bad,” she said. “Even for the person who posted that
picture ― they have to contend with the gap between [what’s in a]
picture they made of their own face and what they see in the mirror
when they wake up in the morning.”

“Most of us do not wake up flawless,” she said.

1. How does the article describe “the look”?

2. How were our beauty ideals defined before the age of social media?
3. What media affected our ideas of beauty before the internet arrived? How?
4. Aside from the internet making it easier to view international trends, what other factor(s) are
making beauty standards more general?
5. Why has the Instagram look been able to be so successful internationally?
6. Why do some people mimic celebrities?
7. What is “the Kardashian effect”?
8. What do people use Facetune for?
9. Why might even unfiltered images of people not be quite as unfiltered as they first appear?
10. What are the potential positives and negatives of mimicking a celebrity style to fit in?
11. What is one consequence of the overall homogenization of appearances that Engeln this is sad?
pigment

perpetuate

clone

pout

arch

apply (make up)

top off

a (healthy) dose of sth

tendency

mimic

be dubbed (as) sth

isolated

conformity

Caucasian

well-groomed

cement (v./n)

be a (huge) driver of sth

live up to

validated

reinforced

plumped

flawless

homogenized

cohesion

be preoccupied with sth

quell

fond

uniformity

God knows _____

democratizing

dictate

find solace in sth