Theres 26 Photoshopped Pictures Show There's No Such Thing a Perfect Face

Ear, Lip, Cheek, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyebrow, Eyelash,

(Image credit: Archives)

published 26 June 2014

Esther Honig is a 24-year-old radio journalist in Kansas City, Missouri. But a few months ago, while working with internationally based graphic designers for her job, she came up with an idea: See how people around the globe define female beauty (opens in new tab).

She started by sending a self-portrait (above) to a designer in Sri Lanka. "Hi," she wrote, "my name is Esther Honig... make me look beautiful." The result was a hauntingly beautiful Photoshopped (opens in new tab) image of herself, with pink lips and tinge of green eyeshadow. She began sending her picture to Photoshoppers in more countries.

When artists were confused by the request, Honig would ask them to make her look like a woman in one of their country's fashion magazines. Blue and green eyes and lightened skin were the most common traits in the results, showing "how euro-centric beauty ideals are around the world." One designer in Morocco returned an image of Honig in a hijab. (A selection of her images are below; some countries submitted more than one image.)

Honig has gotten pictures from artists in 27 countries so far, and plans to keep going with the project as long as she can. "There's so much to be told through this experiment," she says. "It's me, but it's not me. It's everyone."

Argentina

Ear, Nose, Lip, Cheek, Mouth, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder,

Australia

Ear, Lip, Cheek, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyebrow, Joint,

Bangladesh

Hair, Ear, Lip, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Eyelash, Eyebrow, Style,

Germany

Greece

Ear, Lip, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyebrow, Eyelash, Style,

India

Indonesia

Israel

Italy

Kenya

Ear, Lip, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyelash, Eyebrow, Joint,

Morocco

Pakistan

Ear, Nose, Lip, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyebrow, Eyelash,

Philippines

Romania

Ear, Nose, Lip, Cheek, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Shoulder, Eyebrow,

Serbia

Sri Lanka

U.K.

Ukraine

USA

Ear, Lip, Cheek, Hairstyle, Skin, Chin, Forehead, Eyelash, Eyebrow, Style,

Venezuela

Vietnam

See more of Esther's work on her website (opens in new tab), Twitter (opens in new tab), and Facebook (opens in new tab).

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Photo credit: Esther Honig (opens in new tab)

Via

Emma Baker is an Editorial Intern and graduate student in NYU's Cultural Reporting and Criticism program. She thinks/writes/obsesses about market feminism, consumer culture, and self image.