Digital beauty: An impossible beauty standard

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• September 21, 2022

Insight summary

Digital beauty, powered by technology like AR and 3D mapping, allows for a range of enhancements. While social media platforms and cosmetics companies have embraced this trend, there's growing criticism over its impact on self-image, prompting a push towards more natural, unaltered content. This evolution reflects changing consumer preferences and has significant implications for retail, social norms, and mental health.

Digital beauty context

Digital beauty or make-up is fueled by face recognition, 3D mapping, and augmented reality (AR). The impact may be subtle (such as natural-looking touch-ups) or dramatic (flamboyant hair colors), with facial features and body figure transformations. As the metaverse becomes a looming possibility, digitally enhanced and emotive virtual make-up will define how some people present themselves and how they assign value to their looks.  

Digital beauty was popularized by social media filters and apps like Instagram and Snapchat. Pre-made filters allow users to change their eyebrows, lips, and face shape, rendering them nearly unrecognizable. In contrast, cosmetics companies Redken, Avon, MAC, and Maybelline use AR filters to allow people to virtually try on products in a live video; and L'Oreal created digital-only products.

Critics have raised concerns about filters that completely change a person's face. In particular, Gen Z is promoting an anti-filter sentiment where fake content and body shaming are increasingly being called out. This trend extended to social media companies.

For example, Instagram allows users to conceal "like" counts, and, in its search results, Pinterest excludes face-smoothing elements from its AR make-up try-on and banned advertising for weight loss. Additionally, a 2021 TikTok trend sees individuals making before-and-after videos to lyrics that reject artificiality. Aside from social media companies, Norway passed a law requiring influencers to disclose when an image has been digitally altered.

Disruptive impact

Digital beauty filters have become more common outside the beauty and make-up industry. For example, the teleconferencing company Zoom introduced its Touch Up My Appearance feature, which smooths out skin textures and blurs blemishes. Then, Zoom created a full-fledged Studio Effects section, where users can digitally adjust anything—eyelashes, lipstick, mustache, hats, accessories, and emojis. 

However, some companies criticize the inauthentic and deceptive atmosphere that digital beauty seems to be promoting. In 2021, Supergreat, a filter-free e-commerce app for beauty, raised $10 million USD from institutional investors and fashion and film figures. Supergreat hosts 60-second videos and shoppable live streams of people testing and evaluating products.

So far, the company says its community has created 250,000 of these filter-free videos featuring 40,000 different products. The pivot toward more authenticity has also led brands to increasingly turn away from campaigns with unrealistic beauty standards, including over-Photoshopped posters and magazine covers. This shift towards genuine representation reflects a growing consumer demand for relatable, unedited content, marking a significant change in marketing strategies across various industries.

Implications of digital beauty

Wider implications of digital beauty may include: 

• Digital mirrors at retail shops allowing shoppers to try different clothing styles virtually; AI being used to enhance features to encourage shoppers to buy.


• Smartphones incorporating more intuitive "touch-up" features with their selfie cameras.


• Increasing national rates of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).


• Video-based tools applying digital beauty filters that are hyperrealistic.


• Gradual shifts in perceptions, standards, and ideals of beauty at a societal level.


• Increased use of cosmetic surgery and sales of markup as some consumers attempt to match their real appearance with their digitally enhanced appearance.


• An increasing anti-digital beauty sentiment as more people reject unrealistic beauty standards, leading to more brands promoting a more natural look. 

Questions to consider

• What are other risks and benefits of digital beauty?


• How can digital beauty technology be balanced so that it doesn't make people feel inadequate?