Gone are the days of scrolling through Instagram and seeing selfies simply edited with the Valencia filter on your feed. Now, we’re inundated with images accented with smooth skin, sharp jawlines, pouted lips, and wide eyes, thanks to apps like Photoshop and Facetune. It’s a trend informally known as ‘Instagram Face’ and it’s completely changing how women, and men for that matter, present themselves on social media.
Sure, we can blame the likes of high-profile Instagram influencers, celebrities, and models.
The truth is, society has always been a fan of beauty and skincare treatments that help them look like the best version of themselves — especially if it can be completed with the swipe of a finger, and most often, free.
In today’s social world, it’s common to see women and men rocking looks (whether intentionally or unintentionally) inspired by those of the Kardashian and Jenner sisters, Olivia Culpo, and Insta-star cousins Natalie Halcro and Olivia Pierson.
And for fair reasons because these women are not only drop-dead gorgeous, but they ooze a sense of confidence and beauty that our generation craves.
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We spoke to Kaye Escalona and Jessica Campana, owners of Toronto’s Starlight Med Spa, which dubs itself as ‘top medical estheticians and skin transformations.’
While they haven’t specifically heard of the term Instagram face before, they immediately were under the impression that it meant having “a gorgeous face that may have been filtered or edited to appear perfect.” The truth is, the concept of perfecting one’s look goes beyond simply editing and enhancing photos.
Escalona and Campana say they have noticed that more people are looking for procedures to take what’s already “good” and making them even more “perfect”— similar to what you might see with Instagram models and celebrities.
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At Starlight Med Spa, clients might not arrive at their appointments with photos of celebrities to show as inspiration for their treatments, instead, it appears they are most influenced by Instagram models and often refer to them from time to time.
But more notably, the co-owners say they have found that attitudes toward beauty treatments, in general, are more widely accepted in recent years, and now men and women get them done openly and without hiding what they’ve done. However, the pair says, “some people do still hide and deny the work they’ve had done.”
“We only work with non-surgical treatments, tailored toward skin health so clients with problematic skin have always wanted to achieve the luxury of clear skin where they can go makeup-free. This want is not new,” they told StyleDemocracy.
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So what exactly is the look that Escalona and Campana’s clients are after? They say that younger clients often ask for lifted brows and fuller lips, which can be achieved through Botox and other injectibles. These are procedures that countless celebrities and influencers have had done, whether they’ll admit to it or not.
“We believe younger people are doing these treatments because they are now aware and exposed to them through social media,” they said.
But more commonly, their clients want what everyone wants and has always wanted, “a clear, even, toned, bright, and healthy complexion,” which also allows them to achieve the flawless, filtered look without having to have any needlework done.
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But don’t let the thought of any of these procedures alarm you as non-surgical treatments, which means there’s no downtime, can help you make your favourite edited picture on social media a reality and can often be achieved instantaneously.
As for where to start, the spa owners say the perfect Instagram face includes a clear, bright, and youthful complexion.
“There are no filters in real-life, and constantly piling on makeup to hide imperfections can be tiresome and time-consuming. Natural beauty is beautiful and starts with taking care of your body’s largest organ, the skin.”
“Beginning a skin transformation is a unique journey, as all treatments and ingredients used in at-home products must be tailored specifically to an individual’s unique skin type and conditions,” they continued. “The perfect Instagram face begins here and then find your face’s best angles, and know that a happy face free of tension and stress always looks best.”
Featured Image: Pixabay
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Who among us hasn’t had their interest piqued by an ad on Instagram? Whether it’s cosmetics, fashion, electronics, or services, sometimes the products we expect when purchasing from an ad on social media aren’t the products we receive.
Sometimes, if it’s a scam, we don’t receive the products at all.
Pretty much every time I open my Instagram app, I see ads for Wish, an e-commerce platform based in San Francisco. Wish acts as a middleman, allowing consumers to purchase items through Wish, which are delivered to the consumer directly from the brand.
Instagram/@shopsonix
I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough Wish try-on hauls on Youtube to know that what you see is not always what you get when it comes to that site.
Items may seem beautiful and well-made on the site, but in person, are almost always of lower quality, and are sometimes a completely different design altogether.
While I have personally never purchased anything from Wish, I’ve danced with Instagram scammers before. Just before Christmas 2017, I purchased what I believed to be a beautiful watch off of an Instagram ad. The ad led to a professional-looking website featuring products that looked to be of relatively high quality. Even the checkout process seemed secure.
However, I remember thinking at the time that the sale price of the watches they sold seemed too good to be true, and apparently, they were.
Although the charge appeared on my MasterCard bill almost immediately, weeks passed without me hearing a peep from the company as to the shipping details, despite my attempts to reach out. After six weeks without an update from the company and receiving squat in the mail, I was forced to reach out to MasterCard.
They advised me that they would look into it, and within two weeks, the charge had been reversed on my credit card.
When I spoke to MasterCard after the charge was reversed, they said the company didn’t respond to their inquiries, so they just reversed the charge for me. I consider myself lucky because I was able to resolve the situation relatively painlessly.
Honestly, the worst part of it was fretting about being scammed out of my money, with absolutely nothing to show for it in return. But I will say that I’ve learned from my mistake.
Now, I definitely think twice when I see something seemingly cool being advertised on Instagram.
Instagram/@smarty_cz
Just last week, I saw several ads for an at-home laser hair removal product that seemed too good to be true. Turns out, it was. A quick online search came up with reviews from others that had seen the same ad and purchased this product, and others that look exactly the same but with different branding, only to have it break within the first couple of uses.
I also found reviews that said the product really hurt to use, despite claims that it was “painless.” Needless to say, I closed that browser window and never looked back.
So, what gives? Why is Instagram allowing scams to advertise on its platform? And how can you avoid getting scammed yourself?
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According to a CBS News report, Instagram screens every ad before it’s posted on its platform, but ads are screened by either a human or a computer.
Oftentimes, that process is able to catch the ads that violate its advertising policy, but it isn’t flawless.
That said, there are also reputable stores that advertise on social media, so you probably don’t need to avoid every single product ad you see. The wiser play would be to do your research before making a purchase for a website you’ve never heard of before.
Also, be more sensible than I was when I tried to buy that watch at a deep discount — if the price sounds too good to be true, chances are, it is.
Featured Image: Pixabay
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The debate on the viability of social media influencers continues to rage on. Many believe they are an integral part of the growth of new brands and products in today’s social media-heavy economy. While others point to the fact that it’s hard to gauge actual ROI from social media influencers, and their following is sometimes inauthentic.
While there is no doubt that having a bunch of cool people promote your product is beneficial, a new report from Launchmetrics reveals that “mega” influencers – denoted by having a following between 501,000 and 1.5 million – are becoming less valuable and important to brands.
The good news is that if you have a following under 500,000 (if you have more and you’re reading this let us know lol) you are now the most targets market of influencers for advertisers. Known as micro-influencers (10,000 – 100,000 followers) are now the most coveted influencer group to advertisers.
Companies are now looking for real-time engagement rather than massive followings. The ability to have a smaller but targeted voice is what advertisers are now looking for. According to Launchmetrics, advertisers want quality content and engagement and prefer this over working with someone with a massive following.
We figure the reason is simple and probably has to do more with money and ROI. Booking a campaign with a “mega” influencer can be astronomically expensive. According to a 2018 complex article, many of the mega influencers have yearly incomes in excess of $10 million and often charge anywhere from $150,000 to $300,000 for a single post. If you are an advertiser shelling out $300,000 for one Instagram post you better be sure that you can show the benefits, and lately, this industry hasn’t been able to effectively do this.
Featured Image: Instagram via: @Desiperkins