If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that for the last year I have been posting close up pictures of my eye in different eyeshadows, mascaras, liners that I have in my makeup stash. I have named this series #ppleye.
This was not a series of posts that I had planned. It was born from a discussion around ‘instagram makeup’ and how what you see on Instagram is rarely reality. The #ppleye series happened by chance and stuck because I am enjoying. I am also in a very small way making a small statement about / against Instagram.
Instagram is by far my favourite social media channel. It has lots of makeup for me to drool over. However, many of the makeup pictures are enhanced. Between, VSCO, Snapseed and the filters on Instagram itself you can make you picture a bigger brighter and better version of the original. And that’s Android, if you are on IOS there is of course Facetune.
Instagram is the home of the over exposed image, Everything is on a bright white, bright white marble background with a brighT source of light. Saarf London at 7am is not bright and nothing in my lovely home is a shrine to marble. A brightened, sharpened image with a large contrast ratio gives you a more attractive image. The truth however is that it does not necessarily give you a realistic image and if you are taking a recommendation of an eyeshadow based on what I say and the picture that I take – you will be very disappointed.
The reality of a pair 44 year old eyes that do not get enough sleep is that:-
a) The whites are not tippex white
b) Sometimes my eyes look a bit bloodshot
c) I don’t wear false lashes daily so my lashes are pretty short and stubby.
d) More often then not I am only wearing one shade of eye shadow
e) I probably don’t blend enough
e) Sometimes my makeup application is not precise
f) Sometimes my winged liner is not even
g) Sometimes I get mascara on my skin.
Behind my large spectacles frames and the 1200 times that I blink in the day– none of the above matter. People really don’t notice. Do I wish that my makeup application was better? Of course! Am I still looking lovingly at all the posts with tippex white eyes and and perfect liner? Every day, but my reality is that I do not sit 12 inches from a ring light for 8 hours a day.
All of my #ppleye pictures are #nofilter and #noflash because I am showing what the product really looks like. Be it a glitter or a matte. Whether the texture is butter or chalky, you get to see the reality of it. If you like reality, give a picture a like, or better still give it a go yourself.