Beauty: Unaltered vs. Altered

Happy Thursday! Your TTG Girl Gang are wondering how it's already the 31st of January. It feels like only yesterday we were making our New Year's resolutions! Speaking of which... we hope you all managed to stick to yours. You may remember we talked about going vegan for the month of January as part of 'Veganuary' as part of our own resolutions, and I have to say, we did pretty well! It was not an easy task at first, however, breaking it down into small pieces (and Googling lots of vegan recipes...!) we managed. Another resolution that popped up in the office, which at first seemed strange but then became apparent is very common, was to stop editing Instagram photos as much before posting them, with the aim of realizing they were perfect just the way they are!

In a society where picture-perfect models with white teeth and smooth skin popping up on our Instagram timeline is a daily occurrence, it's no surprise so many girls are left feeling unhappy about their own appearance. However, it's important to remind ourselves that so much of what we see on social media is false. These days all it takes is a simple photo editing app to make someone look two dress sizes smaller and even change the color of their eyes.

The lasting effect of this on young people can be detrimental, but thankfully, people are beginning to take a stand against. Recently, a number of big companies have spoke out against photoshopping, with companies such as Missguided no longer photoshopping out their models' stretch marks.

In January 2018, CVS launched its 'Beauty Mark' initiative which aimed to warn customers when an image for a beauty campaign has been edited and when it has been left untouched. Last week, CVS revealed that almost 70% of beauty imagery in stores nationwide will be flagged as 'beauty unaltered' or 'digitally unaltered'. Neutrogena, CoverGirl, and Revlon are among the 13 total brands who are working with the pharmacy on the transparency policy, with some of their ambassadors, such as Revlon's Ashley Graham and Neutrogena's Kerry Washington posing for untouched photos as the first of the pharmacy's updated beauty aisles were unveiled for the first time on Thursday.

Ashley Graham for Revlon as part of CVS 'Beauty Mark' iniatitive

CVS has also made it a requirement for all its beauty influencer partners to only share photos that have not been digitally altered on social media. They have also said they want to totally eliminate the use of imagery that has been “materially altered” with touch-ups on beauty products like cosmetics, skincare, haircare and personal care items by the end of 2020.

Scandal's Kerry Washington appears 'unaltered' in Neutrogena campaign

It's promising to see a company as large as CVS take steps towards a more realistic view of what beauty truly is, and given the progress they have made in 12 months alone, it's no doubt they'll reach their goal by 2020!

Join us again tomorrow for more TTG news.. x