Beauty

[Harpa]

I don't think the Bs & As are necessarily photo shopped, but I do think some "extra curricular" things are going on.

If you are talking skincare,for instance, we are never told what the skin condition is like beforehand; whether or not they were expressly forbidden to use any skin care and for how long, (before they are allowed to now use the advertised product.)

Also, we do not know in the final application just before the After shot, we have no way of knowing whether or not an esthetician came along and gave a full facial massage (w/ the advertised product/s), which would also account for visual improvement.

Skin care products (as well as facial massage) do give some temporary, visual improvement.

We just are never given the full picture of what else may have been in play. I suspect they have a whole bunch of techniques up their sleeves.

For teeth whitening Bs & As, maybe the participants are given blueberry pie for the Before shot, who knows?

[fourpaws56]

@Kachina624 I agree....very little if any difference in the before and after

[suzyQ3]

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@millieshops wrote:

@NatureluvrMaybe it helps if you have HD, but I never see enough difference in before and afters so that I expect major changes.  Even though I know we say a picture is worth 1000 words, I find the words more important than those pictures -  and when I listen closely, every host and vendor seems to say the same thing -   REDUCES the APPEARANCE of FINE LINES....  

I certainly have those and yes, lots of products do reduce the appearance of them, but they do not go away.  Further, what really makes my face show its age and the damage I've encouraged over the years with sun and yo-yo dieting wouldn't disappear with any product, not even with major surgery.

Too bad I can't go back and live my life knowing what I know now about skincare, but I do feel that using the products I do has retarded the increase in problems.  I wouldn't want to see me now if I hadn't started to follow some of the suggestions of the skin scientists when I turned 60.  I just try to be realistic. Even the most beautiful women in my age group (75+) do not look like they're all that much younger -  and that's okay.

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@millieshops, I've heard Josie Moran repeatedly say that lines and wrinkles will disappear.

As for the pictures, there are little tricks that can help make "after" look better. But yes, often I can't tell any difference whatsoever.

[Katcat1]

I never believe the before and after photos because they can touch up anything they want.  The thing is most of these products are expensive.

[Shanus]

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@millieshops wrote:

@bonnieluAnd even the plastic surgeons sell snake oil!  Theirs is just a different product, but they're still selling -  especially those who run the parties. 

But the doctors can do things lotions and potions will never do, some of the sagging and deep wrinkles from gravity give in only to injections and or surgery. 

But what I seldom see here on the Forums is that even once you've undergone work with a doctor,  you still need potions and lotions.  Maybe not the same as before, but there's no one I know in my age group that doesn't at least moisturize regularly -  and many have had various medical procedures.

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@millieshops  A full facelift will remove jowls & sagging skin, not lines and wrinkles. Those can be made somewhat better w/ fillers. Yes, after surgery, you’d still need to keep up the Botox (or movements in your face create more wrinkles) and fillers which are only temporary. Of course, the usual good skincare routine continues after surgery. A facelift lasts 7-10 yrs. 

[Shanus]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

I rarely judge a beauty product based on photos. I'd rather read what experienced customers have to say about it before making my decisions. Any single photo can look different to various people. Not everyone sees the same thing in a photo. Sometimes you see what you want to see.

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@SilleeMee  I agree and also like to speak to someone using the product and see what their skin looks like. It’s like the Q product reviews...I don’t believe those.

[Shanus]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

It usually takes a vivid imagination to perceive any difference in those "after" photos, certain not enough to justify the high price tags they stick on some of the "miracle" preparations.  After photos would never convince me to buy anything.

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@Kachina624  If something was truly a miracle product...no more lines, wrinkles, etc....All other skin creams would be out of business, right? Hundreds of products are still making the same promises. There are no miracles at any price, not even surgery...you still have lines and wrinkles when they finish. You just can’t stop the clock.

[millieshops]

@ShanusWe don't disagree on any of this.  Some do surgery and fillers.  Some do surgery.  And some like me, just follow a good skincare regimen.

The beauty industry (including doctors and salespeople) deals in fantasy as much as anything.  I've always had a hard time buying into them.  Besides, I have an aversion to knives, needles, and even lasers.

[Porcelain]

Meh. QVC legal department has pretty strict standards about their before and after pictures. I'm not concerned about it.

What everyone can safely be extremely skeptical of is beauty tv commercials and print and online ads. Those are fake as fake can be. They're art projects.

Even videos. If you have really nice and incredibly expensive video processing software, you can "photoshop" a face in a video. All the big cosmetics companies do. So the middle aged stars who promote youthifying skincare have had their wrinkles erased from the video post-production.

The editor/graphic artist lassos around the wrinkle using the software and sort of follows it as it moves, blurring or lightening it. They do the same to make teeth look unnaturally blue-white in toothpaste ads.

One time I watched a Jennifer Anniston tv ad for Aveeno face lotion. I kept thinking, her face is too short. She doesn't look like herself. What did they do to her? Now I suspect they post production tuned her face a little too far. The changes are not supposed to be that noticable!

[millieshops]

@suzyQ3lol -  those lines and wrinkles do seem to disappear  -  but I always think it's because I can't see.  And we know the disappearance is temporary.  It's a constant battle!

But there's no way I care to do much of anything beyond using good skincare - although I'm finally having a second cataract removed thirteen years after I did the first -- and in the spring, I will talk with the surgeon about my sagging eyelids, but that's really for improved vision even though I know I'll also look a bit better.