Whenever you start thinking - I have loose skin, I have stretchmarks, I have cellulite, I'll never look as good as someone in a magazine, on TV...please remember, they don't look that good either.

The true beauty secret.

I think it was Cindy Crawford who said she wishes she looked like "Cindy Crawford."
Crazy world.

I'm always snarky at the general "perfection" of magazine ads for any given product. Does anyone seriously believe that any one of those models is truly THAT perfect? I mean... seriously? That a mascara can make your lashes THAT LONG and THAT FULL? That a skin cream can make those wrinkles TRULY disappear??

The same goes for those "diet pill" ads. And the TV spots for certain exercise equipment ("in six weeks you can have abs like this!"... yeah, right).

I just feel utterly sorry for anyone who believes the hype.

Amen.

Airbrushing, especially, plays such a big factor. I used to model when I was younger and it's amazing what they can do to a photograph to fit an ideal that is almost genetically impossible.

I did a budoir shoot for my husband's wedding gift a couple years ago and the photographer would do what is called "light airbrushing" - smooth out some "trouble areas" and shading over the stretch marks enough to make you look your best, but still look like you. Even already being aware of the tricks of the trade in the fashion industry, I was floored how natural (and good!) it looked.

My husband hardly noticed until he realized some freckles I have in certain places were missing.

I always have to laugh when some high fashion magazine thinks they've pulled the wool over people's eyes when they do a sloppy job and it's publicly pointed out that they put an actress or model's head on someone else's body and it's so obvious from the picture because the head is 5 or even 10x bigger than the body.

Oh yes, I saw that. I have to agree. We really really need to stop this. We're setting ourselfves up for disaster when comparing ourselfves with these girls.

I love that video. It always floors me how many people compare themselves to the stars on the magazine covers, when even the stars on the magazine covers don't actually look like that!