Ester HonigFrom left: Ester Honig in her original photo, and as photoshopped in Pakistan and Argentina. See the rest of the photos below.
ester honing beauty standards

There are certain beauty standards that stand up across cultures—big eyes and darkened lips are two features that make us look more feminine. But, as proven in this thought-provoking photo collection, beauty standards in different countries across the globe can be glaringly different.

In her photo series Before & After, journalist Ester Honig sent an image of her face to photoshoppers around the world with the request that they “make me beautiful.” “I hoped that each designer would pull from their personal and cultural constructs of beauty to enhance my unaltered image,” Honig said on her website.

The result is a striking collection of photos of Honig’s face, blended to the cultural beauty standards of each nation. She’s shared her photographs with us, below. It’s amazing to see the difference between what’s considered beautiful in the U.S., versus Greece, Vietnam and Argentina and Kenya, though we’re not sure about the photoshopper who created the American beauty image—side-swept hair, really?

Original

Esther Honig
Original Photo

Argentina

Argentina

Australia

Australia

Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Chile

Chile

Germany

Germany

Greece

Greece

India

India

Indonesia

Indonesia

Israel

Israel

Italy 

Italy

Kenya

Kenya

Morocco

Morocco

Pakistan

Pakistan

Philippines

Philippines

Romania

Romania

Serbia

Serbia

Sri Lanka

Shri Lanka

U.K.

U.K

Ukraine

Ukraine

U.S.

U.S

Vietnam

Veitnam

Venezuela

Venezuela