The novelty may wear off fairly quick.However, upon reading this article [Facetune] in the NY Daily News today, I just couldn’t resist buying into promises of a:
New! Gorgeous! Perfect! Flawless me.
For the most part, “natural” tends to be better. You only need a quick glance at a picture of Jocelyn Wildenstein for example, to see that sometimes we tend to go too far to achieve the unattainable.
Yet, an app, based on a photo – is not “real” life …. it can be undone in the touch of a button. Obviously, vanity of course, also comes into play a bit but for the most part, who doesn’t want to look better, younger, flawless?
The article mentioned how easy it was, no Photoshop skills required. hmm, I thought to myself, ” So what this is saying – is that for $2.99 – I can look like, say.. almost as gorgeous as Christy Turlington?”
Well I was not about to pass up that opportunity, even if for just a moment.
I grabbed my iPad… tapped here, tapped there, typed the magic word “Facetune” in the search box and poof! in less than 30 seconds the Holy Grail of a “better me” was in my hands. Guaranteed.
I found Facetune to have an aesthetically pleasant interface (yes, pun intended!), the app didn’t crash, it was incredibly easy to use. Basically, very user-friendly. In fact, if not sure how to use a specific functionality, just swipe to the right and a brief video demonstration is provided for each function.
You can crop the picture, add a filter, defocus parts of the picture, add more hair to your head, whiten your teeth, enhance your eyelashes. In fact, you can even reshape your head. Forehead too big? Fixed. Want to hide those stray grays? Done – without even spending gas money on a trip to your local hair salon. Uneven skin tone? Fuhgettaboutit – you won’t even need to (gasp!) go to Sephora to buy a truckload of makeup anymore.
In fact, in less than three minutes (could have been done a lot quicker – but I was having way too much fun with this app) I DID look flawless… Well…maybe a little too flawless…(I may have gone a bit overboard with the retouching oh. fine, ok.. pretty much every single detail – just as a case study of course! Ahem.
In conclusion: Fun app, really user-friendly, loved to use it. Great for quick fixes or go crazy and do an “Extreme Makeover” and share for laughs.
Note: If you’re taking an important picture, it’s terrific that a few minor flaws can be fixed with just a few swipes to your smartphone. My advice though, is: If you’re going to makeover your entire face, don’t send the picture to the folks you see on a regular basis insisting that the picture “Speaks the truth! I swear!”. It won’t fly.
Think about it, the folks you may see on a regular basis (like your family and friends) know who you are and what you really look like, and hey! - they love you for you! So the only person you could be fooling, is yourself. So tread carefully and take it for what it’s worth, and just have fun with it!
Facetune is definitely worth the download!
“There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.”
― Edgar Allan Poe
“Beauty is not caused. It is.” ― Emily Dickinson
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
― Confucius





