In Pursuit of the Perfect Selfie: Your Handheld Savior

Korea Has Got You Covered.

Let’s get real for a moment- Asians are masters of their contemporary craft: the Selfie.

• I know I know, this is a bit click-baity... Source: Instagram

Stereotypes are never very productive but there is some truth to this statement. The doey eyed expressions, the perfect blemish-free skin, the precise angle of the frontal camera, and the overall execution of East Asia’s self-portraits is the subject of envy for any Instagrammer or online dater. To be honest, for me, people seem less and less similar to how they look on social media/the internet. Could it be that there has just been a popular spread of high-level Photoshop techniques? Am I just bad at taking these sorts of photos?

Turns out, there’s a little secret that can be programmed into our phones.

Ok ok, maybe I’m just not as savvy as younger millennials but I wanted to share this finding with others like me who only use our smartphones for Candy Crush and podcasts. Your phone can literally change everything about you with a variety of apps such as YouCam Perfect app for Apple and Android:

• I should get an advertising cut

You’ve probably seen other beauty apps before as they’re not too dissimilar to Instagram- nice mood filters, simple editing tools, and other embellishments to liven-up the average photo. YouCam Perfect goes way beyond that.

With a little exploration, there are many unique features not found on typical social-media procedures. Want to make yourself a bit taller? Easy. Want bigger, shinier eyes? Simple. Interested in a little more digital junk in the trunk? Just a few swipes away.

Does it sound too good to be true? Am I promoting some faulty dream? Fine, let’s put it to the test.

Here’s a quick shot I took at my office. I’ve outlined the nuanced reasons I’d want to not use this photo for any kind of publicity. Let’s see if we can deal with these effectively.

• These are just a few of dozens of features…!

• Speechless.

When you JUST see only the final photo, it doesn’t seem unbelievable. When you compare it to its original upload, there are two distinct individuals. Now consider that virtually every female and many men as well have this application on their phone in South Korea. It is even being integrated as a built-in feature for Samsung phones everywhere.

It has become such a universal practice in Korea that popular media has gone to the point of critiquing it and has begun to understand the societal consequences of this practice.

• Source: "Lookism" Cartoon Series by Park Tae Joon

As a little exercise, can you tell the modifications we’ve made to a friend of mine’s picture? Clue: 3 distinct alteractions.

Answer: sɹǝplnoɥs ɹǝpɐoɹq 'ǝlᴉɯs 'ʇɥƃᴉǝɥ

Ah man, can this technology be abused...

• Searching for the REAL me.

What’s interesting to me is what this does in terms our evaluations of ourselves. Since the birth of fashion advertising, we as a society have been very critical of unreasonable expectations in striving to be like someone else, usually a model that has been airbrushed to oblivion. But what if the ideal is an unobtainable version of yourself? With this app, it doesn’t matter who you are. It will make you skinner, taller, less blemished, and some form of what the app considers “better.”

What do you guys think? Would you ever use one of these apps? Or do you already?? Share your thoughts, experiences, and confessions below!

I’ll be spending the weekend preparing for next week’s post on how to make unique Korean alcohol at home! Make sure you follow and you won’t miss a delicious sip. Until next time beautiful people!

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