/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

I don't use Meitu, but I use Beautycam cause I'm lazy af and I just like one-tap filter and beautification. I just think it's a nice way to clear up my skin and make myself more photogenic, since I have a very square face that's hard to capture well in a photo.

I'm an avid and open meitu user, but one thing that bothers me is how ubiquitous it is in the community. It really creates pressure to use photo editing apps. There's something to be said for presenting yourself honestly online and that's not something cgl and other jfashion/cosplay communities have a lot of tolerance for. I also don't know how healthy that is for younger people (e.g. tweens/preteens) to see that as a standard or as something they have to do.

We've kind of touched on this before, but some people have a tendency to scream about shoop when there's nothing else to accuse somebody of--as if using Meitu or Beautycam immediately speaks for somebody's character or capabilities. It's pathetic.

I don't use either because I don't take selfies often enough to warrant it, but I have no issue with people using beauty apps if they're honest when asked about it. Gulls who cry about muh shoops and muh filters are more irritating than those who quietly use those tools. These kinds of apps are so normalized nowadays that the argument is ineffective. I'm not going to dislike somebody just because they shoop here and there.

I like meitu, but I rarely edit selfies because I'm afraid I'll start thinking I actually look that good and feel like shit once I'm tagged elsewhere or seen irl looking completely different. I think it's fine when other people use beauty apps for subtle enhancements, but I'm very insecure about my image.

I've only been using beautycam so far, and I find it helpful if an otherwise good photo captures an unfortunate angle, so I can soften it a little in a way that doesn't look uncanny. Are there any other preferred apps out there that don't have a bunch of features you have to pay for?

The only crappy thing about meitu and other editing apps besides pro ones like Photoshop is that they kinda ruin the quality of the pic.
Besides that I think meitu is a pretty decent and easy editing app for selfies.
Anyone still whining about "teh shoop!!" ,unless the person in question drastically alternate themselves, is honestly retarded. Everyone uses it. Get over it.

I don't use a beauty cam but I do add filters and change lighting settings in photoshop because I have piss poor lighting in my house.

I kind of agree with the argument I often see here in regards to editing ones face to the point where they don't look like that in person anymore but only in that I wouldn't do it to myself, if other people want to, that's fine. But even then, I can tell the person is doing it for fun and that it doesn't really matter what they look like in person, and if you finally do meet them and they look different - this is the case for famous people too? Cameron Diaz doesn't look like she does in a film when you see her at the grocery store. Why should it matter if regular people follow suit when they are interested in being like a small time famous person with e-fame?

I just won't do it to myself, but that's because I'm okay with how my face looks and I don't feel like I need to do anything beyond putting on make up and I don't do full face make up because I've never seen anyone in person who had full face make up that looked good. I get if you have to cover up acne scars and stuff, but I don't have any so there's no reason for me to use it.

I thought the point of fashion and cosplay was to look different? If someone wants to go the extra mile and photoshop themselves to look like a kawaii alien, so fucking what?
The whole moral outrage on this board is silly as hell with "oh they need to be true to themselves" type shit. Or "she doesn't really look that good, that makes her a fake!!"
We're all fake. Everyone is shitty deep down. You come off sounding like a hypocrite when you know you act all fake and nice in person and then come here to rage at people because their instagram doesn't match their irl facial features.

>>9312182
amen, anon

people who act like they're somehow holier-than-thou because they don't shoop or touch up their photos are just as garbage as the rest of us

I'm fine with meitu and beautycam.
I dont really give a shit if you enhance your features and make your eyes bigger and your chin chinnier.

It just really grinds my gears when girls overblur/smooth and their skin doesnt even look like skin anymore.

I use meitu from time to time. Mostly for the filters and banners

My biggest like to it is how much... Control you have? Like, it's at an unfortunate angle and you get a weird shadow under your eyes, you can fix it without going over board

My only real annoyances are the fact that, 1. The glitter pen thing is one colour only and 2. If you have notifications active, it'll occasionally say something like "you haven't played with me in awhile, master, why don't you come and let me please you"

It's creepy af

>>9312328
>you haven't played with me in awhile, master, why don't you come and let me please you
oh my fucking christ. so glad I never downloaded this.

>>9308262
Sayonara zetusou sensei always on point with its social commentary.

>>9312216
I'm the opposite - I'm all for Meitu for skin smoothing as long as you don't crank it up to 100, since the effects are usually nothing you couldn't achieve yourself with make-up (the main reason I use it is to make photos where I'm not wearing foundation/concealer look like I am, since visible acne or skin redness gets shat on here - before I had Meitu, I felt like if I didn't have on full-face make-up when I wore an outfit at home, I couldn't post the pictures online), but I find all the eye enhancing/blush/crying effects really uncanny valley. I genuinely don't think the enhanced eyes look cute, just unnerving. It doesn't read as kawaii alien to me, just creepy and weird, and I find it kind of cringey when people post those sorts of photos to Fb a lot.

Meitu is also much better for adjusting lighting than default phone editing apps, even if you don't use the filter or beauty tools. Just a pity it fucks with the quality. IMO the reason these apps aren't popular outside Asia and jfash circles is because every filter and auto setting tries to make you whiter/brighter and there's no real support for darker skintones or tanned/contoured Western beauty ideals. I'm not sure what apps normie's use actually - is it just Insta filters?

>>9308262
Anon you hit the nail on the head, I used to heavily edit my photos and started hating how I looked irl. I took a break from social media and now I don't allow myself to heavily edit my face when posting online. I also tell myself that if all someone has to say about me is I'm ugly, I'm doing pretty okay in life.

I don't care if other people edit their photos, go wild imo. But I worry someones about girls who edit themselves really heavily because they must feel at least a little the way that I did.

>>9308262
>>9312382
This did start happening to me. I'd find unedited images really difficult to look at BUT I don't think unedited pics are an accurate representation of how I look. I always look better in the mirror or on video than in photos, so editing/angles is my way to try to get that back without investing in an expensive camera and spending ages fucking around with a self-timer.

To be honest any enhancement of ones image can do that to you, though, especially if your confidence is fragile. I deliberately avoid wearing make-up every day because I know from past experience that when I get used to the way I look with it, I find it unbearable to go out without it. You get used to the way your face looks with make-up and instead of seeing it as an enhanced version of yourself, you start to see it as the default and yourself without make-up as ugly. Going out bare-faced acts as a reminder that most people don't give a shit what I look like and they're not going to stare in horror just because I have light eyelashes and an uneven skintone. I am aware that this is very weird though and probably not an issue most people have.

>>9312375
> I find all the eye enhancing/blush/crying effects
oh no i'm not talking about those, in beautycam there's settings which slightly make your eye bigger and brighter (makes your eye whites whiter, and your eye color pop slightly more, nothing dramatic), i'm not talking about the new pika pika feature in beautycam (which i thnk most people post ironically, i don't think anyone posts them thinking that they're actually cute)

also beautycam does support contouring and tanned-look, although I've never tried it so I don;t know if it's effective/looks good.

>skin smoothing as long as you don't crank it up to 100
yeah I take out my acne scars and shit, some people just smooth WAY too much and it looks terrible, which is what i meant in op.

>>9312392
No, I think that's the case for a lot of women who are the types that they can't even leave the house without a little bit of make up on.

>>9312350
You can turn off the pop-up/notifications, but I kinda want to keep it on because it comes out with such weird shit...

Morbid curiosity