Half-made-up woman is very asymmetrical

Here's an unsourced bit of netstuff (the shortened URL resolves to Weibo, the Chinese Twitter analog) showing an Asian woman with half her face made up, to startling effect (though perhaps her unmade-up substrate is also very asymmetrical, see this split-and-matched version).

The power of makeup (i.imgur.com)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Two other factors are contributing: The made-up side of her face is turned slightly toward the camera (you can tell by her ears) and it looks like there’s some light coming from the right (her left) which is affecting the shadows and contours.
- Diogenes
  
  Yep, you can really see the effect of camera angle and light angle in the split-and-match versions.
- http://www.facebook.com/joshua.frazer1 Joshua Frazer
  
  Did you notice the shirt too?
  - Martijn Vos
    
    Certainly helps the impression that it’s shopped, but I think it’s simply an asymmetrical shirt.
    
    The split-and-matched version is unfair, though. Everybody’s face looks that asymmetrical when you do that. A better comparison would be a photo where only the other half of her face is made up.
  - digi_owl
    
    Could be a cloth on her shoulder to protect the clothes underneath.
starfish and coffee

Cory, not sure how I feel about you writing “…showing an Asian woman with half her face made up…” Why include the detail about her ethnicity? Firstly it is pretty obvious from the photo anyways, but moreover it could be taken to mean that white is some sort of “default” ethnicity and any deviation from this is remarkable in its own right.
I know you’re a nice guy, but this just ended up looking a bit awkward.
- mat catastrophe
  
  I know this is probably just hypersensitive flamebait waiting to get lit up, but I agree. It’s very similar to what I hear a lot when I’m out and about – people will say things like “look at that cute black baby”, instead of using some other, non-racial identifier (“look at the baby in the blue shirt”). I hear children on playgrounds doing this as well.
  
  Not that this is a super-huge issue, but it’s just what I’ve noticed over the years.
  - dambrisco
    
    It just has to do with self-identification. It’s fairly common for black people to point out white people using the identifier of “white” as well. It’s certainly not something only white people do, although with white people as a majority it might have an ostracizing effect on minorities.
    
    I’ll have to try to be more aware of when I do this. Might be an interesting self-experiment.
    - Cefeida
      
      It’s good to be aware of why we say things we say, and realising that we’re talking about race when it’s irrelevant and when it can be misinterpreted as a comment on the race’s qualities is the first step towards being a better person. I think it should be more than an interesting experiment…
      
      That said, sometimes a person’s ethnicity is the most obvious identifier. I can’t say I’ve ever heard someone say ‘the white guy’ in a room full of white people, but if I tried to point out the only black kid who went to my university to someone, and never mentioned his skin colour, they’d probably be guessing for a long time. It stands out, so it identifies.
      - tobergill
        
        Couldn’t agree more. I was standing on a Tube platform once when my GF said “look at that guy over there”. I looked and couldn’t figure out who she was talking about. After much toing and froing she said “that guy with the Burberry scarf”. Of course it was a black guy with a Burberry scarf. On the one hand it was great of her not to go for the obvious, but not using the quickest way to single someone out didn’t work for me.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Pardon me if I don’t take semantic advice from people who stare and point at ‘the black guy’ on the subway.
      - EvilTerran
        
        Hang on, I thought the point of moderators was to cut down on pointless snark, awful misrepresentations of other people’s posts, and other symptoms of Internet Argument… not to make snarky, misrepresentative posts themselves.
        
        Or did you really think Cefeida meant s/he goes around going “hurr look at the black guy”, Antinous? It was pretty clear to me that it was more a case of, for instance, answering the question “who’s the TA in this class?” with “the black guy in the front row”, in cases when skin colour is the most obvious distinguishing feature.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        You think that’s pointless snark? Please try to imagine being the white guy on a platform where everyone else is black or Pakistani and having some woman poking her boyfriend and saying, “Look at the white guy.” Would that make you feel safe? Would that make you feel comfortable? There’s a reason that we have some basic rules about how to behave in public; some people don’t have enough empathy to realize that their behavior could destroy somebody else’s day.
      - Cefeida
        
        I think @Antinous_Moderator:disqus was replying to @tobergill:disqus in this case, but I got a nasty shock, too.
        
        And we don’t actually know why @tobergill:disqus was asked to look at the guy on the platform…somehow I doubt it was just because he was black. :/
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I think Antinous / Moderator was replying to tobergill in this case
        
        I have superpowers in that I can reply via the backside even if we’ve reached the nest limit. On the front side, it says at the bottom of my comment whom I’m replying to, even if it’s not nested. Is that visible to you? I don’t always see the same thing that the public sees.
      - chgoliz
        
        (in response to EvilTerran and themanwithnoname):
        
        I’m pretty certain there’s an easy solution when a stranger on the internet disagrees with a particular blog’s moderation policy.
      - EvilTerran
        
        Cefeida – ah yes, I guess you’re right. The nesting limit on disqus feels like quite the mis-feature, if not a sign of a poor back-end design decision filtering through to the interface.
        
        My point still stands – nothing in tobergill’s post suggests s/he and hir GF habitually “stare and point at ‘the black guy’ on the subway”. Clearly she wasn’t pointing him out purely because of his skin color – people who do that use far coarser words than “black”, never mind avoiding mentioning skin color at all. Maybe she thought she knew him from somewhere, or she liked his glasses, or any of countless other reasons for pointing out a stranger in public.
        
        chgoliz – but of course, aren’t you clever. Yes, flouncing off silently is always an option, if you like taking the passive-agressive way out. As usual with passive-agression, it leads to everyone losing: I’d miss out on some real gems here on BB, they’d miss out on my eyeballs on their ads. As such, I prefer the assertive option: explain where I think they’re going wrong (in this case, what I believe to be inappropriate snark & bias from a moderator), giving them a chance to take my opinion on board, so hopefully, everyone wins!
        
        If no-one ever gave critical feedback to those running the websites they visited, then no site would even have a chance to improve. Every online community would gradually dwindle to nothing more than the team running it and their sycophants. I doubt anyone wants that.
      - Efemmeral
        
        Maybe the moderator’s role is to add snarky, misleading, inflammatory comments to generate more responses.
      - twianto
        
        Antinous, such is life. In Japan I’m the odd man out. I do get stared at, I get baby-talked to, told how well I can handle chopsticks and hailed for speaking the local idiom once I _do_ open my mouth (IOW, people tell me I can do things a five-year-old can do). And I get a lot more positive attention than locals too (cause I’m different, no other reason), even though you dispute that thanks to your extensive San Francisco experience. ;-)
        
        And you can bet that anyone seeking to quickly identify me will use one word and one word only: foreigner (= white — non-Asian — guy in Japan)! And when I read a (Japanese) book or newspaper like any other guy on the train there _are_ people pointing and saying “look at that wacky gaijin!”
        
        Can it be annoying? Hell yes. Does it ruin my life? No.
        
        I don’t have to imagine.
        
        And now let’s stop the officially sanctioned ludicrous and flamebait-y accusations of sexism/racism/whateverism, shall we?
        
        (Maybe the roles of moderator and snarker-in-chief should be separated? Seems like a conflict of interest.)
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        And what’s the history of racial violence in Japan? Because race-based violence is a daily occurrence in many countries. Do you fear for your life when you go out in Japan? Because in many US and European cities, people are afraid to walk into a neighborhood where they’re in the minority.
      - twianto
        
        Okay, now you’re officially trolling. You said “imagine”, I told you it’s real and commonplace all over the world (guess what, a white man in tropical Africa will get stared at, too) and now you say “b-but… it must be evil because of history”? Strawmen at their finest. Especially considering the fact that you created an elaborate and most likely bogus accusation why somebody would point out a man that just happened to be black with presumably no ill intentions.
        
        Seriously, _do_ come on!
        
        (PS: yes, hate crimes against — and murders of — foreigners because of their ethnicity do happen in Japan and are increasing; white men get stopped and searched far more often by police, brown South Asians are often not treated like humans. But overall, Japan is a really safe country.)
        
        (Also, how the hell do you know where exactly tobergill lives/took the subway? Don’t call somebody a racist unless you have incontrovertible proof or at least reasonable cause to believe so. Even though parts of my family perished at the hands of the Nazis, I detest people who go around calling others Nazis for no good reason. All it does is make the label utterly meaningless when it really is appropriate.)
      - Cefeida
        
        @Antinous_Moderator:disqus yeah I can see it now. But your superpowers don’t include nesting! :P
        
        As to the topic, I do think you’re making a strange assumption about how @tobergill:disqus made the man on the platform feel. His post implies that the man was pointed out discreetly, in a private tone of voice, and the first identifiers used had nothing to do with race.
        
        It’s quite possible to draw your partner’s attention to a stranger without drawing everyone else’s attention to them, too.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Yeah, that’s possible. But there’s still something creepy and frightening about the scenario.
  - Preston Sturges
    
    FWIW, Asian people say the same thing about white babies – they like the blonde hair and blue eyes, which “looks like a doll.”
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  “not sure how I feel”
  
  WRING THOSE HANDS.
  - Diogenes
    
    Ever the child, eh Rob?
    - http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch
      
      It seemed like an Olympic Gold Medal hand-wring to me as well, to be honest.
      - Diogenes
        
        I think starfish raised a valid question. Unfortunately Rob chose to nose in with a flip, ad hominem reply that doesn’t address the question, but just makes fun of the the person asking. Boingboing is usually better than that.
      - Henry Pootel
        
        Probably fear of being ridiculed for expressing concern.
  - Efemmeral
    
    BoingBoing personnel need to stop rushing in to defend one another. This move makes Cory look weak. Cory can stand on his own; he’s a good person. This mistake was a slip of the pen in an environment that demands speed. Defending him smacks of sucking up.
    - Wreckrob8
      
      I agree. I think the only ‘crime’ here is laziness imposed by restrictions of space and time. It takes a certain nerve and flair for language which we certainly don’t all have to dispense with adjectives altogether and with limited space/time we are prone to fall back on culturally/ epistemologically determined epithets. In requiring our daily BB fix we are all guilty.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    This thread is an excellent example of ‘Only Two Posts Today’ Syndrome.
    - http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
      
      You can tell how deliberate concern trolling is because it’s the same things over and over again.
      
      • Passive-aggressive, insinuating complaints based on trigger terms (race, sexuality, gender) in the post.
      
      • Secondary attempts to draw editors into the snarl with increasingly high-pitched accusations of defensiveness, weakness, etc. (i.e. it’s not about the original complaint anymore)
      
      • Social steering against moderators (even when there’s been no significant moderation activity). This is often, oddly enough, from first-time commenters.
      
      • “So disappointed in Boing Boing” LOL.
      
      The best thing to do is mock them and enjoy the futile displays of moral oneupmanship that result.
      
      yeah yeah yeah doesn’t make your job easier, I know. Sorry. Whatevs!
      - Felton / Moderator
        
        Internet moderation really only made sense to me when I found this definition of “moderator”: a material, such as heavy water or graphite, used for slowing down neutrons in the cores of nuclear reactors so that they have more chance of inducing nuclear fission.
      - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749997097 Rosin Ffield
        
        You sound petty and defensive, i’m so disappointed with you, but i find best thing is to mock you: mock-mock!
        kidding :P
      - starfish and coffee
        
        Well, I definitely wasn’t trolling. My comment addressed Cory directly, so I can’t see how I could be seen to “steer” other commentators in the debacle that followed in the last 24 hours.
        I even said he is a nice guy (he is!) how can that be passive-aggressive?
        I think the commentator who mentioned his kid watching Tiger Woods on TV, and the one who called it a “slip of the pen” got it about right.
        It’s really no big deal, let’s move on….
      - wysinwyg
        
        I even said he is a nice guy (he is!) how can that be passive-aggressive?
        
        Actually, that’s exactly what made it passive-aggressive.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive%E2%80%93aggressive_behavior
        “I think you’re a nice guy BUT…” is like the archetypal passive-aggressive opener. Since I was raised Irish Catholic this is how my family communicates.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I don’t think that it’s passive-aggressive to say to someone that you don’t think that they’re malicious but they made an infelicitous word choice. I think that’s just clear.
      - Efemmeral
        
        “The best thing to do is mock them and enjoy the futile displays of moral oneupmanship that result ”.
        
        Seriously? Is that the best you can do? I hope Antinous disregards this poor advice. It’s ineffective.
        
        Sarcasm is difficult to use well in general but it makes a spectacularly bad interpersonal communication tool. Look at the reaction you generated with your sarcasm. Did you assume most people would know you were mocking a “troll”? You were wrong. And, in the process, you painted yourself as thin skinned and belligerent.
        
        As for labeling S&C a troll? That’s a harsh way to treat your readers. Not every criticism has to be met with ‘overwhelming force.’
- allenmcbride
  
  I think her being Asian could be seen as relevant, because it looks to me like the contrast between her epicanthic folds and her false eyelashes makes the difference between the two sides of her face more dramatic. I’m not a social scientist, but I suspect one could argue that this picture illustrates a harmful gulf between a normal face with epicanthic folds and a Western-influenced standard of beauty. (Not that the gulf between normal faces in general and Western-influenced standards of beauty aren’t harmful enough.)
  - http://nelc.livejournal.com/ NelC
    
    I’m guessing you mean the eyelid fold. The epicanthic fold is just at the inner corner of her eyes. East Asians all have the epicanthic fold, but not all are lacking the eyelid fold. I have no idea whether the lack of an eyelid fold is universally regarded as attractive in East Asia.
    - Jonathan Roberts
      
      The double eyelid surgery (aimed at giving the eyes a larger appearance) is supposed to be the most common procedure in a China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. There are some parents who will give their children the surgery, and apparently North Korea requires all of their waitresses who will be working in state owned hotels, restaurants etc. in Pyongyang and abroad to have the operation. There’s a bit of controversy over whether the aim for most people is to give people more ‘western’ eyes or just bigger ones in general (which is quite attractive in many countries other than in the West).
      - CH
        
        Yep, double eyelid and large eyes seems to be what is regarded as attractive. My daughter has double eyelids and as smaller her eyes looked quite large (they are more “standard sized” now) and her “pretty and big” eyes is what got constant comments from other Asians.
    - chgoliz
      
      East Asians are significantly more likely to have the epicanthic fold, but it’s not universal. Still, +1 to you for pointing out this distinction.
    - allenmcbride
      
      You’re right; I was confused about the terms. Thanks.
- Diogenes
  
  Given how strange her face looks half-n-half, I’m happy for any extra identifiers, both “Asian” and “woman”.
- Cefeida
  
  I took it as a reference to those videos that show Asian women getting made up to look more white- making their eyes look bigger was a big point. Not sure if that makes it ok or if it validates your complaint.
- http://whimsicalacious.tumblr.com/ Patrick McGorrill
  
  In this context “Asian” seems more like a geographic descriptor. Since make-up is a cultural issue, where it’s happening is totally relevant. If the woman was white one might still be justified calling her Asian based on the image source and the papers on the wall behind her, and it would still be relevant because, again, culture is place based.
- eeyore
  
  No, this is pure hyper sensitivity. There is no tacit or implicit judgement in this. It is the same as a saying “tall” or “short”, or “blonde” or “brunette”. Any can be made to be insulting, but none are inherently so. In a purely logical sense, the fact that she is asian is *epically* relevant to the effect of the picture. The fact that the make-up job is designed to do everything possible to minimize and hide the coptic fold is why we find the difference so dramatic.Were she made up in a more traditional asian fashion, where the fold is almost never hidden, the difference would be far less pronounced. By doing so, you are changing the perceived shape and depth of the eye socket, and the size of the eyes, all of which are major queues for facial recognition.Oops, did I offend someone there as well? Is it “mean” to point out distinctive physical characteristics? I mean after all, the difference is ONLY germane to the topic at hand. Do we really want to risk insulting someone, or hurting their feelings just to discuss little things like facts and nature of human perception?! Is it inconsiderate to mention that not only is she asian, but that asians have traditions that are distinctly different and often odd to westerners. After all, I wouldn’t want to stigmatize anyone by suggesting that their 3500 years of cultural heritage, innovation and social advancement might be different than mine? That could be perceived as negative!Clearly the only solution is to pretend that everyone is ~ 5’10″, with brownish skin, vaguely brown/black hair, brownish eyes and non descript features. Clearly all of this cultural, personal and social uniqueness exists only to hurt and belittle people. All of that art, and culture and heritage. All of those distinctive foods, and languages, philosophies, weird myths and legends… those don’t enrich us at all, they all just exist to drive us apart. There are no redeeming qualities in them, so we should just ignore them, and pretend they don’t exist in order to avoid offending people.Here’s the problem with that. Petty, stupid, small minded will still find a reason to hate and to belittle. Tribalism is a part of the human animal. We can strive against it by exposing ourselves to new places, new people, new ideas and new cultures – or we can try to hide from it by pretending we are all the same. I have news for you, hiding from it doesn’t work.
  - jon_anon
    
    You wrote: “the fact that she is asian is *epically* relevant to the effect of the picture”
    But I think you meant “*epicanthically* relevant to the effect of the picture”
    Hope that helps.
    - Martijn Vos
      
      With everything being “epic” nowadays, why can’t relevancy be epic?
  - Efemmeral
    
    Blah, blah, blah. There was no need to say she is Asian. If she were black would Cory have said, “…a black woman….”?
    
    Incidentally, I agree with all you wrote, and it must have felt good to vent, but you missed the point.
- Jay Aldred
  
  And what about the fact that Cory states the person is a woman, isn’t that a little obvious and maybe even sexist? I mean come on now, we have had male models for decades.
- brerrabbit23
  
  I was thinking the same thing, except that I object to Cory pointing out that she’s a woman.
  
  Why not just title it “PERSON LOOKS ODD”???
  - http://hgomersall.wordpress.com/ heng
    
    And, dammit, why person. What about all the life forms that might indulge in a bit of slap.
  - ZikZak
    
    “Person looks odd…not that there’s anything wrong with that!”
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YHVYXNO2RJHS5WMWOW5JR3FQEY Spraynard Kruger
  
  You people are all fucking crazy. Adjectives are adjectives.
  - Wreckrob8
    
    Are these connotation-free adjectives?
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  What if I were blind and using text-to-speech from the RSS feed?
bodhi

she looks like prince Zuko.
MrRocking

I will never trust a woman again…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

I think I saw her getting off the train from the Uncanny Valley.
- Preston Sturges
  
  “Whatsa matter with the way I talk?
  I am a Val, I know
  But I live in a really good part of Encino
  So it’s OK…”
enterthestory

A Clockwork Orange?
- Preston Sturges
  
  Glen Or Glenda?
sugarsails

Interesting photo but was the symmetrical analysis necessary? No person deserves this kind of public scrutiny. Let’s mirror a picture of your face and see how symmetrical it is.
- Cefeida
  
  Didn’t she start her own public scrutiny by posting the original photo?
  - sugarsails
    
    The discussion should be about cosmetics, which she was probably being playful about. There’s just something nasty about suggesting her face isn’t symmetrical.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      What makes you think that a group that defines itself as happy mutants regards ‘asymmetrical’ as an insult?
      - Steve Taylor
        
        Surely this thread shows that no adjective is safe from being construed as enemy action.
      - sugarsails
        
        All right, I trust this crowd. I think was my own insecurities taking the defensive mic for this one.
http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird

Um, is it me? She has no eyelashes. She looks weird half made up because she would look weird not made up.

Not trying to be nasty or anything. I don’t judge by appearance, and for all I know it’s normal to pluck out your eye lashes where she lives; or it’s the fold thing.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I don’t know how to break it to you, but lots of women don’t have discernible eyelashes, eyebrows or lips until they put on their makeup. People in real life don’t look anything like magazine covers.
  - PinkWithIndignation
    
    Blondes and redheads are prone to this too. Mascara magically makes the eyelashes appear! Also, saying she looks weird not made up makes you look weird. Weirdly judgy.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I used to work with a Scandinavian woman with very fair hair. She never wore makeup to work and just had that kind of medieval nun look. She put on makeup for a party and it turned out that she had masses of long, thick eyelashes. She was completely unrecognizable with just a little mascara.
      - Efemmeral
        
        In addition, when she was sure she had a unibrow going, she had to walk outdoors to get enough light on the hairs in order to find them to pluck.
        
        That is why blonde women over forty frequently look as if they have grown fur on their face . . . they don’t see it in interior lighting.
      - chgoliz
        
        This thread made me think of a similar situation, a Scandinavian friend who was a roommate for a short time. It was so weird to see her first thing in the morning: it was like she had no face until the color was painted on.
    - http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
      
      I think you are applying a pejorative sense to the word “weird” that I did not intend. There is nothing wrong with “weird”.
      - http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
        
        @google-89b50feaaad173f4d1619165bd1703a7:disqus — Yes, I’m very proud.
  - Efemmeral
    
    Even the women on the covers of magazines don’t look like themselves.
  - http://www.facebook.com/joshua.frazer1 Joshua Frazer
    
    Almost every man I know has discernible eyelashes, and very few of them use makeup. She really has zero eyelashes on the non-madeup eye. it threw me for a loop too.
    
    And wait, where do their lips go when not wearing make-up!?
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Men generally have thicker eyelashes than women, a source of some bitterness. Also redder lips due to higher hematocrit/RBCs.
  - http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
    
    I don’t know how to break it to *you*, but I don’t look at magazine covers!
    
    I’ve been around a good while. Most of the women I know don’t wear that much makeup. The only time I’ve ever seen someone with no eyelashes is on TV, and that was a burn victim.
    
    Of course I fully accept that I might have just led an insular life wandering around various towns in the UK for the last 30 years. Everywhere else, no eyelashes might be perfectly normal. And of course the weirdness is deliberately accentuated in the picture.
  - bumpngrindcore
    
    ‘Tis true. Straight men go on about how much they hate make-up and that a woman’s face should be kept natural, but if they saw a woman without make-up it takes to look “natural” they’d run, screaming in terror, and possibly call an exorcist.
    Call me shallow, but thank FUCK for makeup. I’d get mistaken for an extra from The Walking Dead without it.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Really Beautiful Person: Looks don’t matter; it’s what’s inside that counts.
      Average Looking Person: Cool. You want to have dinner sometime?
      Really Beautiful Person: Um…no. Where did that come from?
- marilove
  
  Pluck out her eye lashes?! Seriously? Or maybe you just can’t really tell she has them on-camera because they are short and thin. Real Life isn’t a Covergirl commercial.
- CH
  
  No, it’s Asian eyes. For many the eyelashes are shorter and not showing as much. Look for instance here (lots of close ups of eyes): http://bunbunmakeuptips.com/eye-makeup-tips-for-14-different-types-of-asian-eyes/
  
  Google for “Asian” and “fake eyelashes” and you will find lots and lots of links.
  - http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
    
    Thank you for a sensible answer. As I rather flippantly put it, “it’s the fold thing”.
    
    I’m pretty certain I would not have noticed at all if the picture was both sides not made up. And, I’m betting I would find it more attractive (not that that has much to do with the price of fish).
Manny

I think that facial configuration has a lot of relevance to a discussion of cosmetics. I think it is redundant immediately above a photo, but not gratuitous.

[This is meant as a reply to starfish and coffee, but Disqus has its own ways.]
Ethan Taliesin Houser

http://weird-gif.livejournal.com/?skip=180
Much more and in GIF form!
Ethan Taliesin Houser

I think the person splitting the face should have slightly rotated the original to correct for the tilt before making the two versions. You know, so the two mirrored versions wouldn’t look so deformed.
- http://nelc.livejournal.com/ NelC
  
  It’s very unusual for people to have completely symmetrical faces, most of us are slightly larger on one side or another.
  - Ethan Taliesin Houser
    
    For sure, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
    - http://nelc.livejournal.com/ NelC
      
      It makes it difficult to decide where to draw the axis of (almost) symmetry. I tried reflecting through the line of her nose and that made the unmade-up doppelganger look more ET-like. Then I tried normal to the line drawn through her pupils (about 4° from the nose axis), and the made-up side looked weird. In neither case did the two faces resemble each other.
    - http://nelc.livejournal.com/ NelC
      
      Here are my two attempts with different axes of reflection. The first is based on (my perception of) her nose and lips, the second on her eyeline. The assymmetry of human faces means that there is no one ‘true’ axis of reflection you can pick.
      - Diogenes
        
        Or her head is tilted and you didn’t get the right angle for the axis. Add uneven lighting and rotation and you’ve got a tough task.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  I think she might of done the “arm streached out holding a camera phone” effect.
  - Cefeida
    
    Might HAVE!!!!
    
    Sorry, nothing personal, I just think the propagation of that particular error can’t be allowed, ever.
bcsizemo

*sigh* Does no one here just browse youtube randomly? There are tons of videos showing Asian women applying makeup and the dramatic effects they can get with it…. I’m sure it’s not only limited to Asians, but I don’t usually see other cultures going as far as they do (like false contacts to make either eyes look larger.)
- http://nelc.livejournal.com/ NelC
  
  I hate to break it to you, but, yeah, I think you’re in the minority on this one.
  - penguinchris
    
    Things along this line have been posted on BoingBoing before, though (by that I mean similarly incredible Asian makeup demonstrations). This is a little different because by only doing half of the face it really illustrates how striking the effect can be.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I watch makeup videos on YT, but that’s probably no surprise.
  - bcsizemo
    
    Meh, I’m pretty use to being in the minority around here…
lakelady

why is this even interesting? the whole point of makeup is to alter how you look. Why is anyone surprised by this?
- PinkWithIndignation
  
  Because it’s a photoshop disaster, obvs.
Wingnut

Here is a more “realistic” view of what the woman looks like with full camouflage.
- Bonobo
  
  That is quite well blended and put together. Thank you.
DevinC

Can we please call a moratorium on deconstruction intended to show someone is racist and/or racially insensitive for one fucking post please?
- Efemmeral
  
  No! No! If we work hard enough we can prove that Cory Doctorow, despite all his posts showing he values women, is really a misogynist! Give us more time!
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    People really e-mail him to tell him that he’s a misogynist, which is kind of sad given his history of posts on women’s issues. Possibly the same people that claim that Xeni and I are both Mossad agents and Muslim terrorists. But ‘readers’ and ‘commenters’ are not always overlapping sets.
    - twianto
      
      Well, let’s just say that the world would be a better place if bloggers, commenters _and_ moderators lived by what Rob posted about blogging recently. Insulting people for no good reason at all will _always_ backfire ;-)
- Wreckrob8
  
  There is no end to deconstruction – no moratorium is needed. Il n’y a pas de hors-texte.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  We must focus cultural attacks inwards and never outwards, yes-siree bob.
Wingnut

And here is her plain twin…
- RJ
  
  Nice work on both of those. They’re much easier to interpret than the crudely flipped half-images.
  - Bonobo
    
    Agreed. Any way we could get these in the article for reference instead of the ones that are currently used?
- Bodhipaksa
  
  Thanks for that. The earlier versions had me seriously wondering if the original image was a crude photoshop disaster.
timquinn

I came here to see the woman who is one half invention. I was curious to see how they made the seam.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749997097 Rosin Ffield

I’m kind of like her even without the makeup.
Snig

“Supergirl was here again! You just missed her!”
“Oh that’s too bad, you always get the interview with her. She must like you.”
“Funny, it always seems like you’re never here when… Naah!”
(Supergirl smiles and winks at the fourth wall, her secret identity safe, thanks to her supercosmetology skills)
http://brassandlace.wordpress.com/ Knitasha

I find the picture pretty interesting in that you can tell what features the woman feels need to be enhanced or covered up. I’m not seeing much covered up (maybe under the eyes?), but she has enhanced her features pretty significantly. As someone who doesn’t typically put on a full face of make-up, I like seeing how much make-up other people wear; it gives you an idea of what that person needs to “fix” to feel better about their face in public. Having the split pictures just makes it easier to see the before and after.
- NorthStrand
  
  Her skin looks pretty different in the split + matched pictures, I would guess foundation and/or concealer.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  Get the impression white women need to conceal their true morlock faces.
- Cefeida
  
  Or is it ‘what features society tells women to enhance or cover up’? I hate the way the make-up industry has brainwashed so many women into thinking they need to fix something. I think most of the time, it’s not about how we feel, it’s about how we’re told we should feel. I wore make-up twice in my life, I felt like crap, so I never did it again, but when I go out, I often feel self-conscious…because almost all the other women have make-up on, and so my non-made up face looks ‘weird’ and ‘in need of fixing’. That’s fucked up!
http://www.facebook.com/sdphoto35 Steven Davis

I think she is actually really pretty on both sides minus the plucked eyelashes. my ex used to do that so she could attach big fake ones seems so strange when they are missing.
nixiebunny

I’ve always found it strange that some people change their facial appearance every morning before venturing out into the world. (Does my shaving count?)
- Cefeida
  
  My sister plasters her face with so much make-up, it makes me sick. But since I think everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want with their appearance, I don’t say anything about it.
  
  But I’m concerned, because I think it’s a sign of her having low self-esteeem, and that it’s messing up her young skin while not making her any more attractive. :( There’s just no way to tell her that without sounding condescending.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Makeup can be fun, but if you can’t go out to the mailbox without painting your face on, it’s an addiction.
    - Cefeida
      
      She can do that. Actually, she walks around the house looking like she got dragged through a wheat thresher. But as soon as she’s headed out to town, it’s paint time.
  - Diogenes
    
    re. messing up skin, you’re right. Newswomen who wear heavy makeup 5 days a week develop pores that owls could nest in. And then they wear even more to cover the pores. Sad.
- bumpngrindcore
  
  Yes, shaving counts. You’re interrupting the natural growth of your beard. (incidentally, why would you shave – a short beard/stubble increases a man’s hotness by 25% I think!)
  
  I think make-up is seen as superfluous and vain because it’s (mostly)a female activity. If men wore make-up it would be seen as a form of high-art.
  
  And unfortunately we DO live in a world where a woman is valued primarily on her looks. I don’t like it any more than you do, but that’s just the way it is and I can’t see it changing any time soon. You do whatever you can to help you get ahead, including slathering on huge amounts of make-up, if you have to.
  
  And besides, make-up is actually a lot of fun, it’s like painting a picture or creating a character! :)
Der Raketemensch

Awww, I misunderstood the title… I was hoping for a half-fictional asymmetrical person.
giantasterisk

I haven’t read through the comments, but if no one has mentioned it yet, it’s worth pointing out that the reason her eyes look so asymmetrical is that she’s used eyelid tape on the made-up side. It’s used to make eyes look larger and rounder: http://makeupforlife.net/2008/04/eyelid-tape-101.html
- LemonadeLunch
  
  Thank you! I was wondering how she did that.
kP

For anyone who’s been married for any length of time, this is no revelation.
- nixiebunny
  
  I’ve been married for 20 years, and this is a revelation. But I married a woman who doesn’t wear makeup.
- CH
  
  Huh? My husband doesn’t use makeup.
  - http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
    
    Sit down honey, we need to talk about those “poker games” of his.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    That you know of.
- http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
  
  Married. Revelation.
  
  Of course, I’m a man. The real test would be asking my wife…
Wingnut

There is a world of difference between Hollywood glamor shots and going ‘bare’ to the grocery store.

http://www.topsocialite.com/celebrities-without-makeup/
- CH
  
  Nice link, thanks! That one should be a required reading for everyone, especially teenage girls!!!
- chgoliz
  
  Some of those women are wearing makeup, just not the full professionally-applied face we see in official photos….which is informative in its own way.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    There’s also a difference between ‘no makeup’ and ‘no makeup for a week so that the residual mascara is gone’.
- Miss Cellania
  
  Most of the younger women in that link are just adorable sans makeup. The older women -well, it just highlights how we tend to forget how old they are when they are made up.
- Cefeida
  
  Gosh, the comments under that link are depressing :( They look FINE! They look wonderful, fresh, normal. But people keep saying they’re ugly. :(
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/WXX2COWXSEPYQSUJ7PI6BB4FKA Andrea Shedman

What was the point of the other photos, flipping a half image to create perfect symmetry. Makes no sense whatsoeveer
kytyn

When my son was about 3 or 4 years on we had golf on the TV. Tiger Woods had won the Masters about 4 years before and was still doing really well. Our boy looked at the screen for a bit and said “I hope the black guy wins”. My husband and I (both white) just stared at each other because we had tried to raise him without using people’s race as an primary identifier. But a few seconds later he declared “no, I hope the red guy wins”. Then it hit us – he was id’ing them by shirt color! (We confirmed by asking if he wanted the striped one to do well :)
Even now my kids (now 9 & 12) will usually id people by clothes or height. Sometime my daughter will say something about a friend with ‘dark skin’ but it’s pretty much the same way she’d say ‘blonde hair’ or ‘brown eyes’.

*edit: this was supposed to be in reply to mat catastrophe above…
- http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
  
  Once when my caucasian sister was at a bar whilst travelling a handsome negro gentleman approached her and asked “So, you like black do you?”.
  At this point she became very flustered, not really knowing how to answer the question and started stumbling “oh yes, I like black, but not anymore than white or Asian, or Latin American…”
  
  “I was talking about your clothes Lady”. Then he left.
  - wysinwyg
    
    If there’s such a thing as reverse racism then this is it: when white people get so nervous about not being racist they end up getting flustered and saying something vaguely racist. See also: the Larry David effect.
    - http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
      
      No, no! Reverse racism is when Asian people get cheaper prices on computer components than white people… at least according to Today Tonight*.
      
      *Australia’s ‘Fox’ style A Current Affairs style program.
      - Diogenes
        
        Naw, that’s because of fluxuations.
        Wait for it…..
bolamig

Wide eyes are attractive because they indicate arousal. Not just sexual arousal, but wakefulness, liveliness, and presence. I always find that my eyes are big and wide on days when I’m doing physical, social things. On days when I sit at home in front of the computer wringing my hands, my eyes are little slits.
- http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird
  
  Presumably only true in the west? The model’s natural eyes are not wide. Assuming this is normal…
  
  OTOH, it says a lot that her made up side is very much westernised.
steve2112

Wow, I just read this and as I did, I looked up what some of these gigantic words meant. Thank you, I feel smarter now.
http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

“Man this Batman remake is starting to get really weird. “
http://lunaticg.blogspot.com/ lunaticg

I think in China.., its a trend to show how good you are with make up right now. I have few emails forwarded by friends regarding this.
gigasquid

Like the majority of women she does not appreciate her own beauty without makeup. Thanks to cosmetic industry brainwashing
Saya Signs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mu_betPexI&feature=youtu.be&t=3m13s
Mantissa128

Female trickery! Do not be fooled! They conceal their ovulation, too!

Edit: more proof!
- http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
  
  Impressive! Especially the Scarlett Johanson.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Wow. Drake is amazing.
- bumpngrindcore
  
  Amazeballs! She’s so talented.
Sarah Coulter

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/model-morphosis/

Lots and lots of models with and without makeup. And you get to see the whole face both ways!
Sound Guy

Using the power of my built in eyes I have determined:

That they are Two Different People (one eleven one one exclamation, etc).

Different ear shape
Different jawline
Different nose shape
Different neck shape
Different temple to outer cheekbone structure

Do you feel me?
http://profile.yahoo.com/IFQZNP5DRFZKFLW6XMOCVBXTVU 64k a Day

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!
Preston Sturges

East meets West…..at the bridge of the nose
Alejandro Ispani

I’ve seen somewhere the step by steps of this. Is a man, not a woman.
LogrusZed

Anyone else see Fred Christ from Transmetropolitan at first glance?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000126077867 David Plumer

This is why I prefer my ladies not wear make-up. It saves me from a lot of morning after heart attacks.
ChicagoD

So, is this Asa Akira or not?
bigmike7

Do you think she made up the wrong side of her face?