Beauty Standards Built on Secrets

Remix Magazine  

Kylie Jenner posing for Remix Magazine's cover page, 

which included an exclusive interview and photo shoot. 

“Tell us her secret. How does she get these beautiful lips,” asked Remix Magazine editor Steven Fernandez.

Kylie Jenner responded, “Um, well the color? Everyone thinks I use like one certain color, so I use like six different colors all the time, so yeah.”

Thanks, Kylie, very insightful. Or should I say avoidant? 

Kylie Jenner swore by lip shading and lining back in 2015 when her pout became a cultural obsession. Girls ran to buy her lip kits, desperate to recreate what they didn’t know was actually the work of injectable filler. When the truth finally came out that she had been getting lip injections all along, it wasn’t just disappointing. It was damaging.

We live in an age where beauty is big business, and the people selling it often aren't being honest. 

Influencers and celebrities push products, routines and lifestyles while hiding the actual tools they use to achieve their looks. Whether it's injectables, surgery or filters so advanced they reshape their faces in real-time, the public rarely ever sees the full picture. 

YouTube
A YouTube video posted four years ago by an account known as "Diana Diary
Blog" recommending and encouraging viewers to edit their Instagram posts.

The result? A generation of young girls growing up with a warped idea of what’s real and natural.

At the height of Kylie’s lip kit empire, she insisted that she hadn’t had any work done. Interviews, social media posts and even her own family played into the mystery. She credited her dramatic transformation to makeup techniques such as liner, gloss and the occasional overdraw. 

Millions of teens bought in. Her products flew off the shelves, and her image became the new standard of beauty. All while the real transformation came from needles, not lip pencils.

When she finally admitted to using lip fillers, the damage had already been done. Her brand had skyrocketed, her influence was cemented and girls everywhere had spent months trying to achieve something physically impossible without cosmetic help. That kind of deception might seem minor in the world of celebrity branding, but its ripple effects are massive.

Reddit

A side-by-side comparison of Kylie's face/body modifications.

With Kylie, it didn’t stop at the lips. For years, she has been the poster child for the hourglass figure–tiny waist, wide hips and a curvy backside. 

This became the new body ideal across social media, heavily influencing fashion, fitness and body image standards. Yet, she never acknowledged the possibility of getting a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), a procedure many speculate she had. She credited her shape to squats and clever clothing choices, despite her body changing dramatically in a short span of time. 

And just like with her lips, her silence spoke volumes.

The message? You can buy this look–if not with money, then with effort. But what’s left unsaid is that many of these transformations weren’t the result of makeup, workouts or waist trainers. 

They were the result of cosmetic procedures, kept secret to maintain the illusion of perfection through “natural” means. When that illusion is sold as reality, it’s not just misleading–it’s manipulative.

Kylie isn’t alone in this deceit. 

Aesthetic Center Turkey
A side-by-side comparison of Bella Hadid's facial modifications.

Another major example is supermodel Bella Hadid. For years, Bella denied getting any cosmetic procedures, insisting that her famously sculpted face was all natural. Then in 2022, she admitted in an interview that she had a nose job at the age of 14. That admission came after years of denial and speculation.

The problem isn’t about whether Bella or Kylie got work done. It’s about how they both denied it.

The harm in this isn’t just about insecurity. It's about selling a lie and profiting from it. If you’re promoting a product that “gave you” smooth skin or plump cheeks, but you actually got that look from a doctor’s office, you’re misleading people and making money off their confusion. 

It's like airbrushing a before-and-after photo in a weight loss ad. It's unethical and dangerous for young, impressionable audiences.

Vecteezy

According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 75% of surgeons reported an increase in patients under 30 in recent years. That’s not a coincidence. 

Teens and young adults are seeing unrealistic faces online and internalizing those images as goals. Not because they want to look like a specific celebrity, but because they think that look is natural and normal. 

It’s not.

This isn't about shaming people for getting cosmetic work. Everyone has the right to make choices about their body. The issue is the secrecy and denial that surrounds it. 

Honesty creates space for informed decisions. It also helps separate beauty from fantasy. When people admit they’ve had help, it reminds the rest of us that perfection isn’t a personal failure–it’s often a paycheck.

We need more transparency. Not just from the Kardashians of the world, but from the everyday influencers selling us products, routines, and aesthetics. 

Moriah Behavioral Health

Three adolescent girls use their phones to scroll through social media, unaware of the potential dangers.

Young girls shouldn’t have to decode what’s real and what’s edited. They shouldn’t feel like they’re falling short when the goalpost is moved by a scalpel behind the scenes.

So the next time you see someone promoting a miracle serum or a DIY contour trick that somehow gives them a whole new face, ask yourself: What aren’t they telling me?