Margaret the Beautiful

A few weeks ago I ran across this website:
Marquardt Beauty Analysis

The website talks about aesthetic physical beauty ... what is culturally believed to make for an ideally beautiful face ... and to put that into a mathematical equation. It's used for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction. You can read more about that part in the introductory pages.

What I found fun and fascinating is that also on the website is a "mask" that you can digitally place over an image of your own face. Then using Photoshop, you can distort your own face to make it fit this mask that mathematically equates to this ideal American version of attractiveness and beauty.

Jeanne the Elf

For giggles, I sent the link to my oldest daughter, Jeanne, who is pretty handy in using Photoshop. She followed the directions and did two versions of her own face. She said the first one makes her look like an Elf, and the second one makes her look like a Vulcan.
:: grin ::

Jeanne the Vulcan

So I took some photos of my own face (on a bad hair day, as you can see) and sent them to her. She picked the one that would work best due to the angle and my expression, and started playing with my face, the mask and Photoshop.

Here's the result. A new an improved Margaret? (click for larger image)

Say! I look neither Elfish nor Vulcanish!

But seriously, I'm still fairly recognizable. The shape of my face barely changed. Who knew I was so close to gorgeous already???

And the changes? There is that gawdawful skinny nose. True, my own nose is rather Italian and bulbous, so something slightly more narrow might be pleasing. But how would one breathe through such a narrow thing as the ideal beauty? And would it affect my singing voice?

My eyes are definitely more upturned and wide open. They look less tired. And, ooooooooo, love the shape of my new eyebrows! But would those eyes get all squinty and crinkly when I laugh? That's one of my favorite qualities! (Drives photographers batty, though, to try and get me to smile and keep my eyes open at the same time).

My mouth looks smaller and more tame, too. Hmmmmm. Margaret without a big mouth and ready smile. Not sure I'd like that.

I do wish Jeanne had added in some more hair. Might be nice to be less bald. Could do the wig thing, I suppose. But that could get awfully itchy and hot — especially when extra heat waves are being generated by my extraordinary brain power. Purveyors of Possibility throw off an awful lot of steamy creative energy, you know.

All in all, this was quite a fun experiment. But ... I think I'll keep the face I have.

I've earned it.