Why do some mirrors make me look ugly??

Not only lighting, but I heard it was also just the fact that a lot of mirrors are simply different. They aren’t all made the same way, and also the age of the mirror, etc…It is too bad with all the technology we have today, that one cannot get the mirror to pinpoint exactly how the person in the reflection looks like. Some mirrors will make a person look fatter, older, skinnier…it is kind of frightening in a way, to know that you really don’t quite know what you look like . Well, one cannot obsess over a mirror. Just like the camera doesn’t give a true account of ones identity. They say that some cameras put 20 pounds on a person sometimes.
Oh well. dormguard

One thing no one here mentioned is that mirror works through physics. What you see is NOT EXACTLY what is really there, but RELATIVE to what is really there. For example, if I stand ONE meter away from the mirror that reflects my whole body and look into it, I will be ONE meter away from the mirror BUT see myself as what I look like TWO meters away, given that the mirror is perfect (which of course, there really aren’t perfect mirrors). I am about 5’10.5” but always look 5’8 in mirrors. I have to stand next to a REAL 5’8 to realize that I am head to eyebrow taller than the other guy.

It’s all in the lighting. . . . .

ya if theres more light then it will really show your “not so perfect” features, and they will make them look really drastic, when im sure theyre not! this has happened to me several times!!!

I imagine the lighting in a beauty store would be terrible on purpose in order to get people to buy products that they don’t really need to make themselves prettier.

yup its the lighting

All the mirrors at home make my eyes look very dark and puffy but when I go round anyone elses house my eyes are fine, but which mirror is telling the truth?

Sometimes it’s the shape of the mirror; and also the lighting.

Mirrors that are wider have a widening effect; seriously look in a full-length mirror and you’ll appear skinnier and more elongated.

Lighting is another factor because rooms with more light tend to highlight EVERYTHING. It’s like when you go out in the sun and suddenly your makeup isn’t covering anything and you can see all the creases on your face. Yeah…

So for the most accurate look at yourself I’d go with bright lighting. It tells the truth.

Yeah I know what you mean. I put on my makeup in my room and I go look in the bathroom mirror and it looks completly different. The mirror in the car make my acne look a lot worse than anywhere else. I never know which mirror is how other people see me. I guess it’s in the lighting?

OMG, that’s exactly how it is with me! Sometimes I look in the mirror and I’m like damn girl, you are one sexy beast, then I look in other mirrors and I literally look like some kind of a creature out of a horror movie. Lighting is VERY important. Generally, beauty shop mirrors are not flattering (you think they would be though, lol) because the lighting is flaurescant, which is the WORST KIND. Seriously, my eyes look all beady and it exaggerates my dark circles. The most flattering lighting in natural. Not bright sunlight, but normal, natural. It also depends on the angle of which the light is hitting your face. For example, I find that if it’s hitting my face straight on, I look best, but if it’s from an angle (like beauty shop mirrors usually have lighting from above), I look hideous. It’s also the kind of mirror. Some mirrors make your face look longer or shorter or narrower or fatter).Most mirrors aren’t very flattering, so don’t worry, I’m sure you’re pretty. People have told me I’m pretty too but for the longest time I was obsessing over the stupid mirror. You just gotta give yourself the benefit of the doubt and trust the people;you are pretty.

oh yes this just actually happened to me today at the salon. I did my makeup at home and looked in all my mirrors haha to get every angle and really liked the way I looked in all of them so I proceeded to the salon. (I love getting a new hair cut but DREAD looking in the salon mirror) I thought “Ok, you can do this you just lost 20 pounds you are going to look amazing just wait and see, your face is slimmer now and make up looks good” I get to look in the mirror and it looks like I have GAINED those 20 pounds and my face looks like a marshmallow! I hated it all I could think was I can’t wait for this to be over. So i feel your pain and I think it has to do a lot with the lights because they highlight weird shadows and also they are so big they make you look wider, I actually do not understand why they have to be that big anyway.

oh yes this just actually happened to me today at the salon. I did my makeup at home and looked in all my mirrors haha to get every angle and really liked the way I looked in all of them so I proceeded to the salon. (I love getting a new hair cut but DREAD looking in the salon mirror) I thought “Ok, you can do this you just lost 20 pounds you are going to look amazing just wait and see, your face is slimmer now and make up looks good” I get to look in the mirror and it looks like I have GAINED those 20 pounds and my face looks like a marshmallow! I hated it all I could think was I can’t wait for this to be over. So i feel your pain and I think it has to do a lot with the lights because they highlight weird shadows and also they are so big they make you look wider, I actually do not understand why they have to be that big anyway.