New “fun” filter launched to promote natural beauty as backlash against misleading filter use grows

Make-up artist and beauty blogger Lisa Potter Dixon has teamed up with beauty communications agency PuRe to launch a new trio of filter effects that allow Instagram users to add  “sparkle” to their stories without any face augmentation.

The development comes amid a rising tide of evidence surrounding the damaging effects of augmented filters on young people’s self-esteem and follows the UK advertising watchdog’s decision to clamp down on the use of filters on social media beauty adverts which mislead or exaggerate product efficacy.

It also follows a recent move by Instagram to ban and remove camera filters which enhanced a user’s features to look as though they had had some form of plastic surgery.

The new launch of Sparkle with LPD by @PurePRLondon allows users to show their “unfiltered face” along with a trio of fun filter effects to bring “sparkle, sequins or retro recording” to their Instagram stories.

 PuRe PR co-founder Kelly Marks said: "Filters are meant to be fun.

“There’s a big difference between virtual and reality, and we need to be sure people know the difference.

“No Filter Just Sparkle is a celebratory filter which encourages people to show their true self and not hide behind an augmented mask.  It’s time to normalise being different, as every person is.

"Sadly we often see the damaging effects of augmented filters on young people. 

"Their aspiration to look like the unatainable faces they see on their phones, is proven to cause a constant strain of anxiety and unhappiness.’’

Lisa Potter Dixon added: "I wanted to give people the opportunity to have fun with filters and add a touch of sparkle to their lives’’.