TikTok has quickly become one of the fastest growing social media platforms on the market, and included in the app is a beauty filter that has grown in popularity just as fast as the video-sharing app itself. Known as the Hollywood filter, you’ve likely seen it as part of the “Countdown Challenge” synced up to the Beyoncé song “Countdown,” during which she counts down as users reapply the filter over and over again. What’s so fascinating is that people are left with a face that’s barely recognizable, almost as if they had gotten a ton of plastic surgery.
So, what differences will you notice when applying this filter to your photos? A few things. First, you will notice that your skin looks smoother and your skin tone is more even. Then, you will see some strategic shadowing and contouring. giving your face a more chiseled appearance, followed by lips that are a tad plumper and eyes that are a little brighter. Lastly, is the addition of makeup — think darker, more dramatic lashes and lip color. Depending on how far you take the tool, you can essentially make a totally new face for social media.
How to Get the Hollywood Beauty Filter on TikTok
The popular filter is a part the Face App’s paid pro account. The company behind it is also responsible for other trendy filters, such as Big Face, Gender Swap, and Old. Available in both the Apple and Google Play stores, it offers a variety of AI filters, backgrounds, effects, and other tools that will “turn portrait photos into magazine cover pictures.” Once downloaded, you are prompted to upload a photo of yourself, then you simply click “Showcase” to scroll through the available filters and features; the filter you are looking for is titled “Hollywood.”
If you’re hoping to apply the filter ten times and use it in a TikTok video like other viral influencers, you will have to upload each filtered photo to the app, edit and add your music, and hit publish. Of course, you don’t have to do the Countdown Challenge. You can also use the filter to slightly enhance what is already a great photo of yourself by minor changes, like subtly smoothing your skin or brightening your eyes. Or, say you simply want to see what you would look like with lip filler, you can play around with plumping, too.
Just remember that these apps are there to have fun with. These image-altering filters that “beautify” your appearance are based off of a very narrow (and unrealistic) concept of perfection. So while the Hollywood filter is certainly entertaining, try not to fall into the trap of regularly filtering yourself beyond recognition. As one TikTok user put it in the comments of a Countdown Challenge video, “The most beautiful is the original YOU.”
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