Latvian Photographer Explores The World's Most Uncomfortable Beauty Gadgets

Latvian photographer Evija Laivina is questioning the beauty industry – and millennial culture in general – with her creepy portraits of women wearing a slew of crazy looking cosmetic-altering devices found on Amazon. Want a straighter nose or more defined eyelids? There’s no doubt a product for that, and you can see them all in their fully disturbing glory in Evija’s photo series, Beauty Warriors.

Evija, who lives in Scotland, explains the story behind her evocative project. ‘I was working on a project about beauty and identity for college. I wasn’t sure what exactly it was about but then I started to collect these devices.’

As most of these products ship from Korea or China, the epic wait time for her items to arrive gave the photographer time to figure out what she wanted to do with the gadgets.

The result is some truly haunting portraits that are as beautiful as they are disturbing, and really feel as though they are a call to action for our generation.

Among the treasure trove of oddities Evija has photographed are a ‘smile maker’ that promises to keep your lips permanently grinning, a ‘head belt’ meant to shape and sculpt your chin to chiseled perfection and an ‘eyelid trainer’ offering a $7.99 alternative to a pricey ‘double eyelid’ plastic surgery procedure.

The images are a much needed reminder not to let society dictate our appearance, and that we are all enough just as we naturally are.

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