I have seen her irl and she really doesn’t look as cute as she wants us to think.
Same. Alex is by no means unattractive but I was quite taken aback when I saw her in person on Westbourne Grove one day. I mean, I have always noticed her excessive, extreme use of beauty filters and ring lights. I knew she was beautifying and editing her pics but seeing her in person was still an eye opener. She absolutely has good skin. I never doubted - she has a really even-toned complexion that is clearly well cared for - but she looked so much older in real life with crows feet, under eye bags and prominent nasolabial folds which are completely removed / concealed on Instagram. What she really takes liberties with is changing her face shape to look skinny with hollow cheekbones. Every candid pic I've seen of Alex on *other* people's Instagrams shows she has a very round and chubby face. I rarely see her without a double chin. Yet on Instagram, she's given herself a "supermodel" face shape with a chin so long and pointy, it could take pickles out of a jar.
I can't think of another UK beauty influencer/content creator over 40 who edits their appearance as extremely as Alex does. I expect this from insecure teenage girls and 20-somethings who have watched The Kardashians too much but not a 40-something beauty journalist who has repeatedly championed herself as "being honest". If you're going to edit the crap out of your face and present a "fake face", at least don't deny it and harp on about how you don't even use filters and pride yourself on being an honest beauty journalist who "tells it like it is".
I've played around with FaceApp for fun and it really does make me look soooo much hotter than I actually am (albeit in a creepy, plastic, devoid-of-character way) but I would never use those FaceApp retouched selfies on social media because I'd feel so outrageously cheeky trying to pass myself off as someone much more perfected. My friends would crucify me if I used a FaceApp selfie as my profile pic. I wouldn't dream of it anyway.