When we post photos online, we are opening ourselves up to scrutiny whether we like it or not.
Even if our makeup, hair, smile, and outfit are all perfect, there are people who apparently never learned to keep their mean comments and thoughts to themselves.
As an avid Instagram user, Victoria Katei knows this well. The 19-year-old student at Southern Methodist University in Texas has over 46,000 followers who look at the photos she posts almost every day.
For the most part, Victoria is known for sharing photos of herself wearing incredible makeup looks. Like the rest of us, she usually prefers to share the most polished version of herself with others online.
With that said, Victoria recently shared a no-makeup selfie to make a point that she can feel good about herself either way.
Plenty of people were onboard and supported Victoria's message. Of course, others were not quite as open.
This is the "before" photo from Victoria's before-and-after post that she describes as, "me being cute vs. me being cute."
Here is the after photo of Victoria without makeup.
She shares in the caption:
Me being cute vs. me being cute.
Recently it seems like so many people have something to say about the way I look with or without make or about the fact that I don’t post pictures without makeup. Accounts have been posting pictures of me with makeup versus no makeup telling me I’m a catfish and that I’m hideous. People in the comments telling me to kill my self because I’m lying about my looks.
Telling me that no one will love me becuase I’m so ugly and have to wear makeup to cover my “real face.” And as this has happened I learned what people say about you has so much more to do with them as a person than it does you as an individual. First I want to clarify: I love the way I look in makeup and out of makeup.
I don’t wear makeup to hide or to “catfish” people because I don’t give a shit what any guy or girl has to say about how I look. And I’m not going to lie it gets to me, some comments are so vile they make me cry but I always remind myself that I’m more than my looks. I’m a girl who goes to school and studies constantly who listens to music and hangs with friends im a girl who will stay in bed all day and binge watch Netflix.
I’m a girl who is happy some days then angry and sad the next. I’m a normal human being.There so many girls who say they look up to me, who say they wish they were as pretty as me but looks aren’t what make you pretty. Your hobbies, your passions, and your mind are what make you who you are and being uniquely you makes you beautiful. makeup is a passion of mine and this is the platform I choose to express that and if you don’t like that feel free to unfollow because I’m never going to apologize for being me.
Unfortunately, not everyone shared Victoria's positive outlook about makeup and decided to use her picture to create a cruel meme.
Of course, Victoria understands that she opened herself up to ridicule online, but that doesn't make the mocking any easier to swallow.
Luckily, there were plenty of people who did come to Victoria's defense, saying things like, "You look amazing in both pics. You Got this girl!!"
In a following post on Instagram, Victoria responded to some of the comments, explaining why she might look different in photos.
She also mentions that she was thinking about disabling the hurtful comments, but bravely decided against it.
Be sure to SHARE this post with anyone who likes to go without makeup!