The philosophy of beauty: Hannah Martin on navigating a filter-obsessed culture

Hannah Martin has had over 20 years’ experience in the beauty industry and has worked with some of the world’s most famous faces, from supermodels to princesses. British Vogue named her “the queen of radiant skin and smoky eye tutorials”. Hannah was also resident makeup expert on the makeover show 10 Years Younger in 10 days. And last year, she released the Sunday Times best seller Makeup: A masterclass in beauty. 

Hannah spoke to Premier Unbelievable? about life, faith and navigating a filter-obsessed culture. In a later episode, she shared some helpful thoughts on how to support those who find Mother’s Day difficult, for a plethora of different reasons. You can listen to her full interview about Mother’s Day here.

In a recent interview, Hannah told Ruth Jackson that looks are not the most important thing. And that filtered and Photoshopped images, which have become the norm in our culture, are causing women to come to her with unrealistic expectations. You can watch the whole interview here. 

The invention of social media and its rapid take-up by the population is often blamed for an equally meteoric rise in mental health difficulties in young people. The wider social effects are often debated with concern.

But Hannah’s observation is that younger generations are often wiser to the manipulation that photo filters and other software introduce to the images we consume. “Filters and things are so ingrained,” she told Premier Unbelievable?. “Whereas I think young people maybe recognise that they are filters, what’s challenging is people of my age and older, don’t.”

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Hannah says the most common questions she gets asked are about finding the right foundation – the skin-coloured base that evens complexion. “I find it very hard when people show me images and say, ‘I want my foundation to look like this,’” she said. “I go, ‘that is Photoshop, or that is an AI app that has just completely altered that image’. That’s quite hard, because I think people aspire to images they have no concept are filtered and think, ‘why can’t I have skin that looks like that, completely flawless, a completely even tone?’.”

While older people might not realise how manipulated the digital sphere can be, Hannah fears for its effects on younger minds: “I fear for the younger generations, that their perception of what’s real is so skewed by filters. Is there a generation of young people with really bad self-esteem because they aren’t confident to share images of themselves that haven’t been highly edited? It’s really quite terrifying.”

However, there may be hope on the horizon. “I don’t think it’s going to last though,” Hannah said. “I really don’t. I think social media apps…I think we’re going to get wise to it, and they are going to be prohibited. That’s my prayer anyway.”

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Hannah’s views on cosmetics might surprise some, given her profession. “None of us need makeup,” she told Premier Unbelievable?. “We are all intrinsically beautiful. In the words of Claudia Winkleman, how you look should be the least interesting thing about you. 

“My personal philosophy is, when I’m working with someone doing their makeup, I don’t so much care about how they look at the end of their time with me, what I care about is how they feel. And that’s true, whether you are an actress about to walk the red carpet, or Sarah from down the road, who is about to go and do the school run.”

To watch the full interview with makeup artist to the stars Hannah Martin, click here. And to hear her thoughts about Mother’s Day, see here.