Face Value: The Hidden Ways Beauty Shapes Women's Lives

Is the pursuit of beauty truly bad for us?

Every day, women are bombarded with idealized, impossibly perfect images that make us feel like we'll never measure up. We've been told that primping and preening are a trap, a costly addiction that distracts us from what really matters.

But sometimes a beauty ritual can ground us; a well-executed smoky eye can give us the confidence to fight for a promotion. Face Value goes beyond theory and examines the lived experience of dozens of women across all walks of life to find out how the pursuit of beauty actually affects us.