Impossibly Beautiful

Julia Roberts is the new face of Lancôme:


Too bad they didn't bother using her actual face, which, in case you've forgotten, looks like this:

Cast member Julia Roberts attends the premiere of "Valentine's Day" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California February 8, 2010. The movie opens in the U.S. on February 12. [Reuters]

Insert everything I've already said in 41 previous posts about this insidious horseshit the sole purpose of which is to make us feel shitty about ourselves so we buy more crap in a futile, unwinnable game.

She is 42 years old. She is beautiful. Lancôme, these facts are not mutually exclusive: Let her be beautiful and visibly 42.

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By way of reminder: Comments that try to suss out what changes, exactly, were made, and even comments noting that, for example, the removal of laugh lines because they are ZOMG wrinkles actually robs a face of its character or humanity, are welcome. Discussions of how "she looks handsomer/hotter/better in the candid picture" and associated commentary (which would certainly make me feel like shit if I were the person being discussed) are not. So please comment in keeping with the series' intent, implicit in which is the question: If no one can ever be beautiful enough, then to what end is the pursuit of an elusive perfection?

[Impossibly Beautiful: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41.]