In recent years, the concept of skin careโ€”specifically, of skin care as a phenomenon that invites unlimited expenditures of money, strategy, and timeโ€”has exploded kaleidoscopically.

As feminist discourse has gone mainstream, the beauty industry has tried to cover some of its tracks. At the Times Magazine, Amanda Hess recently wrote about how the term โ€œanti-agingโ€ is going out of fashion.

Something similar is going on today with a certain popular beauty look, which we might label โ€œInstagram model.โ€ The look evokes both nakedness and airbrushing and is made possible by technology.