Here's an amazing experiment to see the differences between feminine beauty "ideals" across different countries: 24-year-old radio journalist Esther Honig had her picture photoshopped by Photoshop artists from 25 different countries. She told them to "make her look beautiful" according to their country standards.
Sometimes the changes were sweeping with skin lightening, new hairstyles, excessive makeup, new outfits and new jewelry. Other times they were more understated like a color change in the eyes, for example. Honig writes about the photoshopped pictures:
They are intriguing and insightful in their own right; each one is a reflection of both the personal and cultural concepts of beauty that pertain to their creator.
Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive.
Some of the results are below. You can see more here.
Above is Morocco's definition of beauty
Above, the Philippines
USA
Argentina
Pakistan
India
Israel
Greece