What To Do If You’ve Never Felt Beautiful in Photos (+ A Ritual for Healing)
- Amandine Louis
- Aug 11
- 3 min read
You’re definitely not alone. Girl, I’ve been there. Your bestie’s been there. The girl from the ice cream shop’s been there.
So many of us have felt that sting—the gut drop—when we see a photo and immediately shrink inside.
“My nose looks weird.”
“I look tired.”
“Why am I never photogenic?”
We take these frozen moments and use them as proof against ourselves: proof that we’re not enough. Not beautiful enough, not tall enough, thin enough… and the list goes on.
Well, let me tell you, baby girl—it’s not on you.
1. Maybe you just haven’t found the right angles yet. Photography is all about perspective. Or maybe you haven’t worked with a real professional yet (hello? Photography is a skill like anything else—light, angles, energy—we have to master it all).
2. Maybe society taught you that you have to shrink to be beautiful. That beauty is a Photoshopped paper doll with not a single hair out of place and zero skin texture. IT’S WRONG.
For generations, beauty has been defined in the narrowest way possible. And most photography has mirrored that: flawless skin, perfect smiles, impossibly thin bodies.
So if you’ve never felt beautiful in photos, it’s not because you’re not beautiful.It’s because you haven’t been truly seen. And let’s call it out: the world (aka patriarchy, aka MEN) does not want you to be seen. They want you out of service to yourself, quietly fitting into their fantasies, shrinking in the shadows, invisible. That’s the game.
Well, in 2025? The game ends. We’re taking our feminine power back and putting it where it belongs—with us.
When women tell me, “I’ve never liked photos of myself,” I don’t see resistance.I see pain.I see a wound waiting to be witnessed. My approach isn’t to make you “look better.” My job is to help you feel seen. To guide you back into your body. To remind you of the divine in your ordinary. The beauty in your realness.
Because the standard they’ve set up is unachievable—and that’s the whole point. Keep women chasing perfection so we forget to focus on what actually matters—like our rights, our pleasure, our voices.
But when you feel safe… when you’re held… when you drop the armor—that’s when a photo becomes medicine. That’s when you see yourself exactly as you are: beautiful. powerful. enough.
The Mirror Softening Practice
If this resonates with you, and you want to start (or deepen) your work of reconnecting with your body, here’s a ritual you can try at home. It might feel uncomfortable at first—but the more you do it, the more natural it becomes.
Set the space. Find a mirror. Light candles. Scatter flowers on the floor. Create a circle or small altar around you and the mirror. Breathe deeply. Play something slow and sensual.
Enter the circle. Sit or stand in front of the mirror. Close your eyes. Feel your breath. Let the music carry you. (If you have my opening ritual meditation, this is the moment to press play.)
Gaze. Open your eyes and look into your own eyes for 3 minutes. Breathe deeply. Stay there.
Speak three truths about your body—not about how it looks, but how it feels or what it gives you. (Example: “My legs are strong. My belly holds softness and life. My skin protects me.”)
Close. Place your hands over your heart and whisper: “I am allowed to be seen. I am beautiful as I am.”
Repeat whenever you feel disconnected from yourself.
You'll be surprise by what will show up, I'm sure.
With love 🧡
Amandine.
Ps: here is the meditation. Listen to it, with a background slow sensual music.