A photo of an influencer in the same dress 12 months apart exposes a hot new trend

An Aussie influencer has posted a photo of herself in a near-identical dress 12 months apart and it has exposed a hot new trend.

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Aussie influencer Brittney Saunders has revealed the simple change she’s made that makes her look “10 times” better.

Saunders, 30, has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram and runs the successful and size-inclusive brand Fayt. She’s morphed effortlessly from creator to CEO and built her brand off keeping things real.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, she shared a photograph of herself in a near-identical dress roughly 12 months apart and pointed out that she’d made a simple tweak that had changed her whole aesthetic.

“I turned 30 this year and made the discovery that I look ten times better without fake tan and that less is always more,” she revealed.

She's embraced a more natural look in 2023. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

She has stopped fake tanning. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

Saunders said her fake tanning became an “addiction”, and it got to the point where she wouldn’t leave the house without having a layer on.

“I was a serial fake tanner for over 10 years; I think it was essentially an addiction. I was that girl scrubbing my tan off every single week to just reapply it again. I’ll never go back and would highly suggest trying to give tanning a break if you are like how I was,” she recommended.

Orange tinge aside, the other noticeable difference in the photos of Saunders is that she wore more make-up and her hair was more styled in the earlier photo. It was a very glam look that women are usually praised for, while it was a very natural look in the current photos.

In both photos, she looked great, and that speaks for itself. Yes, she looked great glammed up, but she looked great without going to all that effort.

She's got 600k followers on Instagram. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

She's built her brand by keeping it real. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

The photos reveal that Saunders hasn’t just broken up with a fake tan but is also embracing a more natural look.

It goes without saying that women should present themselves in any way they want to. If you want to throw a bucket of foundation on your face, that’s obviously great, but Saunders’ photos also illustrate that you don’t need to add extras to look amazing.

Women are told their whole lives about different ways to improve themselves, and often, it involves looking less like themselves.

Wear lipstick, add mascara to make your eyes look better, wear heels to make your legs look leaner, and wear black to make yourself look thinner.

The list is endless, and often it means that we associate our best selves with looking pretty far away from our natural selves.

So, to see an influencer share how she’s feeling more attractive without adding too much on is a liberating change of the standard beauty pace.

It also proves that women have been sold a lie; women can look their best without being tanned and glammed all the time.

She also runs a size-inclusive brand. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

She's embraced a more natural look. Picture: TikTok

People in the comments section also quickly praised Saunders’ move and shared their stories of living without fake tan.

“I haven’t applied tan for seven months and have started to focus on buying colours that compliment my fair, cool skin instead! Best decision,” one shared.

“I gave up fake tan a few years ago too and have never looked back. It’s so fun embracing your natural skin colour throughout the year,” another explained.

Model Kurt Coleman even chimed in and shared he was addicted for over a decade but he was now the “same” as Saunders and had given it up.

Meanwhile, another shared she was “exactly the same” but had managed to kick the tanning habit.

“I was exactly the same! Life is so much better on the other side. Plus I felt like I got so much time back not having to scrub it off and reapply every week,” she pointed out.

She’s also hugely popular on TikTok. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

She used to not leave the house if she wasn't fake tanned. Picture: Instagram/BrittenySaunders

So why does fake tanning become such a crutch for some women? Psychologist Carly Dober said that for women, there’s always an expectation to make yourself look better, which can mean women never embrace their natural look.

“There is a strong expectation to be always a project that is never unfinished, to be continuously improving, and there is not much social grace for just being happy with yourself the way you are,” she said.

Dober also pointed out that beauty trends come and go, but women always feel pressure to adapt.

“On top of that, beauty trends come and go very quickly, and there is the other expectation that we stay on top of the latest looks, hairstyles and beauty treatments so as not to get left behind,” she said.

Originally published as A photo of an influencer in the same dress 12 months apart exposes a hot new trend