airbrush alien

A person (usually a woman) in a photo in which unskillful post-processing made the skin look like almost entirely painted with airbrush tool in Photoshop and turned it roughly into a revolting alien.

This is a common effect due to overuse of bluring, liquiding, clone stamping and softening techniques which are supposed to reduce the small imprecisions of skin and make the person look prettier. Instead, it often backfires by eliminating the features which make the face look real (see also Uncanny Valley).

<browsing through a tabloid> Are these real people or fucking airbrush aliens? Their faces glitter like dog's balls!