I'd be lying if I said the advertisements that pop up on the side of websites and social media don't catch my eye sometimes. Recently, an advertisement for a makeup phone app caught my eye. I remember thinking, really? Editing your face and body in pictures has become that easy? And that's when this experiment was born.

I decided to download the YouCam Makeup app on my phone for one week and see what I thought and how it effected me. The results were shocking.

Although this video shows the app's purpose as a way to try out different makeup looks before actually putting the makeup on, we all know that this app is bound to be used by many to simply edit themselves in photos. Not only can you add makeup to your photos such as lipstick or mascara, but you can change nearly everything about your face: how soft your skin looks, what color your eyes are, the whiteness of your teeth, the color of your hair, the shape of your eyebrows, and -- get this -- you can even adjust the shape of your face so it looks thinner.

So here are three of my observations about this app from my week spent exploring it.

1. It was fun!

Let me make one thing clear: makeup is not evil. As someone who is artistic and creative myself, I know that makeup is a fun way for many to express themselves and be creative. Even though I wear zero makeup 90 percent of the time, I have nothing against it. In fact, this app was a really fun way for me to experiment with makeup since it's not something I know how to do well. Not to mention, I finally got to achieve my dream of seeing what I would look like with lavender hair.

Self-expression and style look different for every person. For some, it's tattoos. For others, their clothes. For many, it's makeup. Makeup can be fun, and I think this app does a decent job at expressing that. However, the fun quickly became obsessive and unhealthy.

2. It was freakishly real.

Besides the fact that my eyelashes are magically in front of my glasses in this picture, the results of this app are shockingly realistic. I have no doubt that I could post a photo that I edited with this app, and no one would question whether or not it was real. Seeing how real and how easy it was to make my skin look flawless and my makeup on point, I quickly began to question all the faces I compare myself to. Are the people we idolize using apps like this? Is it even attainable to have perfect skin? Perfect hair? Perfect makeup?

I am not even someone who typically compares myself to celebrities or cares about things such as this, but the realness of these photos made my stomach lurch. Just how much of our world is fake?

3. It made me less confident with my actual appearance.

Most significantly, this app quickly made me lose confidence in my appearance. With each button I pressed, my face became increasingly more "beautiful" and "flawless." It wouldn't be until I was finished and saw my final creation compared to the original image that I would realize how much I had edited my appearance. Suddenly, every flaw in my actual appearance became more noticeable, and I fell in love with the way I looked in the edited photos instead.

I've only had this app for one week, and I'm already seeing disgusting effects on my mental and emotional health. As shocking as it is, I had a hard time deleting it from my phone. No one had to know that I had it. No one had to know if my photos were slightly edited. But I would.

If you're reading this, take to heart the fact that there is nothing wrong with makeup, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to express yourself through the way you look. However, there is something wrong with losing your confidence in yourself and not being proud of who you are unedited.

You are beautiful. Don't let unrealistic expectations stop you from believing that.