Lily Allen's Face: Not Thin Enough For British Elle?

Lily Allen is on the August cover of Elle UK (discussing “Fashion, Music, & BABIES”), but it seems the editors did not invite her jaw bone to the shoot. Is she the latest victim of overzealous airbrushing? Let’s investigate.

Here’s a paparazzi photo of Lily taken in May 2010:

Her jawline doesn’t seem as smooth and narrow here, but to be fair, this photo is taken in natural light from the opposite side of her face.

Here’s another pic from last October where she’s in a similar pose.

Well, not that similar; In all the paparazzi shots she’s smiling or at least displaying some kind of human emotion, while on the magazine cover she’s been instructed to let her jaw hang to achieve SexyFace. Also, the way Elle lit her creates a huge shadow where her head meets her neck — all the better to hack off your head and swap it for a different shot, my dear!

The Daily Mail has more photos from the Elle feature, along with another side-by-side of the cover and Lily in real life. One commenter notes,

What a difference between the magazine cover and her out shopping in London. I know which one I would rather wake up next to in the morning!

Fair enough, “Roger.” If you want to sleep with a magazine featuring a digitally-altered photo rather than a living, breathing woman, that’s fine by us. But watch out — papercuts to the genital area must be particularly nasty.