Woman Labeled 'The World's Best Catfish' Explains Her Age Baffling Secret

"Glow up" videos have become a social media sensation, with the hashtag attracting over 67 billion views on TikTok. But, a certain TikToker has gone viral and sparked a debate on her page recently, owing to her transformative makeup skills.

Chloe Fountain, who has more than 987,000 followers on the platform and over 24 million likes, spoke to Newsweek and described herself as a "catfish." While many say that the transformations are impossible to achieve without a digital filter or some other sort of internet trickery, others argue that it is natural.

She can be seen in most of her videos with visible wrinkles, skin laxity, grey hairs, and age spots—only to be suddenly transformed into a smooth-faced, even complexioned version of herself, apparently all with the help of some face tape, skincare products, and makeup.

Fountain, from Windsor, Canada, doesn't divulge her age. She told Newsweek: "It's a secret. It will ruin the allure of my page. I like causing people to debate because it creates more engagement. Some people say I'm old, some people say I'm young—then it gets more comments and pushes the video to more people, to argue."

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Users on TikTok are torn over whether Fountain is telling the truth about her makeup skills.

One user said: "I'm pretty sure she's using a filter on the first half and just screen recording it so it doesn't get tagged."

Another user commented on Fountain's video: "I'm pretty sure this is one person. I'm assuming you own your own makeup, lift-up, tight-up everything business. cuz you are doing one fantastic job."

Catfish or the Real Deal?

Newsweek spoke to the woman behind the videos, and an expert in aesthetic treatments, to try to find out the truth.

In one video, Fountain applies a face cream that she tells Newsweek is the Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX Temporary Face Tightener, and her face is seen visibly changing in front of her audience. Her wrinkles disappear, her skin tightens and her eye bags significantly reduce—all in a matter of seconds.

"Watch my face go from an old lady to a young lady. Here it goes. And you use the tape to fix the rest," she says in the video.

When asked about it, Fountain said she swears by her face cream.

Fountain said: "Oh the Peter Thomas Roth really is as realistic as I made it look. I'm not promoting it, I don't even know who they are. I tell people to put a thin layer of that on because it will leave a film. Basically, just put it on really thin, and voila."

In another video, she has a friend pull her face back to prove the efficacy of the tape method, and it appears that this method also disappears visible age spots.

When asked to comment on this particular video, Fountain—after a long pause—said: "I'm just kind of laughing at myself right now. I really don't know how to answer. Wrinkles do cause shadows, so if you pull them back, your face will look lighter."

While Fountain said every video is "100 percent truthful" and no filters have been used in the "before" or the "after" versions, she admitted to deepening the odd wrinkle using eyeshadow and using dry shampoo to replicate grey hairs.

She said: "I would say I make myself look slightly worse than I normally do. [If] I'm extra puffy because I've slept on my stomach, [then] I'm like, 'today would be a good day.'"

On the surface, an Instagram transformation doesn't seem anything new or controversial. However, it is the radical difference between the before and after versions and Fountain's insistence that her videos are genuine, that has caused much debate online.

When asked why she thinks people react to her videos so strongly, Fountain said: "Honestly, sometimes, I'm shocked. I can't understand how they can't see that it's me. So I find it kind of funny. It's obviously a dramatic difference, and sometimes, seeing isn't believing, especially on the internet.

"You know what, a lot of people like to be right, they have to be right. They want to be the ones that can say 'I never believed' if anything ever came out."

Promoting Unrealistic and Dishonest Beauty Standards?

Many studies conducted in recent years quantify how unrealistic beauty standards and "fake" appearances on social media can affect people, especially young girls, by causing low self-esteem or serious medical conditions, including eating disorders.

According to a 2021 study published in the Computers in Human Behavior journal, "Nearly all teens (94 percent) in developed countries use social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, and many post 'selfies.' Children and adolescents' social media use is dominated by visual communication, including posting and commenting on photographs and videos of themselves or others."

The study found that from childhood to adolescence, engaging with others' posts on social media resulted in lowered self-esteem.

When asked if she was worried about unrealistic and dishonest beauty standards being promoted, Fountain told Newsweek: "I fear for children, I suppose."

Commenting on her own use of social media, she replied, "So...it actually does work. That's why I'm not too hung up on it and upset. I've done people's makeup just for fun—the makeup and the tape can make a huge difference. People even comment saying I bought the tape and it really does work. You get the ones with the strings that really pull you back. It stays on all day for me."

'There Is No Magic Cream'

Newsweek spoke to Dr. Manav Bawa, a U.K.-based cosmetic doctor and medical director and co-owner of Time Clinic Medical Aesthetics and Wellness, about his thoughts on the dramatic transformations.

He said: "The 'lifting' tape could potentially provide a subtle lift, and when used with certain tricks such as light, camera angle, and a robust makeup routine, we can certainly achieve transformative results. The concern is that viewers are being misled, with makeup to worsen lines, to begin with, as well as a camera angle from below, which can create a saggy appearance due to gravity pulling our skin forward and down."

Bawa said that facial expressions enhancing our lines would also create a worse starting point.

"There is no such magic cream I have heard of that removes wrinkles within seconds, only filters and video editing can do that. Treatments with botulinum toxin, dermal filler, skin care, and skin treatments will usually help in reality," he said, cautioning that videos like these could negatively impact people, especially those already suffering from body dysmorphic disorder.

Bawa added: "Ultimately, with full transparency, these videos can be entertaining for some viewers. Without facts, these could be deemed as 'fake,' which could increase engagement. However, they could also negatively impact mental health."