In pics: What a 'perfect woman' looks like in 18 countries

A new study by UK-based online pharmacy, Superdrug Online Doctor, appears to confirm the notion that the ideals of beauty vary across borders.

“Beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another,” so says the dictionary. Now, a new study by UK-based online pharmacy, Superdrug Online Doctor, appears to confirm the notion that the ideals of beauty vary across borders. Through their project called Perceptions Of Perfection, the 18-country study explored what a 'perfect body' looked like in different countries and the results were very interesting.

A new 18-country study titled, Perceptions Of Perfection, has explored what a 'perfect body' looks like in different countries. (Superdrug Online Doctor Photo)

(Superdrug Online Doctor Photos)

"Widely held perceptions of beauty and perfection can have a deep and lasting cultural impact on both women and men," the website states. "The goal of this project is to better understand potentially unrealistic standards of beauty and to see how such pressures vary around the world."

The company hired designers from countries around the world to Photoshop a stock image via Shutterstock to reflect the beauty standards of their specific countries. Below is the original image, a photo of a model wearing a bra, underwear and pink wedges, before the designers Photoshopped it:

The results are incredibly eye-opening as the designers not only made changes to the model's figure, but also to her hair colour, eye-shape, waistline, breasts and even the woman's shoes, to mold the photo into the ideal body type of that culture.

Out of the 18 designers, 14 were women and four were men.

In order to highlight a woman's perception of her culture's beauty standards, Superdrug asked the four male designers to Photoshop the image based on messages women in their countries receive about what an ideal body should look like, said Superdrug on their website. Head to the website to hear more about the project.

While some of the photos appear only slightly altered, in others, the original image is barely recognizable.

So, photos from China and Italy were dramatically Photoshopped to have very thin legs and arms, images from Colombia, Mexico and Peru, on the other hand, reflect the traditional voluptuous beauty standards of those areas with tiny waists, large breasts and curvy hips.

Read: These pictures of 'plus-size' Disney princesses show beauty comes in all sizes

Scroll below to see what the 'perfect woman' looks like in 18 countries: Some of these images are almost unrecognisable compared with the original photo.