This Artist's Selfies Are Cooler Than Yours

I feel like I’m pretty good at Instagram. I can use filters well enough to make my skin not look like sixteen ruddy miles of bad road, and I’ve learned how to accentuate my good features while downplaying errant zits and bad hair days. What I can’t do, though, is transform my Instagram selfies into magical wonderlands that are the perfect escape from reality.

Norwegian artist Helene Mehldahl’s whimsical mirror selfies have just put all of ours to shame. Mehldahl told Cosmopolitan that she uses acrylic markers to draw fantastical scenes on the mirror before taking her pictures, which is a lot more work than just wiping away the toothpaste spit residue on the mirror before you pose.

Mehldahl’s first medium for her Instagram portraits was much more expensive than acrylic markers. “I started writing on the bathroom mirror because I wrote little messages to my roommate with Chanel lipstick. And I realized it would kind of look cool with some color." Maybe she’ll try some portraits in the future that are created entirely with makeup, because who knows what she could do with a bright eyeshadow palette and a bunch of blush.

Check out these amazing images from Helene Mehldahl’s Instagram, then click through for more flights of fancy.

Images: Courtesy of Helene Mehldahl; mirrorsme/Instagram