Real Beauty Sketches: Dove’s new ad campaign tells women ‘you’re more beautiful than you think’

How would you rate your self-esteem on a scale of 1-10? Seven? Eight? Not bad at all.

But what if we told you that even among those of you who answered in the high numbers, your perception of how beautiful you are is warped. Chances are, you think you're uglier than you really are.

Dove's new ad campaign and video (see above) is just one of many tools we can use assess how different we see ourselves compared to strangers.

As part of the company's experiment, they recruited seven women of different ages and ethnic backgrounds who were relatively clueless about what was going on. Then FBI-trained forensic artist Gil Zamora drew two sketches for each woman: one based on strangers descriptions of her face and the second based on her own descriptions of her face.

Also see: Woman calls 911 because she wants a divorce

Prior to each woman meeting with the artist, the women were told to spend time with another woman stranger. That's how the artist used strangers' descriptions to create the first portrait.

"We really weren't sure what was going on," participant Kela Cabrales, a 40-year-old technology teacher and digital artist, tells Huffington Post. "They asked me to describe myself and use neutral terms and 'just the facts' sort of descriptions."

The results powerfully illustrated how in all cases the drawing based on the woman's own description was significantly less flattering. Check out all the drawings in the slideshow below.

The tagline of the campaign? "You are more beautiful thank you think."

Also see: Brain cancer survivor fights authorities to keep 'F Cancr' licence plate

"I probably beat myself up way more than I should," Cabrales acknowledges. "I see my 8-year-old daughter, and she’s so happy and confident, and naturally exudes this beauty. And when I see her I feel like, 'Oh god, what pitfalls did I fall into, and how can I keep that from happening to her?' I don’t know what they are -- I wish I did."

After the two drawings were complete, they were put side-by-side and the women were asked to come back and see the results. Their reactions, as seen in the video, might make some of you tear up, as it did them.

Why do you think women focus on negative physical flaws more than positive traits? It is as simple as blaming the media for using flawless models?