A set of before and after photos that show the dramatic difference between a woman with and without make-up have sparked an internet debate about cosmetics.

Posted by make-up artist Povilas Staniulionis, the images, simply captioned: 'Make-up. That's it,' show a bare-faced woman with acne scars and shiny skin, and then her transformation after putting on make-up, with thicker eyebrows, flawless looking skin and a seemingly thinner face.

The stark difference between the images has sparked a debate on Reddit, with some internet users labeling make-up in general a 'betrayal' because it hides a woman's true self.

Reddit user plokoonismyfave initiated the war of words when he wrote: 'The left is uglier than the right, but beauty is subjective. The right is her wearing a (figurative and literal) mask.'
One person replied that a woman's personality counts more than her make-up routine, writing: 'You only feel "betrayed" because you put too much value on looks.'

He then went on to accuse the woman in the photo of disguising her insecurites with cosmetics.

'The girl in the photo is apparently not satisfied with the way she looks without makeup,' he said, 'and uses makeup to artificially portray a person more people would find attractive.'

Others stayed out of the debate altogether, instead admiring the miraculous transformation made possible by the make-up artist.

'Holy crap! That's amazing,' wrote one fan of the make-over. 'I would've never been able to tell that those two pictures were the same person. If this is your work, you have an amazing talent!'