When Australian social media star Essena O'Neill revealed that she was deserting her Instagram account earlier this month because the images she posted weren't a true reflection of her actual life, it brought the issue of 'fauxtography' firmly into the spotlight.

The 19-year-old, who had over half a million followers, has now deleted nearly 2,000 images posted in recent years 'to expose the harsh and often humorous reality behind the instafamous culture.'

Instant airbrushing has never been easier; moments after taking a selfie, we can smooth away creases, add filters and ping the image we'd like the world to see out there.

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Stina Sanders, a blogger from London, has built up a following of 10,000 Instagram fans over three years of posting glamorous images of her life...but how would they react if she suddenly posted more honest photos?

Time to get real: When Stina decided to post images of herself looking more natural including, left, working from home and, right, attending to unwanted facial hair, her followers soon started to drop

Feet without a filter: Regular runner Stina unveiled what her tootsies look like after training, a shot that she wouldn't normally dream of posting

How many of us would feel comfortable scrubbing away the gloss and posting honest images? FEMAIL set one super-glam blogger the challenge of publishing photographs to her followers that would never normally make the cut.

Stina Sanders, 24, from London makes her living as a model and creative writer.

The brunette beauty's Instagram timeline and website, stinasanders.com, are awash with the kinds of photos that might fall from the pages of a glossy magazine, documenting a kind of halcyon life that most of us can only dream of. It's seemingly a whirl of nights out, foodie experiences, international travel and high-end living...and plenty of that is done wearing a scantily-clad bikini.

While Stina, who's had an Instagram account for nearly three years, happily lets viewers into her life - there are frequent images of her handsome boyfriend Chris, 31, and her cute-as-a-button French bulldog Mr Mouse - it's one that she freely admits has a veneer over it.

A life less ordinary: Stina, dressed as Catwoman for a party, and right, on holiday in a place simply captioned as 'paradise' normally evokes envy with her images

Life envy: Five-star hotels normally feature heavily in Stina's timeline, including this jaunt to The Sanderson Hotel in London

'The IBS is bad!' Stina chose to document a visit to a colonic irrigation clinic during her week away from 'fauxtography'

The London-based model and writer also chose her week of 'real' photos to highlight a battle with anxiety

Sharp contrast: Stina ditched the filters and deliberately took selfies that didn't flatter her. Right, Stina poses with a leopard while on a night safari on a recent exotic holiday

Stina says: 'As shallow as it is to admit this, I think if you want to be insta-famous or create a mass following overnight, then you do need to share glamorous images. Sex sells!'

'Social media is an escapism for most people - as much as we claim to not care what someone has had for breakfast or their latest holiday snap, we would rather see that than a horrific selfie.'

So, what happened when Stina did just that ie, swapped her normal, polished images of bronzed limbs, cocktails and five-star hotels for something much less superficial.

Over seven days, the pretty blogger uploaded images most of us wouldn't dare to share with even our nearest and dearest including images of Stina removing her facial hair, preparing for colonic irrigation and her post-run feet, complete with chipped nail polish.

She says: 'I made sure most of my photos were either unflattering or might not be shared normally (such as a colonic irrigation or visiting a GP to discuss depression) on a page like mine.'

What did her followers make of it? By the third image - documenting a trip to a clinic to discuss panic attacks - Stina noticed a dip in her followers...by around 1,000...although her number of likes actually increased.

She explains: 'I noticed that after my third picture my followers decreased, however, my likes seemed to go up on posts about health issues.

'However, images that might be deemed unattractive, including of my feet, an unkempt look and the de-fuzzing of my facial hair hardly had any likes... probably because they really weren't pleasing images for the eye!'

Stina says she also noticed that many of the comments now came from women, whereas it has usually been men who leave notes on her images.

Filter on! A photo that purports to show Stina looking full after a large meal, left, still has an air of glamour, while Stina and her boyfriend, Chris, 31, make fancy dress look like something to aspire to

Previously Stina's photos, including this bikini shot from a holiday, had sparked reactions from men but her new posts attracted more attention from her female followers who could relate to the more honest images

Her friends too, were shocked at the new Stina: 'I had a few friends message me to ask if I was okay and why I was sharing far too much on social media.

'They're used to seeing the real side to me but I think they were shocked to see that I was sharing my ugly runner's feet rather than my usual modelling shots!'

'One friend, Roya, commented on my feet photo saying that my feet looked "gross." However, a guy also said that his girlfriend had the same problem whilst marathon training.

'For my de-fuzz image, I had a girl admit that she too removes unwanted hair on a Monday.

'I felt like by the end of the experiment, it was mainly girls who commented on the more 'honest' images and there was a definite pattern: people could relate to my more realistic photos.'

So, will Stina, who is writing a book about female empowerment, continue to post no filter images?

Earlier this month, 19-year-old model, Essena O'Neil, from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, sensationally quit social media because she said it promotes a 'dishonest and contrived' sense of beauty

In a teary 17-minute long video posted to her website, Ms O'Neill candidly explained why she abandoned her 'celebrity' social media status and states that without her online income she is no longer able to support herself

She describes the experience as 'weird' but also a bit of a relief, saying: 'I was secretly pleased to not worry about "perfecting" my selfie. I'm not very good at taking selfies, so to take an ugly photo felt far more empowering than sharing a glam photo.

'I think people should share raw photos more often because it shows you don't take yourself seriously and because it is real.'

Stina isn't entirely sure whether she'll keep the more realistic shots of her life on her timeline, and likes the idea that her Instagram account might inspire people, and also help shed light on more important issues.

'I think people want to follow those with glamorous lives because sometimes we all need a bit of inspiration,' she says.

'I loved sharing my doctor's visit image because I think it's important for people to talk openly about the subject of depression.