Instagram Introduces Face Filters Designed by Ariana Grande and More

It's no secret that celebrities love a good filter — there was a time not too long ago when you couldn't open Snapchat without seeing a social media star trying on those puppy ears for size. And now, Instagram is putting its filter-designing tools in the hands of those celebs. On Tuesday, the photo-sharing app is officially rolling out its first set of influencer-designed face filters for Stories, with many more to come in the near future, according to a press release.

This first batch of custom filters were designed by Ariana Grande, Liza Koshy, Baby Ariel, BuzzFeed, and the NBA. Ari's, for example, refracts your face into seven smaller versions, all cast in a dreamy, vintage filter; Liza's gives you haphazardly painted-on eyebrows and a mustache; and Baby Ariel's covers you in glowing clouds and stars. You'll be able to access each of these filters in your Instagram Stories if you follow those creators: Once in the app, simply swipe over to the camera, tap the face icon in the bottom right corner, and go wild. Even if you don't follow the filter creators, if anyone in your Stories feed uses any of the custom overlays, you'll be able to tap "Try it" in the top left corner of their Story and, yes, try it on for yourself.

That's not the only upgrade your Instagram app will be receiving on Tuesday. If you swipe over to your Explore page, you'll notice a new list at the top of personalized topic channels. These channels, which include a "For You" page and a handful of topic pages tailored to your interests, will show you new accounts and posts specifically chosen based on your own Insta-using history. But if one of those topic pages is completely wrong for you, you can press and hold the name of the channel and tap "Mute."

On top of all that, Insta users now also have the ability to video chat with up to four people at a time. Every DM thread now features a camera icon in the right corner, which can be tapped to ring your friends' phones and strike up a video chat across Android and iOS devices. While you video chat, you can minimize the camera and keep scrolling through IG — all the better to send hilarious memes to the pals you're chatting with. You can also adjust who is able to invite you to video chats in your profile settings. Happy chatting!

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