CBS -- It should be a simple question to answer, “What do you see when you look in the mirror?” The answer could be different at the store and at home.
Ana Valentin trusts her bedroom mirror a whole lot more than any she "faces" in a store's dressing room.
“You get in there and it's like you look wider – or maybe even smaller than you are. And it's like, what is happening? “
What is happening is a mirror manipulation of sorts.
Experts like shopping scientist Paco Underhill call them "skinny mirrors".
"You can subtly adjust a mirror to make you look better. If you are a size 10, to make you look like a size 8. It's a matter of the curvature of the glass."
He says tilting is designed to alter our reflection and perception.
“Tilting is one of the tools people use to make sure you look as good as you possibly can."
Ana says her contradicting fitting room figures are frustrating.
"So often I have this battle face on to go into the dressing room to make sure that I'm not talking down to myself because of the lighting or the mirror or whatever it is."
To get a true reflection, she tries new clothes on at home and then returns what she doesn't want.