For what it's worth, mental illness can so screw with your perception of yourself and your understanding of how others perceive you. During my late teens/ earlier 20s I was all but having to fight women off with a stick. One of them I literally had to fight off when she got too handsy. Beautiful girls practically throwing themselves at me, girls that in my eyes were way out of my league in every way. But I have what my last therapist called "avoidant personality disorder" so my brain is literally incapable of believing good things about myself. I will only ever believe that I am ugly no matter what happens unfortunately. I think a lot of incel guys probably experience feelings of low self worth so their handsomeness or lack thereof doesn't change how they perceive themselves like one might expect it.