I definitely agree that the lips look worse across the board now. I also made a couple of posts, one about the bioluminiscent elezen ears and about face 4 midlander (which shows a lot of the stuff mentioned here plus heavier makeup for no reason).
The posts, in case OP wants to add them to the list (both have screenshots):

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...dlander-face-4
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6437053

I don't think making the graphical update optional is realistic, but there are definitely areas that need more work, specially the lips, the skin and hair textures and the "aliveness" of the eyes.