Makeup Tips for Photo Shoots

Let me start off by saying…I’m in no way, shape or form a Makeup Artist (MUA).

But from my experience with portraiture and retouching, I’ve picked up tons of tips for makeup application for a photo shoot.  My sister is a Makeup Artist so I owe a lot of this knowledge to her.  I’m also a bit addicted to makeup, so I owe it to that as well.

This might come in handy to any of you photographers out there who do their own retouching.  It will save you so much time, trust me!

I know a lot of you, like me are not at a place where you can hire a MUA  to do your makeup for a regular photo shoot.  You’re already investing in photography that is probably more costly then you’d prefer, and even though you’d love to be able to be pampered and have a makeup artist at your shoot to make you look more glamorous, lets be logical, you won’t do it.  In most photo shoots, photographers use flash.  Flash gives artificial, intense, instant light and that is where your makeup can fade out or show up weird.   So here are a few tips to make your makeup application more light (flash) friendly.

This ended up being a pretty long post so I’ve divided it into sections to help you out.

Foundations
Avoid foundations that have SPF and light reflecting ingredients for a photo shoot.   When the flash goes off you might end up with an icky pale/ash color on your skin due to the light (aka flash) reflecting off of your foundation.

When I apply makeup, I love to use my fingertips. Most MUAs will tell you it’s best to apply foundation using your clean fingertips because it will help warm and soften the product and it will go on better.  But if you’re putting on makeup for a photo shoot, DO NOT USE YOUR FINGERTIPS! Fingertips can show up in the picture when you’re not too careful.

BLEND, BLEND, BLEND! Using a brush, blend your foundation onto your skin. When you think you’re done blending…blend some more.  This will help you to apply the foundation evenly.

Concealer
It’s a staple that’s been said many times for many years that concealer should be one or two shades lighter than your skin tone. I disagree.  Most MUAs will disagree with me too.  But I know what I see when I take my own portrait and I know that when I take a picture with a concealer one or two shades lighter then my own skin the light (aka Flash) catches that and instead of there being emphasis on my eyes because of dark shadows, there’s now emphasis because it’s way lighter then the rest of my skintone. I use a concealer the same color as my skin with pink or peach undertones.  I will usually apply concealer a bit lower then right underneath my bottom lashes and use a damp (not soaking wet) sponge makeup wedge and tap it up toward my bottom lash line.  This not only helps in blending it onto my skin well but I dont have those harsh build up under my eye wrinkles that makes your makeup look cakey.  Using this technique, you can build up until you get the right tone that is for you.

Powder
Don’t over do it with powder.  The reason you would put on powder after you put on foundation and concealer is because it seals in the color.  The only place you truly need powder is the center of your face.  Center of your forehead, nose, cupids bow and chin.   You don’t want to look shiny there because it will make you look sweaty.

Eyeshadow
It is very important to use matte shadows on the crease.  The reason matte shadows work best on the crease is because you’re trying to create more definition, like when you contour your face you’re contouring your eyes to give it more definition.  If you’re using frosty shadows or glittery shadows, glitter reflects light so how can you create shadow when you have light there?  If in the shoot a flash is being used, shimmery eye shadows might fade out.  If you want your makeup to show in the shoot, go for matte because the color payoff will be way better.

Now this of course depends on the look you’re going for.  If you want to use something that is light and frosty, it’s best to use shimmery eyeshadows and not glittery.  Shimmery is shiny, frosty.  Glitter is big and chunky.  That’s how you can tell the difference.

When you wear eyeshadows, remember to BLEND, BLEND, BLEND. Blending is the secret to awesome makeup application.

Blush
I think blush is a must.  It helps warm up your face and gives you a healthy glow when applied properly.  If you don’t know how to apply blush, I’d highly recommend you search on youtube.com for a tutorial.  There are tons.  My rule of thumb is, use a fan brush.  Here’s a great, affordable fan brush that I love from coastalscents.com.   The thing about blush is that if you don’t know how to apply it, it’s going to go on heavy or not enough.  The fan brush to me is fail proof. There’s no way you can put too much on.

Lipstick/Lip gloss
Avoid using a low pigmented lipstick or lip gloss because when you take a picture it won’t be captured it correctly, the color will go right through and it will look like you have nothing on (unless you’re going for that look).

It’s useful to use a lip pencil because it will help your lip product from bleeding.  If you want to make sure you don’t bleed at all, only wear lipstick.  Lip gloss tends to bleed and you might want to apply it at the photo shoot to prevent it from bleeding right away.

Contouring
Contouring in makeup terms means to add definition or to shape.  To give you a more chiseled, thinner look, there are certain areas you can contour to help.  Your cheekbones, sides of your nose and under your jawline.  You would be amazed how many pounds you can shed off your face when using the right contour method.  Famous people contour all the time.  Take J Lo for example.  Have you ever noticed she has a huge nose?  Well she does, but you probably don’t see it because she contours the sides of her nose to hide her big nose.  Having trouble with that double chin of yours always coming out in photos.  Contour the bottom of your jaw and it won’t be a problem anymore.  When you contour you’re hiding certain areas of your face by causing them to blend in with the shadows.  And remember, blend harsh lines with the brush  to make it look natural. BLEND, BLEND, BLEND!

Highlighting
Not a lot of people highlight, but it’s a good thing to do it for a shoot.  The places you want to highlight are right under your eyebrows on your brow bone.  The inner corner of your eyes to make your eyes pop.  Your cupids bow so that your lips look gorgeous and plumpy.  The top of your cheekbone.  The bridge of your nose.  Don’t overdo it because you don’t want to look like a disco ball.  For this, use a shimmery (not glittery) light color.  Use it lightly, don’t over do it. A little goes a long way.

Avoid the Disco-Ball Effect
If you end up using shiny products like a shiny highlighter or bronzer, you’re going to look like a disco ball.  I can not tell you how much I detest retouching glittery makeup on people.  When they wear it on their lid, there’s fallout so it tends to appear all over their cheeks and I’m picking one by one, retouching them and removing them.  The flash will pick up glitter in any photo.  It will reflect in the picture and sometimes you have an amazing shot of a person and there’s a huge bright spec of glitter on their face that just jumps out.

I’m going to write another entry on how to contour and highlight for a shoot to make certain areas on your face appear thinner.  I think that’s the hardest thing to understand when applying makeup.

One last tip. Don’t overdo your makeup.  Most people will over do your makeup so it will “last” for a shoot, and you end up not looking like “yourself” in the pictures.

I hope some of you find this helpful.  I know it seems like a lot, but it really does come in handy.  If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll be sure to answer your question as thoroughly as possible.