Headshot Hair & Make-Up Tips.
A light and natural make-up style leads to the best headshots
There are 3 approaches that most of my clients adopt when it comes to getting their hair and make-up done for their Linked in or Headshot session.
Do it yourself
Get hair and make-up done professionally prior to seeing me
Get the service done by a professional recommended by our studio
Actually theres a fourth;
4. Men (no, we can’t just sort it all out in Photoshop guys!)
To be honest, any of these options can be fine but there are a few things to bear in mind. The key is to get a natural look, too much make-up can quickly take over a headshot. Less is often more but there are a few tips that will stand you in good stead.
1, Prior to your shoot
A few days before your shoot, I always advise getting into a pre shoot regimen, the first, second, and third part of this regimen, is moisturise, moisturise, moisturise! That's right, even you men who don't usually moisturise. The fourth part of the regimen is drink plenty of water. The whole reason for this regimen is that hydrated skin looks great on camera. The fifth part; avoid having a big night the day before your shoot, or the morning of!
2, Using your own MUA (Makeup Artist).
If you decide to use a makeup artist that isn't associated with the photographer, that's absolutely fine, but don't just use any makeup artist. When researching, ask if they have experience in on-camera makeup, specifically for photography. MUAs are paid to apply makeup, and they LOVE to apply makeup, lots of it. A MUA with no on-camera experience will most likely put too much makeup on you. Not because they're bad at their job, but MUAs with on camera experience will know that we need it lighter than usual so it doesn't look piled on in your images. We specifically want to avoid a heavy base and too much eye makeup.
3, Skin.
Now I know there's a lot to consider with skin types when it comes to foundation. I always suggest using a liquid foundation whenever possible for headshots. This isn't a strict rule. I know some people use powder for a manner of different reasons. The main reason I suggest liquid foundation, is because as with Tip 1, hydrated skin looks amazing on camera. I find that powder foundation sometimes tends to make the skin look dry, also it can appear caked on a little easier due to the residue it can sometimes leave behind. Also, if you have freckles, please try not to hide them under makeup. Your freckles look cool!
The main objective when applying makeup to your face is to even out skin tone. It doesn't have to be perfect, we've all got imperfections, and photoshop can do play a very good and subtle role in completing the job for us.
4, Brows.
They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Some of us are blessed in the brow department, some of us are not. It is what it is. My advice with brows, juice them up if they need juicing up. Meaning lightly fill them in, don't go overboard.
5, Lips
With lips, there's not a whole lot you can do. There is however a few things you shouldn't do.
Let's start with The Do's; Light gloss for women, light lip balm for men.
The don'ts; Lip liner is unnecessary, it will stand out a mile and take away from the natural look we're putting all of this effort in for. And don’t try to make the lips look bigger by applying lip gloss outside of the lips. The camera picks this up straight away and its a pain to retouch in photoshop.
6, Eyes
Last but certainly not least is the eyes. These are the most important part of any portrait to me and I’ll do what I can to make them the star of the show. They’re really important. And so we don't want to take away from their influence on the overall image by caking them in makeup. I always advise light eye makeup. A nice separation of the lashes, no fake lashes if at all possible. Fake lashes do tend to clump together after a while, and be longer than is humanly normal, but good ones can look natural. If you use eye shadow, I recommend nude colours that match your skin tone very closely.
7, The Hair
Again we need to keep things simple here. My main tip would be to go with something that you know and are comfortable with. Now is not the time to experiment with something new. Normally having clean well groomed hair will look great in a photo.
As a photographer its part of my job to spot when hair is out of place, sticking up or sprawled over your shoulders and we’ll fix what we can there or then.
Up or down? - Both can look great, having a variety of shots with hair down or in a ponytail can give you more options.
And for the men - this all applies to you too. Wash it, style it and trim that beard!
I hope you found this useful. Do get in touch with us here at Corporate Imagery to see how we can help you create the perfect headshot and LinkedIn profile picture.