Makeup
I generally don’t make recommendations regarding makeup, as it’s a pretty personal thing and I want each woman to look they way they want to look in the images. However, there are some helpful hints I can offer which you may want to consider. Being a guy, I’m no expert on makeup. However, as a photographer, I know what makeup mistakes are the most common. So here are some random guy photographer thoughts:
Money – when you are going to invest in professional portraiture, do not skimp on makeup. If possible, go to a top quality makeup artist. If that’s not possible, find a friend who is really good at applying makeup. At the very least treat yourself to top quality makeup which you will have available to use after your photography session. The hair of your eyelashes does not clump, thus your mascara should not clump either.
Jaws – I bet you never thought about jaw makeup, did you? One area that some women have an issue with is the way they apply base to their face but not their neck. It is very important to blend your base from your face onto your neck, especially when your base is a different tone than your natural skin color. If you have a distinct line at the base of your jaw where you qui9t applying yo9ur base, the color of your face and neck will obviously not match in your photographs. Correcting this through Photoshop retouching is beyond normal retouching practices and will often incur additional retouching expenses. Save your money, save your portraits – apply base sparingly and blend and extend it to your neck.
Eyes – Eye shadow, eye liner and to a lesser extent mascara are effective in making your eyes stand out. A common mistake is in creating excessive contrast. For instance one method some young women use to make their eye liner extend around their entire eyes. Understand that the main function of eyeliner is not to outline the form of the eyes, but to enhance the perception of thickness of the eyelashes at the base of the eyelashes where they grow out of the eyelid, whereas mascara’s purpose is to maximize their apparent length as well as thickness in the body of the eyelashes. The eyeliner should extend to the far corner of the eye, but it should not start at the near corner (nearest the nose). The exact place to start depends on the thickness of the base of your eyelashes, and should be gradually increased in density as they move toward the far corner of the eye. The goal is to make it look like more eyelashes are growing out of the eyelid through darkening that area. Generally, the top eyeliner should not start earlier than the white of the eye. That means the little pink triangle at the corner should have no eyeliner above (or below) it. The eye liner on the bottom lid of the eye should start to fade in at the near side (nose-side) of the eyelid just under the start of the iris (colored part of the eye). This will vary slightly person to person based on your unique eyelash density.
Use natural colors of eye liner which match the color of your hair (although it should be darker). Previously mascara was like Model T cars – it came in any color you wished, as long as it was black. Nowadays, black is accompanied by browns and other colors. While I defer to others far better versed in fashion than I to determine which is most appropriate by modern standards, I would stress restraint in how much eye liner you apply.
I will add other makeup hints as time goes by… Check back soon!
