01 May How to do your own makeup for Photoshoots – HEADSHOT EDITION by Sarah Hoyle

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this blog post on how to prepare your skin for a headshot photoshoot.

My name is Sarah Hoyle, and I’m a Makeup Artist who started my career as a Beauty Therapist specialising in advanced skincare treatments in 2001. I always had a passion for Makeup Artistry since I can remember. I saw an ad in the back of a Vogue magazine when I was 17 for a makeup course in London, so with a dream of travelling away from New Zealand where I grew up and working in film and television, Greasepaint Makeup School in London was something I had my eyes on! I decided to initially learn about Skincare, as a good foundation to Makeup, and completed my C.I.B.T.A.C Diploma at The Beauty Therapy College of New Zealand before furthering my education by starting my training in Makeup Artistry in the U.K

That’s enough about me, let’s get to the good stuff!

To understand the principles of a beautiful, natural looking makeup you need to take a look at some inspiration – a google search using key words will reveal a plethora of images to assist you in defining your look. You tube is also a great resource for ideas and self-educating on the topic. Remember to take into account what the images will be used for. In this case, I will give you some advice about applying your own makeup for actors headshot photographs. Typically a photographer will take several detailed photos for pictures to be presented in colour, and black and white with complete focus on the expression, features, and individuality of the person. For actors headshots your makeup must not hide features, but enhance and reveal the true shape and bone structure of your face. What you might consider to be unusual features must be embraced, as talent scouts could be searching for that exact unique look to represent a character.

SKIN PREPARATION

Good looking makeup is never achieved without well prepared skin. If you use regular skincare that’s great! If you don’t, a little bit of preparation is all you need. Here’s a few of my quick tips to get your skin soft and glowing for the perfect makeup application. Exfoliate and apply a face and eye mask the day before your shoot (try not to do this a week before as you may find any impurities under the skin could lead to delayed breakouts near the time of your photoshoot, and nobody wants a surprise spot to try and conceal on the day!). If you do break out, don’t stress, this can be removed with editing. Eye masks are a god send for smoothing and hydrating an area which can tend to be problematic with creasing under makeup when dry. If you don’t hydrate your eye area, it could increase an appearance of ageing skin in the photos.

Makeup must look natural, but this doesn’t mean it has to be applied in a ‘light’ application. It is better to use a medium to heavy coverage makeup, as long as it’s even, and blended nicely around the jawline and neck. I use airbrush foundation when applying it professionally, this gives a flawless finish that feels comfortable and light for people to wear for photoshoots, especially shoots that could go on for several hours. This makeup can also be applied with a foundation brush, and has a beautiful finish that rarely needs setting powders, and lasts well on all skin types including oily. You can find out more and purchase this makeup from www.airbasemakeup.com

Apply a medium weight moisturiser for normal to dry skin, and a light hydrating moisturiser for oily skin. Note; if your skin is very oily you may decide not to moisturise to reduce shine on your complexion. A good foundation should also control oiliness for these skin types. Apply an eye cream, and a makeup primer if you have one. I can highly recommend the Tom Ford illuminating Primer, or the Guerlain L’Or Radiance Pure Gold Makeup Base Primer for a dewy healthy ‘glow’ from within look. I often use these products for headshot photoshoot’s and the results are always beautiful. They are at the top end of the price range, but well worth the investment. They create just the right amount of glow underneath a matt finish foundation. One last tip – do not wear any products with SPF in them. The will cause ‘ flash back ‘ which is a term we use in the Makeup industry that explains the way the light bounces off the face from a camera flash. SPF causes this to happen, and can leave a whiter appearance in the photograph to the face that is often undesirable, and may need adjusting post editing to look natural again. Give your creams 5 minutes to dry and absorb into your skin before applying your foundation.

EYES

Tidy your brows – tweeze or have them waxed a few days before your shoot. Use an eyebrow pencil to fill them in to accentuate and define the shape. You may also want to consider having them tinted the week before. Note: Tinting can take a week to fade down and look natural, don’t risk having them done too close to your shoot day. Eyebrows frame the face, so any time you take to prepare them you will be grateful for with the results. Use a darker mascara than usual, black is always best for photoshoots to define the eyes, unless you are very fair haired then opt for a dark brown mascara.

Professionally, as a Makeup artist, we start by applying the eye makeup first, but there’s no hard and fast rules, you do what feels comfortable for you. Applying the eye makeup first means if you get any ‘fallout’ from eyeshadow ( dropping from the brush under your eyes ) you can clean that away, and if you touch the side of your face ( leaning your hand on your cheek while drawing liner on ) there’s no risk of smudging your foundation as it hasn’t been applied yet. Keep to a natural palette of eye colours. Bear in mind you need to look fresh faced with a clean, true representation of yourself. You don’t want to be hiding your features under a deep smoky shadow. Heavy coloured eyeshadows can sometimes be ageing aswel. Strip or individual false eye lashes are great, and will look natural in the photos if they are a medium length.

MAKEUP – FOUNDATION

The key to creating a flawless looking base is to blend your foundation well, working into areas evenly and down the neckline so you don’t have any ‘tide’ marks along the chin and jawline. Don’t worry if you go a little heavier with it, photographic makeup does tend to be heavier than your everyday makeup, it won’t look heavy in the photos if you do so. Make sure the colour matches your skin tone and the rest of your body. The photos can be adjusted in tone during post editing if you want a warmer look to your complexion. A medium or matt finish makeup is ideal for these headshots, do not use a ‘dewy’ or ‘sheer’ look foundation, they do not provide enough coverage and will make the skin look oily or shiny. Use a good quality under eye concealer. I can recommend the NARS ‘radiant creamy concealer’ or the NARS ‘soft matte complete concealer’ also, the Giorgio Armani ‘power fabric’ concealer is another classic concealer I swear by. And lastly the MAC ‘pro longwear’ concealer has been another product I have kept stock of in my makeup kit since I started working on photoshoots. If you can, its best to go to a department store to get colour matched correctly for eye concealers. Always go a shade lighter than your skin for under eye concealer. It will lift and brighten the area.

“TWINKLES ENHANCE THE WRINKLES”

On this occasion, all of you who love sparkly skin highlighters are going to have to put them aside I’m afraid. We tend to keep the makeup very clean and simple, not to mention too many highlighters can again cause the skin to look shiny, and sparkly powders can accentuate fine lines and wrinkles, and none of us want that! As I recommended earlier, a good quality liquid primer can offer you that healthy glow under a medium / matt finish foundation without causing too much shine on the photographs.

BLUSHER

Pick a colour that is one shade brighter / or deeper than your best look in person. Camera’s and the effect of the flash will draw out colour from your cheeks, so you need to ‘amp it up’ a bit! Go a little heavier with the application, lightly buffing in circles to the apples of your cheeks, adding layers slowly until you are happy with the look. Remember buff the layers in, don’t get too much on your brush as its difficult to remove it once it’s on! If you do apply too much, put face powder over the area to diffuse the blush colour down. On set the photographer will do a ‘test shot’ when we are ready to start the shoot. They will position the person and organise the correct amount of lighting equipment over them, and adjust levels on the camera settings. This is a point where as a makeup artist we can take a look at the test shot, and determine if a little blusher may need adding. Sometimes the photographer will show you on the camera screen and ask if you are happy with the finished effect. As a tip, bring your blusher with you if you want to touch it up.

SETTING POWDER / LOOSE POWDER

Don’t be scared of powder on a photoshoot! It will be your new best friend for the day. This can be touched up over the foundation to create a matt finish. Make sure you pack it in your bag with a large loose brush to apply it softly, and touch up during the shoot if you need to. Think of your loose power / setting powder as a diffuser effect. It’s going to blur and soften the look of open pores and uneven skin textures, and matt down shine on the t-zone. For those of you with dry skin go easy on the powder, as you can get a very dull, cakey look to your skin if too much powder has been applied. Look for a finely milled powder from a good quality brand such as Laura Mercier.

I hope you have enjoyed reading these tips. I wish you all the best if you are planning for a photoshoot! If you would like to read more about skincare, and makeup products I recommend, my blog site is launching very soon www.misshoyle.com and you can also connect with me to watch my short tutorials and beauty reviews on my Instagram page @miss_hoyle.

If you would like to consider having your makeup done professionally, I do offer a service at the Focus and Shoot photography studio. Please email me on velvetbeautycompany@gmail.com for more information.