May 2015 Favourites | Makeup, Tools & Skincare
Makeup for Photography | Blogmas Day #10
With the festive season well and truly underway, it’s likely that many of you will be invited to more events than usual. Whether they’re nights out, christmas parties, or general reunions, you will probably encounter some sort of camera, and when you put so much effort into your makeup when getting ready, you want to make sure you’re camera ready. I’ll admit I’m not often photographed, but after many club nights and their ‘professional’ photos, I’ve picked up a few key tips that I thought I would share with you…
Avoid SPF
It’s a well-known fact in the beauty world that the ingredients that make up sun protection (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide to be exact) can cause flashback in photography. Have you ever looked back at pictures of yourself and though that your face looked extremely pale and ghostly compared to your face? This could be the reason. You need to check all products you use – moisturiser, primer, foundation and powder should ideally be sans-SPF. Having said this, some products with SPF that I own photograph beautifully (L’Oreal True Match being one of those), but if you’ve never tested them, it’s safer to err on the side of caution. My favourite foundation for photography is by far the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – I am wearing it in both the pictures above, and – if I do say so myself – I think it captures the light beautifully, leaving my skin looking glowy and healthy.
Contour, Contour, Contour
Features can definitely get lost in photos, so I definitely make sure to bring back colour and definition to my face. I am planning on doing a post all on contouring soon, but to keep things short and simple, I use Mac Harmony Blush with a Sigma F35 Tapered Highlighter Brush to sculpt out my cheekbones and temples. I also find it important to bring back some warmth and colour to my skin, so to the high points of my face (i.e. where the sun would naturally hit) I apply bronzer – usually Nars Bronzing Powder in Laguna. I also always apply blush, as you can sometimes look a little washed out and lost in photos. All these steps are done with a much heavier hand than I would ever do in the daytime in order for them to even show up in pictures. This also means you have to spend a little longer blending everything out, and I like to just go back over everything with the brush I used for my foundation.
Define those Eyes
You don’t necessarily need to be the master of smokey eyes to look great in pictures. I think the most important element of your eye makeup is defining the upper lash line. I personally love to line my eyes with a gel liner – something like the Mac Blacktrack Fluidline. It is equally important to tight line – this is lining the inside of the eye. I find this a little unflattering on the lower waterline, but doing it on the upper really helps to darken the lash line and create drama. Lashes are also a must for me; they make your eyes stand out and really pop in photos. My ultimate favourites for my eye shade are the Ardell Demi Wispies. My final tip is to give some love to your eyebrows. I tend to go in much heaver with my brow pencil, my favourite being the Anastasia Beverley Hills Brow Wiz in Taupe. As you can see from the pictures I still don’t go over the top, but they are lot more defined than I would go for an everyday look.
Hopefully this post has been somewhat useful or interesting and I hope that you can use some of these tips when you’re next being photographed! I am by no means claiming to be an expert, and I am completely self taught. Have you got any tips for makeup for photography?
–RachelElizabeth
Top 5 Luxury Products | Blogmas Day #6
It’s that time of year when you can subtly ask your loved ones for those products that you really can’t justify spending your hard-earned cash on. Or maybe you do want to part with your cash but you So today, I wanted to bring to you my favourite luxury products, and ones I think that are really worth it…
We’ll begin with one that I have continually praised – the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer (full review here). This stuff is magic. If you have oily skin or you have trouble with your foundation’s longevity in general, then you will love this. This was such a game-changer in my makeup routine that this is my third bottle, and as you can see from the picture, it is on its last legs. When I feel a bit guilty about how much it costs and how quickly I go through it, it is also the perfect product for special occasions. The other base product that had to be mentioned was the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (I have also reviewed this in full here). This is the closest to perfect foundation that I have found. It has a natural finish – somewhere in the middle of matte and dewy. It lasts incredibly on me (especially when paired with the aforementioned primer), and best of all, looks stunning in photographs. This is another product I save for special occasions, but if I could afford to, I would wear this on an everyday basis.
Moving on to colour products, the first I will mention is the Nars Bronzing Powder in Laguna which I dedicated a whole post to recently here. Nars products aren’t quite as expensive as the other brands I’ve mentioned, but it is definitely still luxury. For my complexion, this is the perfect shade to warm up the skin, and the texture and longevity are both incredible. For eyes, the Charlotte Tilbury Colour-Coded Eye Shadow Palette in Dolce Vita is the ultimate in luxury. I definitely plan on writing a whole post on this soon, as it is so stunningly pigmented and perfect for this time of year. She has several different quads if these warm tones aren’t your thing, and they are all beautiful. The final product I will mention are the Tom Ford Lipsticks. I have a few, but the one photographed is Wild Ginger (full post here) which is an extremely vibrant orangey-red. The formulation of these are so pigmented and creamy, and are just a pleasure to apply and wear.
These may not be something that you can easily go out and purchase on a whim, but if you’re in the market to splurge or want to treat someone with something very special, then these would be what I recommend. What are your favourite luxury products?
–RachelElizabeth
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation | Review
Having oily skin, I used to only ever use matte foundations and steered clear of any that promised anything along the lines of a ‘luminous’ or ‘dewy’ finish, especially when going out or being photographed. If it wasn’t for the hype of Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (£32 here) and everyone claiming it was THE best foundation for photography I would have never gone within a mile of it.
The Claims:
Capture the glow of perfect looking skin with Luminous silk foundation, an oil-free hydrating fluid with exclusive Micro-fil™ technology. Its lightweight and silky texture glides on seamlessly for an all-day, buildable coverage.
The Verdict:
What is so great about this foundation is the sheer versatility of it. With one pump and applied with fingers it has a sheer to medium coverage, perfect for daily wear. It definitely is buildable and for a night out or for a day I need a little extra help, I use a brush such as the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush (£9.99 here) and apply thin layers until I reach my desired coverage. The finish is hard to describe – it is not entirely matte or dewy, it is somewhere in between. It looks very natural on the skin and it never looks cakey no matter how much you apply. It also feels very light on the skin – it isn’t like some full coverage foundations that feel like a mask on your face.
But does it live up to the expectations I had for it when I bought it? The answer is most definitely yes. It looks amazing in photographs (thanks to the absence of SPF), I have never had that dreaded white-cast, even with that horrific iPhone flash! The longevity is sensational for a non-matte foundation, I find that it holds up just as well as any matte formula I have tried, and best of all it stays looking fresh and natural for hours, even with my oily skin. The packaging is very sleek and luxurious (they have since updated it from the bottle that I have, with Giorgio Armani in black writing on the bottle and the fashion house logo in silver – even more glamorous!) and the pump doesn’t ever dispense too much product.
So there is my ode to Luminous Silk. This is definitely holy grail status for me despite the price tag. I would definitely recommend this to everyone and with a whopping 21 shades, a colour match is definitely on the cards. The question is, would you splurge?
-RachelElizabeth