Makeup tips

By New Jersey Photographer John Case


To look your best - before your session get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, avoid alcohol, coffee, and sunburn!




Hair: Wear a style you are comfortable with, avoiding new cuts or styles. Avoid too long bangs that get in your eyes or cause shadows on your face. Women with long hair should bring clips, bands, etc. to put their hair up or back for a quick style change and a different look. Bring your brush or comb, hair spray, gel, etc. Do use hair products such as gel, mousse and hair spray to add body and control to the hair. Totally clean hair is often limp and lifeless, falling in the face and eyes. A bit of hair spray also helps to smooth stray hairs that can become prominent due to the studio light or sun light.



Makeup: Men and women should use cover up to minimize blemishes, and powder is essential to eliminate shine, which will reduce retouching on your images. Makeup for women should be natural and fresh, and some is better than none to even out skin tone, cover under eye circles and blemishes, and emphasize eyes and lips. Apply foundation with a clean sponge applicator for an even skin tone. Makeup should be as you usually wear it in the evening when going out for a formal occasion. This means more than during the day, more contrast and especially more powder. A matte look is very important for fine skin tone and appearance in a portrait. Blend all makeup well to avoid streaks and lines. Bring your makeup with you for touch-ups during your session.



Eyes: The eyes should be emphasized as they are the focal point of the portrait. Use neutral eye colors, such as grays and browns. Avoid pastel shades and frosted shadows. Define the eyes by applying a smoky eyeliner all around the eyes. Keep it light though! Apply black or dark brown mascara to lashes. Blondes especially need to be careful not to overdo black eyeliner and mascara as it can look quite unnatural with lighter hair color. Tweeze stray eyebrows and brush them into place with an eyebrow brush.



Cheeks: Highlight your cheeks with a blush that enhances your skin tone. Smile and apply blush lightly - don't overdo it and avoid frosty and fuschia pink shades.



Lips: Exfoliate and moisturize the lips prior to your session to eliminate flaky, dry lips. Lip color should be a solid neutral color in a mid tone. Frosted lip colors should be avoided because they photograph very light on film. Bring a clear lip gloss with your makeup.



Body: If bare arms or other skin areas will show in the photograph, apply a body moisturizer before the session to make your skin look more healthy and eliminate any flaky skin areas.



Nails: Fingernails should be nicely manicured for both men and women, as hands will show in the portraits. French manicures are a good choice. Make sure toenails look nice too in case we photograph barefoot poses. No chipped polish!



Ears: If your ears are pierced, wear an earring or stud, as it looks better than a bare hole on closeup images.



Men: A fresh shave looks the best, and if you have a mustache or beard, have it neatly trimmed.



Glasses: Glasses can cause glare, distortions and magnifications that cannot be fixed. We do all we can to minimize and eliminate these problems but there are limitations! To ensure that you don't have these problems, you may want to ask your optician to remove your lenses for the session, or lend you a pair of the same frames without the lenses in them. You'll only need the frames for a few hours. If both are impossible, you could bring an eyeglass repair kit and remove your lenses yourself at the studio.



Retouching: All prints include basic retouching for blemish removal and lightening dark under eye circles. Retouching to remove braces, stray hair, sunburn, facial shine, glasses glare and other extraneous objects is also available.