Makeup Tips for a Headshot Session

I strongly encourage women to invest in a professional makeup artist for their headshot session. You want your headshot to be natural and timeless. Your daily makeup routine may not be the right look to capture you in a close-up headshot. Plus, isn’t it nice to have an excuse to get pampered every once in awhile?

If you choose to get your makeup done by a professional, I highly recommend going with one of the local artists I’ve teamed up with. Makeup runs about $125. If hair is needed (simple curling, smoothing, etc.), there would be an additional charge. If you’re planning on going elsewhere, or doing your makeup yourself, keep it simple.

Here’s some makeup tips for your headshot session:

• Liquid foundation always looks better than powder.
• Go easy on the blush/bronzer.
• Eyebrows should be natural. Avoid harsh, penciled-in brows.
• Keep eyes looking defined but natural. Eyeliner should be soft on top and bottom, not heavy.
• Neutral color eyeshadow is usually best. No lines of demarcation or heavy smoked-out eyeshadow. You can even skip the eyeshadow.
• Use a soft, blended eyeliner. No hard-edge liquid eyeliner.
• Wear mascara and curl your lashes. No false eyelashes – unless you wear them often and know how to correctly apply them and wear them without having heavy eyelids (and appearing drowsy).
• Keep the lip color close to your natural lip color or one shade darker and glossy – nothing matte. No visible hard-edge lip liner.
• Bring in a clear/neutral gloss to keep your lips shiny and/or a hydrating lipstick in neutral colors, to even out chapped lips and unevenness.
• BLEND, BLEND, and BLEND some more!!!

If you know you want to try out a more dramatic style of makeup, bring it in and we can add a bit as we shoot… but start on the natural side!

I don’t usually like men to wear makeup in headshots. If you happen to wear a little concealer on a daily basis, feel free to wear it to your headshot. I do recommend men to wear a facial moisturizer of some kind so we don’t have any dry skin issues. If you tend to have oily skin, I have a wonderful product that we can put on you to cut the shine if need be.

Men sure shave well the morning of your session. Dark or messy 5 o’clock shadow is nearly impossible to remove when retouching, so take the time to shave well before you come. A little scruff is fine if that is your look. If you have facial hair/a full beard make sure your edges are nice and clean and looking how you would like to present yourself to the world.