hints and tips : hair and makeup

What looks good in person is unfortunately not always what looks best in pictures. A few careful decisions can make the difference between a good portrait and a great one!

If you are getting a facial, your eyebrows waxed, or your hair cut or colored, do it at least two weeks before your photo session or wedding to avoid any unhappy surprises and give you time to minimize the damage should anything go wrong. I would recommend against making a drastic change to your hair or makeup - pictures are best when they capture you as you are used to appearing. Of course, you'll be a little more dramatic, but try to keep it true to you. For instance, if you're a low maintenance girl whose makeup collection is limited to Chapstick, you might not want to go with thick, black, winged eyeliner on the big day. You want to be able to recognize yourself! If you do decide to try a new hair or makeup style, give it a trial run beforehand as well so you have time to get used to it and so you can make sure you really like it.

Keep makeup simple and use a matte powder to avoid shine. Because makeup gets darker in photos, avoid very dark colors, especially in lip liner (unless you have darker skin). Bring your makeup with you for touch-ups between pictures to keep it fresh. Always put on a touch of lip gloss – that’s the one place you DO want shine! And don’t forget to make sure your makeup is waterproof (this goes triple for you brides!). Perhaps most importantly, stay away from sparkly or glittery makeup (slightly iridescent is fine). In photos, light will reflect off of individual pieces of sparkle and show up as white dots in the photos. It might look good in person, but it doesn’t work well for photographs.

What about tanning? I admit it, I love tanning. While a little color on your skin can be a good thing, be wary of getting too much color. Whether you fake bake or spray tan, it's VERY easy (and very tempting) to get too dark! And believe me - you want to recognize yourself in the pictures! The camera also picks up orange and yellow tones in skin, so though you may look beautifully bronzed in person, to the camera you may look a little George Hamilton. And no one wants that! :) This is especially true if the others in your wedding party - especially your husband - aren't as sun-kissed. So tan if you will, but please - keep it to a minimum!

If, worst case scenario, you wake up with a giant pimple the morning of your shoot, fight the urge to pop it! The red mark it will leave is more noticeable and harder to fix than the bump. If the blemish is already red or you couldn’t resist popping, dab Visine Eye Drops on it to help remove the redness, then cover it up with light makeup (even you gentleman can do this!).

Carry oil blotting sheets (found at all drugstores) with you during the shoot, especially if you tend to have oily or sweaty skin. This will help you look great the entire day and well into the night, even after your makeup has worn off.