Here’s My Exact Guide To Rocking Your Next Beauty Shoot

Why Do A Beauty Shoot?

You see another pretty model as you flip through a magazine, but do you ever stop to think about what goes on behind scenes? The concept of a photoshoot, (I mean beyond your wedding, or perhaps your headshot) may be associated only with cities like New York, that have bustling fashion industries and a million brands. But, that’s actually not the case. In fact, beauty and editorials are even done here in the small town of Vancouver. A stripped down, makeup focused shoot is an excellent way for artists, photographers and models to show off their skills in minimalistic setting. In today’s blog post, I’m going to give you an insiders perspective on how to rock your next beauty shoot!

Prep, Prep, Prep!

Prepping ahead of time is key. I say that as if it’s not the key for success in most things (but it is). Nevertheless, it’s especially key when the entire photoshoot is focused around getting close ups of the models face. I always start with finding inspiration for a shoot by looking on Pinterest, Instagram or by being in nature. One amazing tip I got from a speaker at IMATS, was to not just replicate a photo, but to use multiple scenes to inspire you and pull elements from each. In a world where art is accessible and ingenuity is effortful, it is important to try not to copy exactly what another artist does. I take huge inspiration from makeup artists such as, Isabelle De Vries, and photographers such as, Tamara Williams and Tina Eisen. They each have their own unique style. But, they have clearly mastered their skills and are killing it concept wise. When planning your look start natural. It is most practical to then build up more and more each set. Wiping off makeup to a more minimal look can cause patchiness with what lays underneath and takes up your teams valuable time. Prepping your kit is also important. Some of my favourite tools to have on hand for a detailed shoot like this are, baby wipes, Embroylisse moisturizer (doubles as an amazing makeup remover or as a spot exfoliator), and clean macro mascara wands (to flick off chunks of misplaced mascara or to smooth out the brows.) 

Your Focus: Skin, Brows, Feature

What is lovely about the model from this shoot, Sadé, is that her skin is already very seamless and her features are very balanced. That means this can be less of a “corrective makeup” and more of a “creative makeup.” Shooting in a studio is VERY different than natural light. In this controlled studio setting it shows every detail and leaves very little room for mistakes and heavy makeup. The secret behind a shoot like this, is to keep the skin looking like skin, to style the brows and to add a “pop” to a feature (for this shoot I chose the eyes.)

1.) Key to Flawless Skin: Clean, exfoliate and then prep the skin with a moisturizer. Next, add on a cream/liquid based illuminator (I used Mac Cosmetics Strobe Cream in Peachlite.) Next go in strategically placing the foundation where it’s necessary. I prefer Face Atelier Ultra Foundation for its dewy finish and helpful adjuster tones. For Sade’s look, I only placed it under the eyes and around the nose. I did this to keep her skin looking natural and to let her adorable freckles shine through. I topped it off with a light amount of blush, contour and highlight.

2.) Key to Styling the Brows: My favourite trend for this year in beauty is focussing on a natural, fluffy brow. Think Cara Delevingne. What I used to create this look on Sadé was Got-2-Be Glued Spiking Gel. Similarly, a lot of artists use soap. I personally don’t like the idea of whipping a bar of soap out on a client… It would get some bizarre looks. In addition, if the look requires the model to have stronger brows, I would go in with a little powder or pencil to shape the tail of the brows first, then set it with the gel. I, for one, have embraced the softer brow trend whole heartedly and am ready to say goodbye to 2016 Instagram block brow look.

3.) Key to Building That Feature: For this shoot, I chose to build up the eyes. To begin I started with almost a bear lid. All I applied was a light wash of shimmer across the lid. To intensify the look, I added lashes, some blended aqua and a pop of yellow. For the third look, I started to add some dimension with glitter and reflective specs. I also topped up the lips by adding some shimmer. This gave the lips some versatility throughout the photoshoot and made this set cohesive. Texture was added to the final set. Here you can see dollops of royal blue and yellow cream. As the shoot progressed, I went from a wearable, natural makeup look to an exceedingly creative look, where the models gorgeous face was used as an artistic canvas.

This photoshoot was such so much fun and couldn’t have been done without my fabulous creative teammates, photographer, Ella Grace Bell, retoucher Dennis Dunbar, and model, Sadé with League Model Management. Check out the shoots publication in Suba Magazine!

xoxo

Meagan