The other day I put some makeup on and I liked the look of it. It was shiny and luminous golden and bronzy just like I like it. So I took a selfie to capture it and to my horror looked absolutely hideous. And it wasn’t just “that’s a bad angle” hideous. But more like that is an alien science experiment gone wrong hideous. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t ugly. I thought I looked like an ogre and a troll had a baby. I looked like melting wax. The proof was right there in the picture. It told the story loud clear and clear. That this here is one crazy looking creature of a woman. It was not a good day. I am not one to take a lot of selfies. So it had me thinking that I was suddenly aging and aging badly. I asked myself if this is really what I look like. If I look like this with makeup on, what the hell do I look like without it? And why hasn’t anyone told me the truth yet? They are all just nice enough to let me walk around all day looking like I got run over.

Here’s the thing. I like illuminating makeup. I used to only wear powder foundation and concealer. Then I tried out a liquid foundation and liquid highlighters and never looked back. I started to prefer makeup that is more luminous. But I am just now learning that dewy makeup doesn’t like to be photographed. It always looks fine in the mirror but to a camera it looks like you’re distorted because the camera will catch every bit of texture in your skin and every single flaw.

The Moment of Discovery

Later on, I washed my makeup off and I was looking in the mirror. And I said to myself, “I have to see what I look like with no makeup on so I can know the truth of this situation.” I took a few selfies and to my surprise, even with my hyperpigmentation, I looked better than I did with makeup on. I looked fine and most importantly I looked human again. It was a relief to find out that it wasn’t my face nor that I was suddenly aging like milk. The fault was in the finish.

Experimenting with Powder: What worked

The next day I remembered I had a Rimmel translucent pressed powder that I hadn’t used in a long time.

I put on a layer of translucent powder and blended it out with the e.l.f. flat top powder brush.

Then I put Mac Gold deposit on top of it add the glowy effect back to my face. I put it on the tops of my cheekbones, my forehead, down the bridge of my nose and on my chin.

It worked out well. I wasn’t a shiny mess and I still had a glow finish. I’m not going to show you a before and after. I wouldn’t want you to die of laughter. If you saw these pictures I guarantee you would. And the after is much better, not perfect, but who is anyway? We are all beautifully flawed humans. I’ll just keep my beautiful flaws unpublished for now.

What I Learned

1. This whole experience led me to google how to apply makeup for photos. And I learned that you need powders and a matte finish for your makeup to look nice in photos. There is also a difference between setting powder and finishing powder.

• Setting powder is designed to prolong the wear of your foundation.
• Finishing powder is makeup that adds a final touch. It smooths imperfections and creates a flawless finish.

The Rimmel powder is a setting powder. But it still did what I needed it to do which is to take out the shine.

2. Just because I’m wearing a powder doesn’t mean I have to be matte and dry looking. You can also put on a moisturizer before you even put on any makeup. And that provides a good foundation for makeup application.

3. Different makeup finishes are picked up differently in photos. A matte finish is better for pictures than dewy. When photographed, luminous products highlight every pimple you try to hide. And I learned that from this experience . So there was makeup blogging lesson in there too.

https://wendyrowe.com/makeup/photo_ready_makeup Here is a link to one of the articles I read shown above.

4. I wasn’t getting more hideous by the second.

5. I didn’t need to be more beautiful. I just needed a better understanding of makeup products and how they photograph. And that was something I’d never even thought of before. Less makeup or different makeup and a better angle shows more truth and beauty than a full face. And I never thought I’d be back to using face powders but here I am.

And lastly, always remember that pictures can’t fully capture your beauty. They are only a snapshot of all that you are.