WHAT KIND OF MAKEUP
SHOULD I WEAR TO MY
HEADSHOT SESSION?

Key takeaway: Wear what you wear normally, just slightly more of it. Studio lighting washes out subtle makeup, so what looks done on camera is heavier than your everyday face. Matte foundation, defined brows, neutral lip. Whatever you'd wear to an important meeting works for a headshot.

I'm a photographer, not a makeup artist. But after photographing over 3,000 people in 14 years, I can tell you exactly what shows up on camera and what doesn't. Here's what I've noticed.

Why Makeup Matters for Headshots

Studio lighting is brighter and flatter than any room you've been in. It catches every shine, every uneven patch, every line you've never seen in your bathroom mirror. The same face that looked great in your car this morning can read tired and shiny under my lights.

Makeup for headshots is doing two specific jobs:

• Knocking down shine so the lights don't catch it
• Evening out skin tone so the camera reads one tone, not five

That's it. Everything else is bonus.

What I see work, from a photographer's side of the camera

Skin prep, before you arrive

Moisturize and let it absorb before makeup. Skip the dewy or glowy serums on headshot day. They look natural in your bathroom and like a forehead reflection in my studio.

Drink water the day before. Dehydrated skin shows up as fine lines and dull undertones. Wine the night before is not your friend.

Foundation

Matte beats dewy. Every time. Studio lighting amplifies any glow, and a face that looks dewy in your mirror reads shiny on camera. If you only own dewy products, set with translucent powder before you leave the house.

Get the color match right. Most foundation matches that look "close enough" in indoor light look wildly off under studio lights. If you can't test in daylight, err lighter rather than darker. Too dark always looks worse than too light on camera.

Concealer

Don't skip it under the eyes. Even if you don't think you have circles, my lights will find them. A light layer of concealer one shade lighter than your foundation handles 90% of looking tired.

Brows

If you do nothing else on your face, do your brows. Brows frame your eyes, and the eyes are the focal point of every headshot. Fill in sparse spots, brush them up and through. Most clients don't realize how much their brows have thinned over the years until they see a high-resolution headshot.

Eyes

Mascara always. Most people don't realize how much definition their lashes were giving until they're missing.

Eyeliner if you wear it normally. Skip it if you don't, because it'll look like you tried too hard.

Eyeshadow in a neutral, matte tone. Shimmer reflects studio lights and creates hot spots in the inner corners. A matte tone a shade or two darker than your skin, blended in the crease, is the cleanest look.

Cheeks

A natural blush, applied light. Studio lighting tends to wash color out, so you can go slightly heavier than everyday. Cream blush sits better on most skin than powder, but if you're oily, powder lasts longer.

Lips

Neutral and matte. A shade or two deeper than your natural lip color. Skip gloss. Skip very dark colors. Skip very bright colors. You want viewers looking at your eyes, not your mouth.

One rule: pick the lip color you'd wear to lunch with your boss, not the one you'd wear to a wedding.

Final touches before you leave

• Setting spray, especially if your session is in Phoenix summer
• Touch-up kit: powder, lipstick, blotting papers
• One quick selfie on your phone in natural light to spot anything obvious

What to avoid

Makeup for Men's Headshots

About half my clients are men, and almost none of them wear makeup. Here's the part most guides skip: makeup for men's headshots isn't really makeup. It's three minutes of prep that keeps my lights from finding things your mirror doesn't show you.

• Kill the shine. Translucent powder or blotting papers on your forehead and nose before you leave the house. It's invisible in person and it's the single biggest upgrade a man can make on camera
• Chapstick in the morning, wiped off before we shoot. A high-resolution camera finds every crack in dry lips
• Time your shave. Clean-shaven? Shave that morning, because five o'clock shadow arrives early under studio light. Beard? Clean up your lines the day before so your skin isn't red at the session
• Two-minute trim. Brows, nose, ears. High resolution is honest

Redness, razor bumps, and a blemish that showed up that morning are all easy retouching fixes, so don't stress about those. Shine and dry lips are the two things worth handling before you arrive.

Should you hire a makeup artist?

If you can swing it for an important headshot, yes. A good makeup artist who understands camera work will get you a better result than you can get yourself. Look for one who's done editorial or commercial work, not weddings, since the makeup style is different.

If you can't, follow the rules above and you'll be fine. I've shot plenty of clients who did their own makeup and the results were great. Makeup matters, but it's not the only thing carrying the headshot.

Day of the session

• Arrive with makeup done, not applying it in your car
• Bring a touch-up kit for after you walk in from the parking lot (this is Phoenix, your skin will know)
• Hydrate. Eat something. Don't skip breakfast because you're nervous. The camera reads low blood sugar as tired
• Tell me before we start if there's a specific look you're going for, or anything you don't want emphasized

The clients who book me a second time aren't the ones who looked unrecognizable in their first headshot. They're the ones who looked like themselves, polished. That's what makeup is doing for you on shoot day.

Headshot Makeup Questions I Hear Every Week

These are the headshot makeup questions that land in my inbox before almost every session.