Hi Amiga, you want to be a makeup artist, you have been practicing and you have been building your kit.
It is time you learn all you need to know about foundation, the base of makeup.
With the foundation being the most important part of makeup, I will tell you everything you need to know, foundation application for Photo, TV, Video, what products, and more.
This post is about Foundation application for Makeup Artists!
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In this post, I will tell you everything you need to know about makeup foundation as a professional makeup artist. Watch the video I included of Angie Di Battista about Professional Makeup Foundation application for Makeup Artists.
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Foundation for Makeup Artists
Before you start applying foundation on someone you need to know the setting of lights and the type of camera that is going to be used.
A foundation for a photo camera is totally different than a foundation for a TV broadcasting camera in a studio. Also, lighting is a big factor in what kind of foundation you need to apply.
For example, if a journalist/TV presenter is filming an item outside, there is no makeup artist needed because they are filming in daylight, female presenters do their own makeup, males don’t even use makeup at all.
However, if this same person comes into the studio both males and females are provided with at least a foundation, obviously, females get a whole makeup.
This tells you a makeup artist is required according to the lighting situation.
In a TV studio, there is a lot of artificial light, anyone, even with flawless skin will look bad, top that with the High Definition cameras being used today and the person could actually look sick.
Everyone on TV broadcasted from a studio is provided with a foundation.
For photos, you need to know that a DSLR camera registers more detail than the human eye and you always need to ask the photographer how much light he/she is planning to use.
I always look at the light settings in a photo studio first.
Application appropriate for TV-Studio’s
As being said a lot of light is being used in TV-studio’s, so it really needs a decent amount of foundation, although I always aim to use as little product as possible.
It does need at least a medium coverage in case of normal skin condition, sheer coverage does the trick in case of flawless skin, like with children.
With mature skin, full coverage could be necessary, I do have colleagues doing full coverage as a standard for TV, it is definitely possible and technically it will look good on screen.
For example, if Nicky de Jager (Nicky Tutorials) is seen on TV, (she always does her own makeup) she looks great and we all know how much products she uses.
However it is just my personal taste to use as little product as possible, I just love a beautiful sheer skin foundation where you can still see the pores whenever this is possible on the skin, and technically with the HD camera’s, it is not necessary anymore to do a full coverage foundation.
But if you like baking you would love working on TV jobs. Also with powder being a necessity on TV.
Why is powder a necessity on TV, again because of the amount of light, all the light shining on the face reflects back, meanly the forehead and T-zone, where you do not want shine.
Also, the heat of the lamps makes the skin produce more sebum.
Although we love shine in photos, TV is motion picture, it could appear a person is nervous and it can distract from what is actually going on on-screen, like for instance with a talk show.
If you are listening to someone telling something you could get distracted from what’s being said by a forehead shining bright at you, obviously it is preferred the focus goes to the conversation.
After you provided all the people with makeup you always stay during the show to touch up the makeup, after an hour the makeup needs new powder, sometimes even sooner, depending on the skin type.
I have found that often a blot powder doesn’t even do the trick (imagine how much light we are talking about) therefore I almost always (and a lot of my colleagues do too) use Studio Fix Foundation Powder by Mac Cosmetics.
This is a foundation powder, used with a wet sponge or brush it covers like a foundation, but I use it dry on-set.
For foundation I use Waterweight Foundation by Mac Cosmetics, it is my favorite, it’s liquid, sheer to medium coverage. Foundation products I often see used on a TV-set are:
- Studio Fix Fluid Mac Cosmetic, Liquid, medium to full coverage,
- Silk Creme Foundation Laura Mercier, Liquid, medium to full coverage,
- Backstage Face&Body Dior Cosmetics, Liquid, sheer to medium coverage,
- Studio Tech Foundation Mac Cosmetics, Creme, medium to full coverage,
- Light Wonder Foundation Charlotte Tilbury, Liquid, sheer to medium coverage.
For TV, be cautious with foundations with yellow-based (NC’s from Mac), it could look off on screen, it could appear yellow/green in so much lighting.
I often see red-based foundations being used in TV studios, for Mac that is the NW range of color products.
To stay on the safe side, and believe me you don’t want to take any risks when it comes to (live) broadcasted television, stay in the red-based colors.
Lots of blush and bronzers do well on-screen too, being red-based products.
Foundation appropriate for Photography
With photography, however, everything you have just read doesn’t count, in fact, it’s the exact opposite, you use yellow-based foundation more often than red-based, not much of foundation product, and blot papers work better than a powder.
There can also be a lot of light with photography, but because the cameras are so sensitive you need to work sheer.
Especially in macro-beauty photography whenever possible, don’t even use foundation at all.
The camera sees every little thing the human eye doesn’t.
Seeing the pores is very important, luckily for you in beauty photography, they choose the model having flawless skin, in their twenty’s.
Full coverage foundation is not suited for photography, keep it as sheer as you can get, better yet only use concealer whenever possible.
Don’t use the studio fix powder, lightly blot powder the T-zone and the sides of the nose, and touch up with blot paper.
Why? Because otherwise, you will see the makeup sitting on the face, don’t go lighter or darker on the foundation, and choose a red or yellow-based foundation according to what fits the skin, swatch on the jawline.
A shine or glow on the face is preferably being a still image.
You always stay during the shoot to see everything stay as it should. For photos, I also use Waterweight by Mac Cosmetics. Other foundations I often see used for photography:
- Face&Body Mac Cosmetics, Liquid, sheer to medium coverage,
- Backstage Face&Body Dior Cosmetics, Liquid, sheer to medium coverage,
- Light Wonder Foundation Charlotte Tilbury, Liquid, sheer to medium coverage.
- Luminous Silk Foundation Giorgio Armani, Liquid, medium coverage.
Foundation for videos or movies and series, is quite similar to photo-makeup, as you can imagine there is a lot less light, often daylight, so sheer foundations if any, only when necessary.
Foundation Application for Makeup Artists
First of all, what is considered foundation? Concealer and contouring is part of your base makeup, so foundation is all about the appearance of your skin.
Although I have a lot of foundation colors in my kit, I always end up mixing to someone’s skin anyway, if you work with one product all the time, you just need one look at someone’s face, neck, and arms and you know what you should be mixing.
Every time you switch to a new product or brand you will always find yourself getting to know the colors. Use a brush or sponge, I surely prefer brushes, they clean better and they don’t soak up as much product as sponges.
I always start under the eyes near the apples of the cheeks, but you can start anywhere you want basically, it doesn’t really matter.
I apply a thin layer for more depth use a darker shade on the forehead, since it often is a darker area naturally, especially in the summer.
Contour if necessary, with that darker shade of foundation.
Contouring or shaping is to optically correct unwanted features. I do not contour as a standard, if a face is not too round, I will not contour it, if a nose is not too wide, I don’t shape it.
I rather don’t shape at all, a face is never “too” anything, a face is unique. I rather don’t shape at all, a face is never “too” anything, a face is unique.
If you do want to contour, I recommend using your darker color foundation for this. If you decide to contour, do it as naturally as possible.
This is also why I contour with blot powder from Mac, I don’t even have a creme-based contour product in my kit, if you wish to contour more heavily I would use a darker foundation, powdered with a darker shade.
A technique I would recommend more than contouring is the signature Lightshaping technique by Jordan Liberty, where you shape with a dark and light color highlighter.
This is because a highlighter catches the light, a darker shade of highlighter shapes the face while catching the light, it is absolutely beautiful, especially with photography.
Red or blue blemishes I conceal with a drop of product. I do not swipe a lighter concealing product like a triangle under the eye! Yellow/green conceals red blemishes and orange conceals blue circles under the eyes.
Almost everyone has some blue-colored skin under the eyes, even children can have it. Just a drop of product does the trick.
For television, I then powder with Neutral set colorless power from Ben Nye, I touch up with Studio fix, blot powder, or blot paper. Then you have the perfect foundation for TV, Photo, and Video.
Here is a great YouTube video by Angie Di Battista, this model has fair skin but this application can be done with any color foundation. Notice how little product she is using, this is how it’s done, ladies.
In this post, you have learned everything you need to know about foundation for professional makeup artists. Cheers Mamitas.
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