How to Prep for Professional Hair and Makeup

If you’re lucky enough to be doing a portrait session with a hair & makeup artist (this is an option for family sessions and included with all Personal Branding photoshoots), there are a few things you should do the morning of to prepare.

While the hair styling and the makeup part will be fully handled, taking a few things into consideration and being adequately prepared will go a long way! Read below to find out what you should do to get ready and what to expect from this process…

Wash and dry your hair

Your hair should be clean - the biggest distinction being that you’re not getting a blow out, but hair styling with hot tools. So it’s best to wash and dry your hair the morning of your photoshoot (make sure to schedule the start time to allow you enough leeway to do that). Your hair should be completely dry, ideally, otherwise it will be difficult to set it into the hairstyle you want. If you have curly hair, or follow a specific nighttime drying regimen, then obviously you should wash your hair the night before and follow your standard process. If you typically have to blow dry your hair or it becomes frizzy and unmanageable, then please do that! The point being, we want a good starting point of clean and dry hair that the hair & makeup artist can work with.

Moisturize skin

If you use moisturizing cream daily, then this should already be part of your routine… but if you don’t, it’s very important that you do this the night before and the morning of your photoshoot. When you arrive to the Studio, the makeup artist will make sure to apply appropriate makeup, but she still needs a good base to work with. So wash your face, apply moisturizer and eye cream, and you should be all set to go!

Hydrate

A lot of what defines our skin comes from within. That means the things we consume, or don’t consume, can drastically change how healthy and radiant our skin looks. While it’s probably too late to change your entire diet in order to have a youthful glow for the photoshoot, but you can easily impact the hydration of your skin by simply drinking more water. So have a large glass of water when you wake up, and keep drinking more as the morning progresses (I have various types of water just for that in the Studio, btw). Extra bonus points if you can start this the day before.. and yes, it makes a big impact!

Bring any skin-specific makeup you use

If you have specific allergies, are super sensitive, or simply found the best foundation or coverup for your skin, bring it to the Studio with you! The makeup artist will have everything on-hand, but she obviously won’t have any highly specialized products you might require.

What to expect when you arrive to the Studio

Hair styling is always first. Making sure your hair is clean and fully dry makes the process really easy and quick. The hair & makeup artist will style your hair in any way you like - from a polished version of your everyday look, to a fancier style - and will move to makeup right after. Now, having makeup done doesn’t mean you will look like you’re going out on the town (unless that’s what we’re going for in portraits!).

Makeup for photoshoots is highly specific, but can look as natural as a no-makeup look. It’s important to enhance certain things for photographs (eyelashes, blush, and lips) since the camera tends to play everything down, but the purpose of hair & makeup is simply to make you look your best based on your preferences. So relax and enjoy the process.. and make sure to book a dinner or lunch out since you’re going to look amazing!

I hope you found this post helpful! Feel free to leave any comments or questions below and let me know what you think!

P. S. HUGE Thank you to Kelsey from Haus of Pretty for all her wonderful styling work for my photoshoots!