What I Learned: Doing Beauty Makeup for a Pro Photographer

This look took me about 5 minutes. Honestly, just 5 minutes. But it was one of my strongest images of that day. Our instincts as makeup artists can be to pile on the makeup, to show what we're capable of. Sometimes, truly, less is more. The goal was to enhance the model's natural beauty and make her look luminous. I used Make Up For Ever's Water Blend foundation and Sculpting Blush. The model came in with a lot of redness and dark circles. Color correction helped tremendously. I didn't want to cover her freckles or hide her skin, which is so fair it's almost translucent.

Working for a professional beauty photographer in New York City definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Some of the criticism was harsh, but if you want to grow as an artist, you need to hear that and learn how to grow. In all honesty, you need a thick skin and a gentle hand.