Make up not showing up in photos

[AWafferthinmint]

I've been on a few nights out recently. Felt I applied quite a lot of make up compared to normal but when I look at the photos it looks like I'm completely bare faced! In all honesty I look like shit I'm wondering if I'm too used to seeing instagram posts and have a skewed idea of what make up should look like. For instance, I pencil in my eyebrows but they look non existent in photos!

Yes I have this sometimes it’s so odd , I think sometimes it all about lighting - so insta pics are done in good light , usually selfies and close up , I’m sure in person it looks lovely and that’s what matters.

Honestly I'm the exact same. I spend ages on my make up and sometimes think I've gone a bit overboard and then someone takes a photo and I look barefaced - verging on I'll. I think it's just the harshness of photography nowadays. You will look a lot better than you think you do!

I have this issue would love to hear a solution

It's the lighting. The human eye compensates for poor lighting so you don't notice it so much when you're there, but really bad lighting will always show up in the photo.

Exactly this! It's like I've just rolled up and made no effort!

I think part of it is that I have such pale skin, I always look a bit ill! Even though in my mirror at home I've applied about 3 inches of bronzer. It also doesn't help that I've sat at the hairdressers looking at myself for 2 hours today wondering why I appear to have no features

I think it’s the instagram effect. Nobody looks like that in reality. You are used to filters etc. Look at photos from the past. Nobody looked smooth and shiny.

Certain powders can give the “flashback” affect in photos and make you look washed out. What powder do you use?

I think it’s the pigment in the makeup. Some brands are designed for IG photos but I can’t remember what they are, unhelpfully.

If I ever watch instagram make up videos I'm shocked by the amount of make up they put on, they will use about 15 products. I always think in real life that must look so thick but on camera it can make them look flawless.

Could it be the flash. I always look terrible in photos with flash - utterly drains me (I’m pale too). If taken with Live Photos you can go through the 15 versions or so til you find one without flash. Bet you look better!

Too nude? Too light-reflective? Sunscreen in the formulation?

When I got married I asked the mua for a natural look. She explained that if I did that then the make up wouldn't show up on photos. So they often put more make up on you than usual.
I find this in everyday too, I look in the mirror and I think I look nice. Take a photo when out and I literally have no make up on!
I don't know the solution other than I need to wear more make up so it shows up on photos

There's a real discrepancy here between makeup designed for photography and makeup designed for real life. 'Stage' makeup is a lot heavier and uses brighter colours as camera flashes wash everything out. You may find you have to choose between what looks great in pictures and what looks great in real life! I find that NIOD's Photography Fluid really helps skin look good on camera. Also don't wear anything with an SPF in as that doesn't look good on camera. Full disclosure, if I want the best of both worlds I'll do my makeup to look good in person and then use a filter after the fact so it also looks good on the pictures! Not for everyone but I'm quite into my glam. It always annoys me that I wear eyelash extensions but quite natural ones as I don't like the heavy tarantula look and yet my lashes never 'show up' on camera! There are lots of YouTube videos on how to do 'on camera' makeup if you're interested too.

When you watch IG videos the foundation they use is almost always about three shades darker than they need. Add on contour and bronzer etc and that's what is showing up in photos.

I work near a lot of bars and clubs so I see quite a few women "dolled up" and the amount of plastered on make up on show is quite jarring in daylight. But must look great in photos!

Yes that is why the ‘huge in real life’ eyebrows happened, and all the contour, so that people don’t look like shocked potatoes in pictures!

signed, a lifelong shocked potato

It's also worth remembering that a lot of Instagram is bad photographers using good cameras badly. And a lot of it is phone cameras, which if you were creating a cameras designed to take bad portrait photos you'd end up something like a phone camera.

Phone cameras are inherently bad for portraits due to the physics of short lenses. Putting the flash right next to the lens on a phone camera creates it's own problems. Fashions for exaggerated body outlines (think Kardashian) and trout pout lip filler pretty well match the effects of the physics of short lenses. The fashion for contouring and heavy make-up probably comes from the washed out effect of having the flash right next to the lens - if you went for a portrait in the studio the light from the flash would be coming at an angle to the lens.

I use Mac mineralize which I think is quite cakey.

Try Laura Mercier powder, pricey but is very good. Also if you’re using powder products maybe try cream products such as cream bronzer and blush if you feel your makeup isn’t showing in photos.

YY to the potato. In fact, I described myself as exactly that today when DH showed me a pic he’d taken of me at a nice dinner we recently had. I looked like I’d just rolled out of bed. Awful.

And don’t get me started on the horrors of the magnifying mirror I bought so I can see to put the invisible makeup on. I look like the ancient, wrinkly, sprouting potato you find at the bottom of the fridge. Horrific.

In real life op your make up probably looked lovely. When I've have my make up professionally done it always feels so heavy, but it looks so much better in photos and it lasts all day/ night.

Is it better look nice in real life but not so good in photos, or good in photos but bizarre and overly made-up in real life? I don't take many photos of myself and don't post on social media so for me I'd rather look better in person. If you're an instagram influencer, you probably do your make up for photos even if it looks weird in person.

I do adapt my make up a bit - although not to the TikTok extent- when I'm going out. So I will go in a bit heavier with contour/ brows if I know there will be a lot of photos/flash when I'm out, and just ride out the trip on the tube beforehand when I feel like I'm in stage make up.

I also take make up with me so when I'm at the venue I can go in hard with extra bronzer/highlighter/lipstick

Very true. I would love to see an influencers make up in real life!

A friend absolutely cakes her makeup on and IRL looks overly done. Her words not mine. I asked her why and she took a selfie of us. I looked washed out even though I was wearing plain simple make up. She looked lovely and it looked like she was the one wearing light make up!