Best Foundation for Flash Photography
Perfect makeup, perfect dress, and perfect occasion but still bad photographs?
Well, it has happened to all of us. In fact, we still have that one friend who tries to escape photography sessions at best; because bad photographs in memory albums are worse than nightmares.
Flash photography calls for flawless makeup and even though our makeup looks flawless in the mirror, the pictures speak the opposite. If we know we have photography sessions coming up, whether in weddings, birthday celebrations, portfolios, parties, or on other occasions, the anxiety to look flawless in pictures gets real.
After all, nothing can really undo photographs clicked in a gathering that many people get a copy in hand for life. Safe to say, that it can turn into a nightmare.
So what should we do?
The answer lies in our makeup regime. Yes! When you know we are going to be photographed, our makeup regime needs to be taken care of respectively. That includes picking a high-quality, full-coverage foundation, highly-pigmented lipstick, and other high-quality makeup products that are well-pigmented and flawlessly vibrant in appearance.
Here are 7 best foundations to use when appearing for flash photography.
1.Dermablend Cover Creme Full Coverage Cream Foundation
Best flash photography foundation for dry skin
Providing full coverage with about 40% of pigment concentration in its formula, Dermablend Cover Creme Foundation makes itself one of the best flash photography foundations in the world.
It provides all-day hydration with SPF 30 with Titanium Dioxide Sunscreen and contributes to strengthening and repairing the skin barrier. It brilliantly covers acne, scars, and wrinkles while bringing hydration into action to balance the final finish on dry skin.
This foundation is best suitable for normal to dry skin types as it pulls a creamy, moisturizing, and hydrating action on the skin and maintains the seamless coverage and glow for 15 hours straight.
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2.Lancome Teint Visionnaire Skin Perfecting Makeup Duo 03 Beige Diaphane for Women
Best Corrector and foundation in 1
A brilliant formula combining corrector and full-coverage foundation, the Lancome Teint Visionnaire Skin-perfecting foundation is ideal to use on occasions that require you to be photographed.
It builds flawless coverage on the skin with its vitamin-enriched formula and maintains a seamless finish all day long. Lancome Teint Visionnaire foundation gives optimal coverage to hide dark spots, dark circles, and skin imperfections and visibly reduces the appearance of pores and wrinkles.
The foundation has SPF 20, vitamins, and skin-improving formula that contributes to making skin refiner, younger and flawless every day.
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3.Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation
Best long-wearing foundation
Bobbi Brown skin foundation has a long-wearing and skin moisturizing formula that provides full natural coverage to the skin. This foundation comes in 13 different shades, each one enhancing and perfecting the natural skin tone.
This foundation is very much suitable for normal to sensitive skin types. It has an oil-free formula that brings a glowing effect on skin without making it oily or sticky.
The Bobbi Brown skin foundation also features SPF 15 protection against sun damage. It is ideal to use for mature, sensitive, and normal skin types on occasions that include flash photography.
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4.MAKE UP FOR EVER Matte Velvet Skin Full Coverage Foundation
Best mattifying foundation for Oily Skin
Make Up For Ever’s Matte Velvet Skin Full Coverage Foundation features an incredible formula that is breathable, lightweight, mattifying, and oil-controlling with an ideal staying power.
It has cinnamon bark extract and ginger root extract as key ingredients that effectively nourish skin while providing a medium to full foundation coverage. Its coverage is non-irritating, very comfortable, and lightweight on the skin.
Make Up For Ever’s Matte Velvet foundation is one of the best foundations to wear when showing up for photographic sessions, especially for oily skin types. It is, however, also suitable for normal to sensitive skin types.
For dry skin, one needs to take extra care of moisture level before applying this foundation on the skin, to keep the final results flawless and sweet.
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5.Christian Dior Backstage Airflash Spray Foundation
Best Airflash Foundation Spray
Dior's iconic spray foundation delivers an airbrushed perfect complexion with precision and ease. It is available in 18 shades and is suitable for all skin types. Using this airflash spray foundation is so easy, quick, and rewarding that your flawless skin will radiate perfection under flash photography all day long.
This foundation has a great staying power as it maintains a smooth and radiant finish 15+ hours a day. Its ultra-fluid and ultra-fine texture allows for buildable, custom coverage to suit any skin tone and texture.
Moreover, Dior backstage spray foundation has a very lightweight formula that does not settle in facial lines or wrinkles and sits crease-free on skin.
This product is easily one of the flawless picks for flash photography foundations.
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6.Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation
Available in 16 shades, Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage matte foundation is one of the best hypoallergenic foundation choices to opt for, when appearing in flash photography. Its coverage is skin-mattifying with a radiant finish and silky texture.
Tarte Clay foundation effectively covers redness, unevenness, and pores, with Amazonian clay in effect. It also controls oil and provides a lasting base for makeup on the skin.
The key ingredients of this foundation are Tourmaline that is a natural gemstone known to energize skin for a brighter and a more radiant complexion, Pearl powder that is a mineral-rich powder known for its naturally invigorating, anti-aging properties, and Camellia leaf extracts, a natural antioxidant that helps fight free radicals.
Tarte Airbrush foundation is hands down one of the best foundations for flash photography.
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7.Laura Mercier Silk Creme Oil Free Photo Edition Foundation
Best foundation for photography
A weightless, natural-coverage providing foundation that is specially formulated to curate great photographic moments, the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Photo Edition foundation is an ideal deal to opt for.
Laura Mercier foundation provides a flawless coverage for 12+ hours that is so comfortable to wear on the skin, it almost feels like natural skin. It features a highly pigmented formula that effortlessly hides hard-to-cover skin imperfections and visibly softens skin feel.
This foundation controls oil and prevents makeup from melting or looking pale. It is suitable for normal to dry skin types and is even workable for oily skin if applied with a mattifying primer.
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Buying Guide: How to Choose the Best Foundation for Flash Photography
Flash Photography is usually done in dim or not-so-bright spaces, aiming to capture images with specialized lights and effects. That brief burst of light reveals and even exaggerates the tiniest bit of detail on the skin which can be a bit unpleasant sometimes.
For this reason, before engaging in a flash photography session, it is essential to give your skin a good cleanse, then applying a suitable foundation that will add a fine texture and would conceal pores and marks on the skin.
While not all foundations can be considered suitable to use during flash photography; a foundation must have at least some important qualities to perfectly compliment the skin's final look for flash photographic moments.
Here are some suggestions to bear in mind when choosing your foundation for flash photography:
Waterproof: Your foundation should be waterproof to fight off sweat during the photography session. We all know that it can take a while. The waterproof foundation also hides streak marks and gives your skin a naturally radiant look.
Color: Flash photography or photography in general, tends to lighten the color of your foundation. So, it is best to choose a foundation that compliments your skin tone and can be layered suitably, to give a more fuller look.
Blendability: Colors that compliment your skin tone should be chosen for your foundation so it can easily blend in.
Texture & Consistency: The consistency of the foundation you will choose, will surely affect its texture on the skin. Using a foundation with a heavy consistency will leave a cakey texture on the skin, which would not be suitable for flash photography. What would be ideal is a foundation with a lighter texture that would give your skin a natural-looking finish.
A matte finish texture would also make your skin look flawless since it would prevent the reflection of the flash.
Coverage: The best foundation would be one that delivers perfect coverage without being heavy and thick. It should delicately protect and mask the skin while concealing wrinkles, pores, dark spots, or discoloration.
However as much as it should be providing high coverage to the face, it should be lightweight or weightless and not make the face look cakey or just too heavy. These details are really highlighted in pictures so beware of picking a heavyweight foundation.
Ingredients: Opt for foundations that do not contain mineral oils or harsh skin irritants. Plus, if your foundation contains SPF, make sure it is free of silicones since they can result in flashbacks, with an awful white glow.
Also, beware of other harsh chemicals in any foundation that you use on your skin. A great foundation is not just a great makeup, it should also be a great skincare product with ingredients that contribute to improving skin condition.
Hydration: Aside from having a lightweight consistency, your foundation should include an absorbing and lightweight moisturizer, to provide hydration to your skin throughout photo sessions.
Another great idea is to select foundations that are exclusively formulated for flash photography. They would already have all the right factors to beautifully accentuate your skin and result in perfect photos!
The Bottom Line:
Flash photography, being different from regular photography, focuses on every detail of your skin more prominently. This doesn’t mean that it would result in more natural photos, but unnecessarily or exaggeratingly detailed.
A full-coverage, high-quality foundation with rich pigments can be a savior in such a moment. Good makeup will always rescue one from being caught on camera with an oily, uneven, or not-so-perfect face when in fact one is wearing flawless skin.
