Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [28]
Television cameras emphasize gradations of color, beard whiskers under the skin (even if you just shaved, the whiskers will show up as shadow if they are darkish in color), freckles, wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, scar tissue, moles, liver spots, or any skin imperfection. An indentation in the skin may come out looking like a black hole. Little beads of sweat are highly visible. The natural skin oils make the forehead, cheeks, and nose look shiny. Bald heads shine like beacons. A little bit of hair spray on the skin can shine like cellophane. The shine makes the face look larger than life and therefore heavier. The lights also flatten the face, tending to drain the color, as does bright sunlight. Pink or red in the skin may look brighter red on camera.
And all of this is just what happens to your face—imagine how odd your clothes can suddenly look.
Putting on Your Own Makeup for TV: Women
Please read the previous section on basic makeup for women. Since most of the information given in that section applies to TV makeup as well, I will just touch on a few pointers here.
The four basic rules are: (1) Try to look natural, not overdone. Understated is better than exaggerated; (2) Avoid bright colors, which the camera will record as even brighter. This is especially true of bright blue or green eyeshadows and bright red or orangy or purplish lipsticks; (3) Pay particular attention to dark circles or shadows under the eyes; and (4) Use powder to eliminate shine, particularly on the nose and forehead.
Keep your makeup subtle. If you have white skin, choose a base slightly warmer than your skin tone. If you have black skin, choose a base very close to your natural skin color. Indent the cheekbones using rouge as a contour. Contour under the chin; this will also take advantage of the shadow that is cast by the jawbone due to the overhead lights. Eliminate the circles cast by the lights under the eyes by bringing the base up to the lower eyelid. Avoid using bright eyeshadows; instead, use soft browns or grays on the eyelids. Use a translucent, oil-control powder to remove the shine.
Don’t apply moisturizer to your face before you make a television appearance; it often shines on camera as if you had very oily skin.
A special word about lipstick. As mentioned above, never use bright red lipstick on TV. Instead, match your lipstick to the inside of your mouth and tongue. It is especially important not to use shiny lip gloss on TV, which catches the light and glistens into the camera. This can make the mouth look abnormally large and attract undue attention to the lip movements.
Never outline the mouth with very dark lip pencil. Such an outline never looks natural and can be plainly seen by the enhanced cameras. When you need to make a thin lip look wider, use a pencil the same color as the lipstick.
Once you have discovered the makeup that looks good on you, do not change it with the fads of commercial, high-fashion makeup. Leave that to runway models and department store cosmetic salespeople.
Putting on Your Own Makeup for TV: Men
The purpose of television makeup for men is to make them look the same on the home TV set as they look in person—if not a little better. As noted previously, you must compensate for the distortions of overhead studio lights and the enhanced camera lenses. The cameras see details of the beard, blemishes, purple veins, red noses, or discolorations you would not normally notice.
Twenty years ago, few men were so concerned about their appearance on TV that they were willing to apply makeup before appearing on camera. Most men who were on TV regularly would allow a TV makeup artist to apply makeup, but they balked at putting it on themselves when no makeup artist was available.
Now all that is changing. Men in many professions are now learning what actors, singers, TV anchors, and others have long known: Even a little makeup can do wonders for your appearance