Cruelty-free Passport Beauty Tips!

It’s that time again.  Time to renew my passport.  Which means, another photo I’m going to have to live with for 10 years.  I kind of liked the last one.  Smiling, a bit of a tan.  Good times.

And so commenced the planning.  I think it’s safe to say that I’ve never spent that much time planning the makeup I was going to wear to CVS.  It was substantial.

There were trial looks.  There were test shots.  It’s a bit embarrassing, but at least I get to share some of my top tips 🙂

Go (mostly) matte.

For my mug, I chose my Illamasqua Skin Base, a good medium- to full-coverage foundation with no SPF, hence no flashback from the camera.  Also, nice and natural with no extra shine.

I also went (mostly) matte on the eyes, using natural pinky browns from my Too Faced Semisweet Chocolate Bar Palette.

Define and highlight, naturally.

I wanted to make sure my eyes were well-defined.  So, first I went with Nougat all over the lid for a blank canvas.  Then I sculpted out my crease/socket with a mix of Puddin’ and Mousse.  Lastly, a little topper of Rum Raisin in the crease and a pop of light on the lid with Pink Sugar.

I also defined the lash line with a bit of brown liner on both sides of the top lash line, at the root of the lashes, and, horror of horrors, on my upper water line.  Ugh.  I never do this because I hate that awful, creepy tickling sensation, but it does work wonders. Then, at the lower lash line I went with light pink along the inner rim, to take away any sickly redness, and one of my trusty peachy under eye correctors.

Of course, cheek sculpting was a must.  I went with my It Cosmetics My Sculpted Face Palette, dipping back and forth between the lighter and mid-toned browns for sculpting the cheeks AND the jawline (another rarity), and then used the mauvey tone for blush.

Last up, a natural but well-defined lip.  Started by defining the border of my lips with a lip liner, and then one of my fave MLBB lipsticks for nice, plumping shine.

 

Final tips

Even with all that prep, I was still in for a couple of rude awakenings when I finally arrived for my photo.  I should have known the lighting would be worse than a department store bathing suit fitting room.  But, then I was told the two rules of passport photos.

1. First, no teeth.  Which, for me, meant no smile.  The best way to exacerbate every facial asymmetry I’ve got.
2. Must show ears.  What?!  Now I had to mess up my hair, too?

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Hope this has been helpful; let me know what your favorite photo-friendly beauty tips are!

*These are only my opinions, formed through my personal experience as a consumer.  I am not a medical doctor, an aesthetician, or a health/beauty professional.  There is no guarantee what effect, positive or negative, these products may have on anyone else.

**All products were purchased by me from brands that, to the best of my knowledge, are cruelty-free.