Makeup Artists or MUA for short, can cause a photographer’s greatest nightmare, or become his greatest ally.
It is a nightmare when an ignorant makeup artist applies shiny highlights and glitter on a bride’s eyelids for night time or low-light situations where a flash is required, thinking it will ‘emphasize’ the girl’s eyes. Unfortunately, it will, but not in the way that most ladies would wish. Once the light from the flash bounces off the bride’s face in the low-light situation, her shiny reflective makeup will give her face an oily or greasy look, and her eyes will look like she had a few bouts in a boxing ring prior to the shoot! Not exactly the aspirations of a bride-to-be.
On the contrary, a good and knowledgeable makeup artist can be a photographer’s greatest ally.
This is one of the reasons why I was extremely glad when my wife introduced me to Iris, the makeup artist who did her makeup for our wedding dinner.
Finally, a MUA who not only understands the type of makeup that suits a particular person’s looks and character, but is able to bring out the person’s best features, synchronize and synergize with her outfit, and also takes time to talk with the client to find out their tastes, their preferences or even fears (!) before she starts work. Best of all, she understands that different kind of lighting (whether indoor or outdoor, night or day) requires different types of makeup.
Since then, I’ve introduced her to many of my photography clients… the most recent one being Serene.
