Most of us don’t look photo-ready all the time, so it is understandable that you may want to pluck, tweeze, wax, or groom any areas of your face that need that attention before an important photoshoot. However still, you run the risk of having the skin area look red and swollen, which can persist for more than a day.

It is best to do your proper grooming the day before so that you give your skin time to recover from redness or other irritations before the photoshoot. If you have sensitive skin that generally takes a longer time to recover, remember to buffer that in as well.

We know it’s tempting to go full-on glitter and sparkle because it looks so pretty, but it can create undesirable effects in your photos. Glitter is reflective and reacts to the camera flash to create a shiny spot. Now imagine many shiny spots on your face – you may end up looking like a disco ball instead! Experts recommend giving your shimmery eyeshadows, shiny lip glosses, and blinding highlighters a miss. Instead, opt for more matte textures and finishes.

The general rule is to avoid colours that are too loud or bright, and it applies to all your colour makeup, be it lipstick, eyeshadows, or blushes. Although the camera does tend to make your makeup look lighter than usual, applying bolder shades on specific features may just take attention away from the rest of your face. In order to compensate for the possible lack of colour on camera, you should apply more layers of the same shade instead, so that the colour looks fuller and more obvious.

While cat eyes look great for adding personality (and of course, lengthening our eye shape) on a daily basis, makeup artists have actually advised that we steer clear of them and other long extended eyeliner lines when it comes to makeup for indoor photoshoots. The reason is that drawing long cat eyes will focus the photo on only your eyes instead of your entire face, and can also make your eyes look much smaller than you want. The trick is to slightly extend the liner beyond the corner of your eye, and if you really want naturally larger and rounder eyes, you can consider flicking the eyeliner downwards instead for the popular ‘puppy eyeliner’ look.

The bright lighting in an indoor photography session can make your face look really shiny. While a little shine won’t hurt, it can be a huge problem if you have very oily skin, because the harsh lighting emphasizes the greasy glow on your skin. To make sure that sebum production is under control and excess shine is taken away, it is advised that you use a translucent powder to set your makeup.

These days, professional cameras are made to capture photos in greater detail, but that also means your little imperfections become glaringly obvious in photographs as well.

After you have applied your makeup, take a step back and assess your makeup from all aspects and angles – make sure your foundation is blended in well so that you don’t get random patches of colour, there is no lipstick on your teeth, and there are no random black specks around your eyes from your eyeliner or mascara.