What’s the best makeup brand to wear for photos?

Yes, I am a professional photographer who has worked in commercial, event, wedding and family photography over the years, but I am a girls girl first. Contrary to what beauty influencers may tell you, they are not the best people to preach what brand of makeup to buy. My fellow professional photographers and I are the best people to inform you which makeup will make you radiant on camera and what will make you look like undeniable trash when the final edits come through.

Without any hesitation and with 100% confidence, here is the answer:

MAC makeup is the best brand of cosmetics to wear for photos.

Whether you are 16 or 80, albino or ebony, acne prone or beautifully aged, male, female or fluid, MAC has what you need and they’ve had it since 1984. The company was founded specifically for makeup professionals, but offered the products to the general public from the start. And when they say makeup professionals, they are talking about the makeup artists working in New York for fashion shoots. People whose entire profession is making makeup look phenomenal on camera no matter what the model looks like. There isn’t a professional photographer alive who hasn’t seen a pro makeup artist pull MAC products out of their kit on set.

Now is also a great time to mention that this article is not sponsored. There are no affiliate links in it. We are making no money off telling you MAC is the best makeup for photos. We don’t believe it is…we know it is. This truly is a qualified professional non-bias opinion.

Let’s get into why MAC is the best makeup to take photos in.

Performance

You could work at 10 hr shift behind the grill of a Waffle House wearing MAC makeup, and it wouldn’t budge, smear, or fade. MAC products have serious staying power, and they offer things like foundation is a variety of formulas to meet your skin’s needs. They also have setting powders and sprays that make it last even longer.

If you’re doing something like attending an event for work where their will be photographers, or commissioning a 3 hr photo shoot for headshots, choose MAC products for your makeup. I even have personal anecdote for this. My 60+ year old mom had a family wedding coming up, and her biggest worry was sweating throughout the night and looking horrible in photos. She kept stressing over this until finally I said, “Let me do your makeup for this with MAC. It’s what all the artists use on set. It won’t move even if you sweat.” The big day comes around, I do her makeup with a very natural look like she wanted using MAC cream foundation and setting spray with paint pots and powder shadows on her eyes. She looks phenomenal when she walks out of the house. 6 hours and one wedding later she comes back and the makeup looks like I had just put it on. She got compliments all night on it and is now a MAC devotee like me.

If you’re going to have photos taken at any event or even a studio shoot with AC, MAC will last as long as you need it to. This is a huge reason why it’s the best makeup for photos. There is nothing worse than when I have to try and freshen up a brides makeup during a reception because she used creamy Chanel mascara or Charlotte Tilbury flawless filter. Just because a product is expensive or branded as luxury does not mean it can perform when it needs to. In fact luxury makeup for the most part doesn’t have great staying power. The formulas tend to be very creamy and rich, which can then slide right off your face after an hour or two. Even though MAC is actually at a lower price point than half of Sephora, it will outperform luxury products every time.

Any Age, Any Race, Any skin texture

Anyone can walk into a MAC store and get shade matched with the perfect foundation formula for their skin type. Rhianna may have brought large shade ranges to Sephora, but since the 90s MAC makeup has carried diverse shade ranges and continues to expand them. MAC doesn’t get the same credit Fenty Beauty does for this, but MAC was the original. The proof is in the fact that MAC was intended for professional makeup artists but available to the public from day one. Pro makeup artists have always had to stock large shade ranges in their kits. When diverse models were used in photoshoots in the 80’s and 90’s MAC was the makeup used on them to ensure they were radiant in shots. Having foundation that actually matches your skin tone is essential for photos to come out well, and MAC has always made sure that everyone can get a shade match.

Now just as important as shade match is getting the right formula for your skin texture and type. There are a few general rules to follow when it comes to this. If you have oily skin, a powder or matte liquid foundation is usually best. If you have dry skin, a cream or satin finish liquid foundation is best. If you have smooth skin, the world is your oyster. If you have wrinkles or scarring from acne etc, powder foundations can settle in divots and luminent finishes can exaggerate texture. A satin finish cream foundation is probably your best option if you don’t have smooth skin. You may or may not want to use setting powder vs setting spray. Lucky for us all, if you go into a MAC store with any skin texture they can help you pick the best formula for your skin.

Doesn’t cause flashback and is talc free

Now do you want the cherry on top of all of this? MAC is mostly non-comedogenic and talc free. This means that it’s not going to clog pores, and it doesn’t risk the asbestos contamination that comes with talc. Want to hear what else a photographer loves about this? Even though MAC is talc free, I have yet to see one of their product cause what’s known as flashback (where flash reflects oddly off products and gives someone’s face a ghostly cast over it.) Their powder foundations do contain silica, which I tend to tell people can cause flashback, but it’s so low on the ingredient list that it does not cause any issues. I myself wear the “New Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation”, which is talc free. I’ve never had it cause flashback and it lasts forever. They reformulated this particular foundation, and it has mixed reviews from people who loved the original. From a photographer’s perspective, the new formula is easy to shade match, easy to apply, can be full or sheer coverage, and photographs very well. I can’t really ask for more from a foundation.

Eyeshadow and Lip colors to die for

I learned to do makeup during the peak 2000’s era. Smokey eye for a day of high school? Hell yeah, don’t forget the contour too. Now these days my day to day makeup has stayed on trend, and there’s less urge to wear a Real Housewives of New Jersey smokey eye to the grocery store. Every once and while though, an occasion calls for eyeshadow, and there’s only one place left to find the good pigmented stuff: MAC.

Do you feel the desire to match your lime green brat aesthetic outfit to your eyeshadow? There’s only brand that still carries that as a standard eyeshadow color in the age of clean girl makeup. MAC has every shade of eyeshadow known to humankind. From a photography perspective, still carrying the crazy colors as well as neutrals is a major plus for MAC being the best makeup brand for photos. We get inquiries for all kinds of shoots and sometimes they call for weird colors of makeup that you just can’t find anywhere else.

Now on top of carrying the random colors that are hard to find, MAC eyeshadow is also seriously pigmented, blends well, and won’t melt/smear to give you the dreaded racoon eyes that haunted 2000’s party girls. Even if you want a “clean girl natural” eyeshadow look for photos, you can find it at MAC, and it will perform well. Their range of lip products also perform above and beyond, while offering everything from pitch black stain to baby pink gloss. Whatever color you need for whatever part of your face, MAC has it.

Final thoughts

In the age of beauty gurus and influencers, we are all bombarded with recommendations for makeup and much of it is well disguised paid content. It can be very difficult to find an honest opinion from someone qualified to give it in the beauty world. I am here to tell you as a professional photographer with year’s of experience, MAC is the best brand of makeup to wear for photos because it was designed for photos. The company continues to innovate and create new products that perform well on camera.

The main reason We writing this is that I genuinely want the best for our clients when they commission photos. Lorikeet Weddings provides fine art wedding and family photography in Colorado and Massachusetts. We want our couples to look radiant on their wedding day, and we want parents getting family photos to look their best on camera. I frequently get questions like “What is the best makeup to wear for photos” from clients and this article is a great way to help keep everyone informed.

If you’re looking for a wedding or family photographer who wants you to have all the industry insights to look great in photos, fill out an inquiry form today. We would love to work with you.

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