How To Look Your Best In HD

by Ning Chao

Published Jul 29, 2011

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HD cameras caused a big shake up in the world of TV and makeup artistry. Entire product lines were launched in response and some veteran TV personalities ran to the plastic surgeon's office (or quit the industry entirely) before being subjected to high definition scrunity. At the Youngblood makeup seminar in Hollywood, CA last week, celebrity makeup artist Orlando Santiago (who works with stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga) revealed his tips for making his clients look better on camera. "HD forced everyone to raise the bar with makeup technique," Orlando says. "An HD camera picks up what your eye sees. You want her to look like a real person, so you want to make sure the skin looks like skin." Here are Orlando's tips for HD makeup:

HOW TO Look Your Best In HD Video

A floating head with a skin tone that's darker or lighter than the rest of the body never looks natural. It's easier to match your face to the rest of your body than vice versa, but never skip this step!
Use a talc-free powder because you can build up coverage to full without worrying about having a chalky finish on the skin.
Since the camera picks up a thick application of makeup, only apply concealer into depressions to highlight and hide puffiness, instead of covering the entire eye bag.
Pixels pick up pigment too, so you don't want to over-saturate with color, whether it's on the eyes, lips or cheeks. This applies to both bright colors and black. Instead of black liner, try a gray or deep brown.
Instead of filling up the brow entirely, which will look heavy on camera, deposit most of the color at the base and bottom of the brow so you get definition and fullness in the brow without having it look too dark.
Pencil is wax-based, so it gives volume to the brows. Powder eye shadow creates depth. Brows are sisters, not twins, so you don't need to make them look identical.
Nothing looks weirder in high definition than seeing shimmer or sparkle in the brow or on the browbone. If you're applying a shimmery eye shadow, make sure that the shimmer doesn't go higher than the crease.
Everybody has an eye crease, it just may not be prominent. You can make it prominent by giving it depth with a taupe shadow. If you can't see the crease clearly, lift up the skin above the brow and you'll be able to see it.
Applying more shading to the crease, especially when the crease isn't prominent, creates the illusion of dome-shaped eyes. Just make sure to go back with a brush with nothing on it to take off any excess shadow.