Makeup and Lighting

For the majority of women (and men), grooming takes place in the bathroom. Let's face it, it's a convenience thing. You have access to water, soap, a large mirror (usually), counter space (hopefully) and lighting. However, the bathroom is possibly one of the worst places (IMO) to do your makeup, plucking or even bleaching.  My reasons being:

1) The lighting is usually above you. Like, way above you. This can cast a shadow that you may not notice. Ever notice how professional makeup mirrors are built? The lights go all the way around or 3/4 of the way around the mirror. This illuminates the face from all 3 sides, preventing shadows and making sure that there is adequate light from all sides.

2) Moisture. Do you have a lot of powder makeup? Do you consider your makeup an investment? 'Cause I sure as hell do. Ever think about how bad moisture can be for your makeup? Yeah. When I had to store my makeup in the bathroom, I used plastic storage units to try to keep it as dry and as far away from water as possible. But steam has a funny way of getting everywhere. If you have the option of moving your makeup out of the bathroom, it will extend the life and quality of your makeup.

3) This is just a personal thing, but yeah, the toilet. I mean...it's unavoidable. And I know that there are a lot of tests/studies that say that there are few germs from the toilet that end up on your toothbrush. But......there are a lot of germs in there. And keeping my makeup brushes in there was seriously starting to freak me out.

 My horrible lighting in my 80's wallpapered bathroom. Ignore my "product."

So, yeah, the bathroom is probably not the best place to do your makeup. If you have the option of doing it somewhere else, what lighting should you choose?

Makeup mirrors, such as this Conair 3-panel Mirror w/4 light settings (Amazon.com $29.99), have been around for years. I had one has a teenager. And they are pretty great. You have 2 different magnifications, one for "Hey, I'm applying eyeshadow" and one for "OHMYGOD THOSE ARE MY PORES?"  You have the 4 light settings, "evening," "home," "office," and "day."  It's a nice option and is budget friendly.

But what do those settings even mean? Shouldn't the point of putting on makeup be getting it on so that it looks great no matter what light you may be in? Taking a cue from my tattoo artist, I pulled my old Ott Lite out of storage and set it up on my vanity behind my magnifying mirror.

The Setup.

An Ott Lite is a full spectrum light that is energy efficient, produces low heat and shows colors as true to life. What better time do colors need to be true to life than when you are applying them to your skin?

 

Here you see my tattoo in the regular ol' lamp from my bedside table. This is probably the photo I would post on a site like facebook or email to a friend because the my skin looks nice and you can't tell where I need touchups.

This is a photo taken under my Ott Lite. You can clearly see where I need touchups, where I have blemishes on my skin and the skin has a plasticy look to it, which it has in real life (due to healing). But look at the colors! They are vivid and true to life. That yellow is EXACTLY how it looks when I look at now. 

 Now, Ott Lite makes a makeup mirror (Ott Lite Makeup Mirror, $60.16 at Amazon.com) that gets decent reviews (biggest complaint is some warping on the stronger magnification) and provides full spectrum lighting, all around the face. I think I've found what my next purchase will be. Review to follow!

Cheers!