Picture-Perfect Engagement Photo Makeup
Look and feel gorgeous in front of the camera with my tips and tricks for flawless-looking engagement photo makeup.
- 19th April 2023
- By Charlotte Tilbury
6 minute read
Darlings, congratulations! Getting engaged is just the beginning of your wedding story – you must be so excited to find a magical outfit, discover the perfect venue, and of course, to take the most beautiful engagement photos! To make sure your look is picture-perfect for such a magical occasion, discover my tips and tricks for making sure your engagement photo makeup looks gorgeous on and off-camera!
Step 1: A Magical Canvas
First thing’s first, darlings, I never start a makeup look without applying my AWARD-WINNING Charlotte’s Magic Cream to prep, prime and hydrate your complexion. Formulated to revive the look and feel of skin with magical moisture and supercharged skincare ingredients such as hydrating hyaluronic acid, plumping-effect bionymph peptide and smoothing-effect aloe vera, this ICONIC face cream is an instant-turnaround skin saviour that gives the complexion a fresh-faced glow and creates a magical canvas for your makeup. Smooth Charlotte’s Magic Cream onto the face and neck using my Tilbury Tap technique and watch the magic happen!
Step 2: Hollywood Complexion
In your engagement photos, you’ll want to look fresh-faced with a healthy-looking glow. To create a luminous complexion that looks flawless on camera, I suggest pairing my globally loved glow booster, Hollywood Flawless Filter, and my medium-buildable concealer, Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer. This duo work perfectly together to create a weightless-feeling, radiant complexion that looks like skin. First, glide Hollywood Flawless Filter onto the forehead and cheeks, blending it outwards across your face with the Hollywood Complexion Brush to achieve sheer coverage with a luminous, Hollywood finish. Then, apply concealer under the eyes and over blemishes and smile lines to build your desired coverage and create a lift effect that will make your features POP on camera!
Tilbury Tip: Darlings, if you want to wear a foundation for added coverage, discover light, medium and full-coverage options in my foundation collection!
Step 3: The Airbrush Effect
Darlings, there’s a reason that celebrities and stars keep my AIRBRUSH ICONS in their clutch bags! Designed to smooth, blur and perfect the look of skin with a swish of my fluffy Powder & Sculpt Brush, Airbrush Flawless Finish and Airbrush Bronzer are the perfect pairing for creating an airbrushed-looking complexion that feels silky-smooth and is beautifully bronzed.
Tapping Airbrush Flawless Finish pressed powder into the T-zone and under the eyes helps to prevent creasing, and to helps keep unwanted shine at bay and to extends your makeup’s longevity, so you can LOOK and FEEL FLAWLESS throughout your engagement photo shoot. For warmth, depth and dimension, buff Airbrush Bronzer onto the cheekbones, forehead, nose and underneath the jaw for a more sculpted-looking facial framework that looks chiselled on camera!
Tilbury Tip: If you want the high points of your face to POP in your engagement photos, apply a light veil of Airbrush Brightening Flawless Finish under the eyes and on the tops of the cheeks.
Step 4: Gorgeously Groomed Brows
Your brows are the pillars of your face, so it’s important to create a flattering brow shape that beautifully frames your engagement photo makeup. Using my Supermodel Brow Kit to groom your brows, follow my simple, three-step routine to FILL, FEATHER and FIX your brows into place! First, use the spoolie end of my Brow Cheat eyebrow pencil to brush your natural brow hairs upwards, then sketch out natural-looking strokes for fuller-looking brows. Next, comb Legendary Brows brow gel from the front of the brows through to the tail to tint them with natural-looking colour and create a soft, feathered effect. Finally, use Brow Fix as a clear sculpting gel to help lock your brow hairs into place for long-lasting supermodel brows.
Step 5: Bigger, Brighter-Looking Eyes
For photos, you’ll want your eyes to look as BIG and BRIGHT as possible, and that’s exactly why I created my Bigger, Brighter Eyes Palette in Exagger-Eyes! This eyeshadow quad is expertly curated to PRIME, ENLARGE, DEFINE and POP, featuring shimmering, rose-gold shades with eye-enhancing effects that help to accentuate eye size and sparkle. To get the most flattering and photogenic eyeshadow look that defines and draws attention to your eyes, I recommend packing the POP shade into the inner corners for an eye-opening effect and using the DEFINE shade to add dimension to the crease and lower lash line.
Step 6: Defined, Fanned-Out Lashes
Once your eyes are looking bigger and brighter, it’s time to line and define with eyeliner and mascara. I created the Pillow Talk Eyeliner and Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes! mascara to bring PILLOW TALK MAGIC to the EYES! Pillow Talk Eyeliner is a sultry, berry-brown eyeliner shade that flatters every eye colour; trace along the upper lash line with this gorgeous shade to create a soft eyeliner look and remember to flick upwards and outwards to create my ICONIC feline flick! Then, apply LASHINGS and LASHINGS of push up-effect mascara to build up eye-enhancing volume and make your eyes stand out in every shot!
Step 7: Pillow Talk Lips
Darlings, you’ll already be smiling ear-to-ear for your engagement photos! I recommend adding a little bit of Pillow Talk magic to your lips to softly accentuate their shape and complement your beautiful, beaming smile! The Pillow Talk Lip Kit features my AWARD-WINNING Pillow Talk Lip Cheat and Pillow Talk Matte Revolution lipstick – a match made in heaven for creating universally flattering Pillow Talk pout perfection! Kiss the outline of your lips with lip liner to delicately enhance their natural shape, then glide your lipstick bullet onto the lips for the dreamiest coat of colour. Just like that, your smile becomes even more magical!
Tilbury Tip: Do you love a glossy lip look, darlings? Discover Collagen Lip Bath in Pillow Talk for plump-effect glossy lips.
Step 8: Love-Blushed Cheeks
To capture the look of true love, your cheeks should be BLUSHING! For romantic, rosy, love-blushed cheeks, dot my Matte Beauty Blush Wand onto the apples of your cheeks to give them a flush of easy liquid blush – it’s as easy as DOT, DOT, BLEND and POP! Then, swipe my Pillow Talk Beauty Light Wand liquid highlighter-blush onto the tops of your cheekbones to make them BLUSH and GLOW! Together, these beautifying Pillow Talk wands LIFT the LOOK of your cheeks and provide the dreamiest pop of colour to your engagement photo makeup.
Tilbury Tip: I’ve created multiple shades of my Beauty Light Wands and Beauty Blush Wands to give EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE a flush of matte blush and a gorgeous glow in their perfect shade!
Step 9: Set the Look
Before you set the date darling, set your engagement photo makeup with my fabulous Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray! Once you’re happy with your glowing complexion, eye-enhancing eyeshadow and beautifying blush look, mist my setting spray onto the face for the ultimate AIRBRUSH MAKEUP FIX! The weightless mist is designed to help set makeup into place for up to 16 HOURS and leaves makeup looking fresh and flawless. Set your face before you arrive at your photoshoot, and touch-up between takes for makeup that looks just-applied!
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Author Details
Charlotte Tilbury
Founder, President, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty
With over 30 years experience, Charlotte Tilbury MBE is the world's number 1 makeup artist and British beauty entrepreneur. Charlotte established Charlotte Tilbury Beauty in 2013, which is now a record-breaking beauty brand that has won over 400 awards.