We all want our skin to look picture perfect in our portraits. And while you can’t magically get rid of a zip overnight, there are several things you can do in the months, weeks, and days leading up to your senior, engagement, or family photo session that will get your skin looking its best.

I reached out to several professional estheticians and makeup artists for their tips on how we can achieve picture perfect skin in time for our portrait sessions. Here’s what they said:

Treat yourself to a facial

Regular monthly facials will give your skin its best chance to look its best but if monthly facials isn’t in the budget, treat yourself to one facial and do it at least one month before your portrait session. An added benefit of getting a facial from an esthetician, is the fact that you can ask a local skin expert direct questions about your skin’s specific needs.

And if a professional facial isn’t in the cards, an at-home sheet mask will work in a pinch!

Stick with your skin routine

Don’t add any new products to your skincare routine if your session is less than 8 weeks away. If you want to try new face lotion, foundation, or anything else, do it well in advance because new products can cause breakouts, dry skin, and other issues.

Stick with your tried and true products and continue your skincare routine in the A.M. and P.M. That means washing your face and using facial moisturize at least once a day…if not twice.

Use SPF & avoid excessive tanning

This should go without saying but I’m 100% guilty of skipping this step and I’m willing to bet you are too. Use SPF on your face, neck, and chest every single day. Burns and peeling skin is never a good look in portraits and there’s really nothing your photographer can do to make peeling face skin look good.

Aside from it protecting your skin against future woes like skin cancer and wrinkles, when you apply and reapply SPF you’ll end up getting a better tan that will actually last longer.

In the weeks leading up to your session, avoid excessive tanning so you don’t run the risk of sunburns or dramatic tan lines.

Exfoliate

Lightly exfoliating your face 1 to 2 times a week. Doing so will help buff away dry skin, minimize pores, even out skin tone and texture, and will help your face makeup go on smoothly.

I’ve become a bit of a snob about what facial exfoliants I use ever since one of my associates became an esthetician. I don’t like using exfoliants with little microbeads in them – not only are they really hard on your skin but they’re also really bad for the environment. My go to facial exfoliant is Phytomer’s Vegetal Exfoliant. It’s a peel rather than a scrub and is so gentle on my sensitive skin. It’s on the pricier side of things but a little goes a long way! If I use it once a week, I’ll get a couple month’s use out of one tube.

If you’d like more information, I’d be happy to connect you to one of my trusted skin experts!

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