Silk Naturals

Hi Ladies -
So I have another question for all of you. I am in love with my SN foundation. When I do my makeup in the morning my face looks terrific. Blemishes covered...check, Post acne-pigmentation covered...checked, color match...checked. The problem I am having is when I leave the house and see myself outside or in the mirror above my driving wheel...YIKES!!! I can see ever spot, every red mark....what am I doing wrong. Should I get one of those little vanity mirrors with bright lights or something. Please give me every tip/idea...I am feeling very bummed....

it's probably the yellow lighting in your bathroom.

You have that light where you live too!! It happens to me sometimes too...more in the Winter than in the Summer, and a lot at our old studio for some reason. In the Summer I almost never have that issue.

The closest I can figure and this is going to seem really "out there", but it seems that sometimes there's a certain spectrum of light that just magnifies certain blemishes. Have you ever seen skin under a Wood's Lamp? You can have perfect, even, lovely skin- and then under the Wood's Lamp every blemish, "underground" freckle, and sun damage just appears under a Wood's lamp. A Wood's lamp just shines a certain spectrum of UV light, and nearest I can figure is that sometimes the clouds will shift, or the sun will shine a certain way, and all of a sudden you get a case of the ugs when you go outside.

It's completely unscientific, but something I've pondered, and it's the closest I've been able to come to an explanation. I could be completely wrong. It's weird isn't it? I can spackle myself with pure titanium dioxide and still have the same thing happen. The old studio had a northern exposure- apparently that's the kind of light artist's covet.

Back when I worked at the photo lab we'd really carefully color balance people's pictures (it was a pro lab, and they were ultra picky). We had a door to the outside, and glass blocks so we could daylight balance- but we usually balanced family portraits to tungsten light because that's the light that most people have in their houses. The lighting made a big difference in the color corrections we added to prints.

Do your makeup so it looks best in the light you'll be seen in. Color temps are a bear to work with.

There's just something about car mirrors that make everyone look terrible. Remember - objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear - which means pores, pigmentation, etc will appear larger than they really are. My bathroom has this nice yellow light which makes me look great, but the rest of campus has horrible florescent lighting, which is really unflattering Especially in the winter, I think, the cooler light seems to make everything look bad.

WendyD wrote:There's just something about car mirrors that make everyone look terrible. Remember - objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear - which means pores, pigmentation, etc will appear larger than they really are. My bathroom has this nice yellow light which makes me look great, but the rest of campus has horrible florescent lighting, which is really unflattering Especially in the winter, I think, the cooler light seems to make everything look bad.

I agree about car mirrors - bring your compact mirror with you I set up my makeup table next to a window, so I rarely have this problem anymore.

So I am fine...you think if I look good in my bathroom, while I am out and about (in stores, school, etc...) it is still looking ok?!? I hope so cause what else could I do to cover those marks? Putty LOL!! Thanks ladies for responding. You all made me feel a bit better!

Seriously, what is it with car mirrors? I leave thinking I'm pretty well done up and then that rear view mirror laughs at me.

So I get to work and go check myself out in the work bathroom, which has much kinder lighting, haha. Can't please them all.

Babydoll wrote:So I am fine...you think if I look good in my bathroom, while I am out and about (in stores, school, etc...) it is still looking ok?!? I hope so cause what else could I do to cover those marks? Putty LOL!! Thanks ladies for responding. You all made me feel a bit better!

You could get one of those lighted makeup mirrors, or use fluorescents in your bathroom if you want to simulate office/retail lighting more closely.

And YES I think you're fine, and obsessing over a universally unflattering mirror (the dreaded rearview mirror) - guessing it's the combination of light and shadow in the car that does it?

Car mirrors really are a terrible gauge of how we look. Still, I can't resist looking in them and getting depressed about it either.

I always "find" my chin hairs in the rearview. *sigh*