Fast and Easy Makeup Tips for Office Virtual Meetings

Lockdown laws are easing up, but work is still at home for most people. So if you ladies are  still getting a bit of a quandary with your “professional” look online, here are some considerations:

MATCH YOUR FOUNDATION … not just your skin, but also your light. If you’re familiar with matching your foundation to your skin tone (and formulation to your skin type) by testing on your jaws to see the transition from your face to your neck, now you have to add another factor in to your considerations – the light that you use. Are you using a ring light? Do you do your work in front of the window, or do you just use your existing room light? Artificial light hues may either flush you out or make you look sallow. Depending on these factors, your foundation can either be one step lighter or darker than your usual product.

CONCEAL, NOT REVEAL … since cameras will solely focus on your face, the amount of light can make you look older or blemished. So look at where the shadows fall and fill in unflattering shadows with a lighter shade concealer. These usually are your under eyes (from late night binge watching during the height of the lockdown) which can look darker and your eyebags puffier, blemishes from pimples and scar marks more pronounced.  For your eye bags, lightly dab the concealer on the crease of your eyebags to lighten shadows visually.

FILL IN YOUR BROWS … unless you want to look like something is missing in your face. Remember that the eyebrows create a visual limiter that directs focus on your eyes. You can do that by creating small strokes with your eyebrow pencil and diffusing these lines with your spooley for a natural look.

TIGHT LINE NEAREST YOUR LASHES … this gives your eyes more of a definition and can be used to lift the eyes if they’re downturned or heavily hooded by drawing the ends higher to create a small wing. Look at Gal Gadot’s wing liner in Wonder Woman, and you’ll know what I mean. Less is more.

BRING BACK THE COLOR IN YOUR FACE WITH A LIGHT BLUSH… haven’t been going out and missing the sun, add a light blush (based on your skin tone) to give a more vibrant look to your pale face. Use a blush with a little shine to create a healthy, dewy finish.

MOISTURISE YOUR LIPS OR APPLY A ROSY NUDE LIPSTICK … because you don’t want to appear on screen with chapped or pale lips. This directs the attention to your lips, especially when you are chairing the meeting or saying something that you’d want to count. Save the fire engine or diva red lipsticks for your company socials and night outs when the lockdown is totally taken out, and social distancing is a thing of the past (if it will ever be). A nude rosy coloured lipstick is the “natural” spectrum of colours that you can use to complete that professional look.

OF COURSE, LET’S NOT FORGET YOUR HAIR! Properly combed and groomed hair is a must in creating that professional look. You can either do either one of these styles to lock in your look.

DO A PONYTAIL – using a paddle brush, combed your hair away from the face and tie it with an elastic – Yes, it’s that simple. But how high you create your pony can make a difference in your look. A low pony may mean, “let’s go straight to the point.” A mid-level ponytail (along the lines of your eyes) can make you look younger and “hands-on,” while a high pony (top of your head) may look whimsical and fun – which makes it more apt for parties and get casual-togethers.

WEAR YOUR HAIR DOWN – but away from the face. To add body to your hair, flip it forward and brush it against the roots. Then spray a little dry shampoo to add body and bounce. Then comb back up and smooth down kinks. You can now add a little hair spray to keep the front part from falling onto your face during the meeting.

This process only takes around 5 minutes to prepare you for your online meetings. Still, suppose you have more time to spare. In that case, you can also add a little mascara, but make sure you comb out the clumps because it’s unflattering in close-ups, contour the hollows of your cheeks, jawline, and your temples not just to direct the attention to your eyes also to knock off the additional pounds brought in by the camera (and from forgetting social distancing from your refrigerator).

Either way, do not forget that the main purpose of professional makeup is to make sure that there are no distractions that take away people’s attention from what you are communicating. And finally, one thing that could render all your efforts senseless, the most important reminder that I could give you is – to make sure that you don’t have anything in between your teeth while talking.