(almost) no-makeup portraits with plants

I had to laugh when I came across this article in the New York Times last week about how foundation is dead because a few days before, I took these pictures wearing only lipstick.

I didn’t intentionally set out to create a set of no-makeup selfies. I had an idea I wanted to try for my portraits with plants series and frankly, I couldn’t be bothered to put on any makeup.

I also wasn’t planning to make these such close crops, but I didn’t have a top in my studio to show off this new Midi Modular Necklace the way I wanted, so I just threw this cardigan over my purple sports bra. And since sportswear wasn’t the vibe I was going for, I ended up really focusing on my face.

All of which made for a perfect, albeit unintentional, illustration of the NY Times article.

Of course, going without foundation is nothing new for me. I wrote a post back in 2017 asking if wearing only lipstick counted as a a #nomakeupselfie. I rarely wear makeup in my day to day life. And when I do put on a “full face” – say for a photoshoot or an event – all I use is some under eye concealer, a light powder foundation, and occasionally, a little bit of contouring powder. None of which is about fully covering my face, as you can see in these pictures.

So even though I found the article a little funny, I’m not mad at it. Quite the opposite. I’ve been saying for a while now that we need a face positivity movement. One where we say no to Facetune and Photoshop and start seeing our skin as it actually is – freckles, zits, wrinkles and all.

I know there’s work to do. Yesterday I received a book on portrait photography that I had ordered online, and in the section on editing, the author mentioned photoshopping out some errant freckles. (Um, what, why? Freckles are awesome!) And I can’t say that I never remove the occasional zit while editing, especially if it’s super distracting in a jewelry product photo.

But for the most part, I leave my face untouched when I edit and I try and remind myself, like I did with these photos (and these) that I don’t need a full face of makeup to take pictures of myself. (And I talk about it in my class Market Your Selfie as well.)

So I’ll keep advancing face positivity in my little corner of the Internet and, while my first instinct was to laugh at the fact that an article like that needs to exist, I’ll actually be celebrating whenever mainstream media tackles the subject too.