Despite my often-complimented good looks, I actually really hate getting my picture taken. The only time I allow myself to get photographed is if it’s with my friends. You can ask a very frustrated Marci about this after I could barely provide any author page options of just me, myself, and I.
The truth is that I’m not particularly photogenic. I hate the way I look in almost all of my pictures. I de-tag like crazy on Facebook. In fact, I almost de-friended a jerk-friend that kept tagging me in the most unflattering positions. This is also why I stopped online dating: I kept getting contacted by dudes who REALLY needed to lower their standards.
Anyway, I like getting my picture taken with other people, but the problem with being above-average good-looking is that most of my friends are also really good-looking, and I’m an attention whore who does not like to blend in. (I know, it's an ongoing internal conflict.)
Luckily, I figured out how to bring what I feel is my best feature--my cheekbones--front and center.
FACT: Eastern European women have cheekbones for days. I was lucky enough to have inherited that trait. In the words of Edina Monsoon, “My whole body just hangs off these cheekbones.” But even mine can stand some playing-up.
I’m all about cheekbones lately. Seriously, cheekbones are so hot right now. And if you can master your cheekbones, you can master your face in every picture.
So here’s how I get that perfect sunken-in-cheeks look with just the right amount of cheekbone pop or whatever the hell you want to call it.
THE TECHNIQUE
First, I start with a clean, matte face. (Use oil-blotting papers if necessary.) I then grab a slanted blush brush and hit up some medium brown eyeshadow. Yes, you read that right: eyeshadow. I use a brown shade from a discontinued Smashbox palette, but any medium brown will do. (Disclaimer: I'm fair-skinned, so if you're darker, do some experimenting.)
Lightly brush underneath your jawline to contour it. I’m a huge fan of this technique because it makes my face look gaunt, which I enjoy. Then, make a fish face and brush under your cheekbones where you see your face cave in.
Once that's brushed on, grab your regular blush brush and a light pink blush like Angelika by NARS and brush it slightly under the roundest part of your cheeks. (None of this on-the-apple crap.)
Then, grab the lightest highlighting cream you can find, like Fresh Twilight Freshface Glow. It looks great on every skin tone--true story. Dab it on and blend it just over the top and widest part of your cheekbones.
It'll catch all the lights in the room so that you end up with the best lighting possible for your face when that picture is inevitably taken, and inevitably uploaded to Facebook.
And for once, you won't un-tag yourself.
But seriously, let's talk about that: How often do you untag yourself in friends' Facebook photos because they didn't consult you first?