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What kind of lighting do you do your makeup in?

What kind of lighting do you do your makeup in? Natural? Office? Special bulbs?

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I actually have no idea. They’re just whatever lights my apartment bathroom has! Probably some form of fluorescent.

47 Comments

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Dusty Avatar

I should probably use a type of full-spectrum natural looking light, but I don’t. I made a light ring this summer out of wood, foil and two strings of large white christmas lights. It works FABULOUSLY! Anything that lights from all sides (top, bottom, side to side) works for me and it does the job! (only cost me about 10 bucks too) 🙂

a. z Avatar

I have two mirrors at different ends of my room so they get different angles of the sun, and so sometimes I go back and forth.

But when its night i do it with my ceiling lights…which suck cause my mom switched it for those energy saving ones…I look like the simpsons completely yellow

Katie Avatar

I have a makeup mirror that I got for Christmas. It says it’s “natural lighting” but I think it has some sort of fluorescent bulb in it… not quite natural, but close enough. In the camera it looks blue, but otherwise it looks fine.

Amy Avatar

Our kitchen table is sort of in a corner, and we have windows at a 90 degree angle there, if that makes sense, so I will open up the shades and do my makeup sitting at the kitchen table, in front of a magnifying mirror. When I used to have to do my makeup before dawn, though (I don’t miss those early shifts!), I had to do my makeup with the kitchen lights on that had a very yellow cast to them, and I always looked weird when I saw myself later! LOL.

Hyzenthlay Avatar

I hate the lighting in my bathroom. It’s SUPER yellow, and I always look drastically different when I get outside. I’ve told my bf that one day (sooner than later) we will have a bathroom with GOOD lighting! A life goal, I supose . . .

Sarah Avatar

we just changed all of the bulbs in our house to be daylight balanced.. basically, white light. incandescent is more yellow (like most house lights) and fluorescent is more green toned (more like an office). the best way to tell is to take a picture of something in the house with your camera.. and then after you upload it to your computer, if you have to make a color adjustment to get a “true color”, that’s the “temperature” that your light is at.

isis Avatar

Same as you Christine! Bathroom lighting with a bit of natural light since there is a window next to my mirror. Its the only place in my flat where I can do it really.

Kat Avatar

I used to do my makeup in Natural light, because it ends with the best result, but because I have to wake up 6.20 and there’s no light outside, I have to do it in my room. That is just ordinary light from front, left side and top.

alisha Avatar

I have fluro light in my bathroom.. it forces me to be so carefull and precise with my application.. but I guess it helps my MU look better! lol

it also helps me when i’m trying to pluck my eyebrows, or wax my stache! I have to get every hair out! LOL

dolce aria Avatar

Super yellow looking recessed lighting. PLus, i’m in the northwest, so even though there’s a lot of windows, not much “light” actually filters through. But I walk around between steps to look at it in a different bathroom that has somewhat less yellow recessed lighting.

kpenn09 Avatar

I work and live in a residence building at school and the fluorescent lighting is circa 1960 – super yellow, super bright and all-around unflattering, especially for a very fair girl like me!

The good news is that my makeup ALWAYS looks better in natural lighting!

lazeny Avatar

I do my makeup in my room w/c has 2 large windows facing west and north, so there’s a lot of sunlight coming in. As much as possible I avoid applying makeup using fluorescent lights because I tend to apply more product w/ artificial lights.

resham Avatar

i have bathroom lights. Its very deceptive though. My small table mirror is moveable and i keep it in front of window and do my male-up (if its in morning or day time). evenings and nite tym, bathroom lights again.

Melissa Avatar

Natural. I have a desk that faces a window and open my shades to give me outside lighting so I don’t look like I threw my makeup on with a spoon. If it’s dark, I have to rely on 150 watt bulb. Yuck.

DonnaN Avatar

Wow, such a good question….I have no idea! It depends on the time of day….The room I do my makeup in gets the best natural light, but I’m planning to get a better makeup mirror that has built-in lighting.

barbara Avatar

i can identify with the homemade light ring…
i hung a hand mirror on my over-the-toilet shelf unit, and then i clipped a desk lamp to the top shelf so i get close-up and concentrated light. only trouble is that i sometime have a darker right side because i can’t get the lamp to illuminate my left side as well…perhaps i should try white christmas lights, huh?!?

Heli Avatar

In natural light right in front of a window whenever it’s possible but I also have a bright “cool white” bulb which is pretty close to natural light (4000K) for the dark mornings in winter. It’s actually an energy saver too.

Anitacska Avatar

It depends of the time of day, if it’s light outside then I do my make up next to the window in netural light. If it’s dark, then I do it in the bathroom under the ceiling lights (spotlights), not great, but it is fairly natural.

Carolina Avatar

Hey Christine!
I was wondering, do you have any tips to create fabulous brows in no time?
I find the rest of my make-up routine takes a lot of time so I’d love to not having to spend a lot of time fixing them on workdays(people can’t believe how early I wake up just to put on my make-up in the morning!).

Got thin and way too light brows for my dark hair!
Help, anyone!

Katarina Avatar

During the winter-half of the year, I do it in the bathroom.. It’s pitch black outside so I couldn’t possibly do it in natural light in the morning. During the summer-half I do it in natural light though 🙂

K Avatar

Fluorescent light in my bedroom. Back when I used to open my shades each day, it would be either all natural light or a mix of fluorescent and natural light as I did my makeup. Now, there is too much crap in the way to open my shades each day so fluorescent light only it is! I don’t do my makeup in the bathroom. The lighting is too bright and too yellow.

Mommy2Maya Avatar

I got an amazing makeup mirror from Costco for $15! It is framed with “natural light” and the other side has the 8x’s magnification…which scares me ;). I saw a similar mirror at Target and it was $60! Gotta love Costco.

AnGeLwInGz Avatar

I have to be at work really early in the morning, so I usually put on my make-up using the dome light of my car. Red lights and stop signs only, of course… 🙂

Ceci Avatar

Depends on where I’m going. If it’s a nighttime thing, I just do it under indoor lighting in my bathroom (they’re low light bulbs basically). If it’s for work, I go there and do it under that lighting since it’s where I’m spending the day anyway. I try for every other occasion to do it in natural lighting by my dining room windows.

Angela Avatar

I do my makeup in regular old fluorescent lighting in my bathroom. I try to give myself a look over in the natural light that comes through in the living room just to be sure everything is blended and that I’m not orange or red looking. lol.

CeeBee Avatar

I got a seven bulb Hollywood strip light put in above our bathroom mirror with special lux bulbs that are a close as possible to natural light. Still gives a faint yellow cast but I have three big windows that let in enough natural light (for 9 months of the year anyway) to counteract that.
And if you get your makeup right under those glaring lights it looks awesome in natural light 🙂 Plus I’m horribly short sighted so I have to do my eye make up about 2 inches away from the mirror anyway… 😛

Vness_12 Avatar

I have no choice but to use the lighting in my bathroom which is horrendous! It’s just this crappy light in the ceiling I can’t stand it. My mom’s bathroom however is my dream makeup lighting/mirror combo come true LoL. Trying to get the fiance to get me a nice vanity table so I can set up my own lighting.

Valentine Avatar

As much as possible. On days when I have no time / roommate’s sleeping in / not really in the mood for prettifying myself to the max, I use shoddy fluorescent bathroom lighting. On “good” days, however, I open up all the blinds, turn on all the overhead lights, and then do my makeup with as much natural light as possible. I actually think it makes life (and application) much easier.

Sher Avatar

I have “cool natural daylight” bulbs in my makeup room. I love them. They are basically white lights and your makeup looks the same as it does outside. I’ll never go back to yellow/warm lights. 🙂

shelby Avatar

I like to do my makeup in the bathroom. The lighting in my room is not as bright and i tend to make more mistakes while applying it in my bedroom.

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