Kid Model Makeup and Hair Tutorial

Hi lovelies! Welcome to Beautify and Creatify. In today’s blog post I want to teach you how to do makeup and hair on kid models for the photoshoots. I hope this tutorial will be helpful for those of you who are looking for tips and tricks to help little models get ready for clothing boutique catalogue shoots, editorial magazine shoots or other modeling photoshoots.

As a mom of two girls, I too, think that kids do not need makeup. However, as a professional in beauty and fashion industry, I know that being “camera ready” implies to wear some sort of makeup, be it a kid model or a male model, news anchor or a random guest appearing on TV. Otherwise, simple natural features such as darker under eyes may appear as “tired, tortured kid being forced to model” when it might not be the case. I want to add a disclaimer that so far all the kid models I worked with enjoy participating in photoshoots and were not forced into modeling.

I have never worked with kids doing pageants and have never done makeup for pageants. Today’s makeup tutorial is specifically about makeup on kids who are modeling for clothing companies or magazines. I thought I needed to mention that before we proceed, as I’ve seen that pageants’ makeup differs significantly and I am not really knowledgeable about pageants at all. Let’s get started!

Let’s talk about the makeup first. The makeup on child model needs to be minimal and soft, as opposed to edgy, heavy or harsh makeup. Just like with grown up models’ makeup, you have to avoid products with high SPF to avoid flashback on photos. 

- I personally like to use lightweight moisturizers or makeup bases as opposed to primers when prepping the skin for makeup. My personal favorite is Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrate.

- Children’s skin is usually flawless, so I always skip foundation and use concealer as needed. As mentioned before, some minor uneven skin tone, such as darker under eyes can be neutralized by the small amount of concealer. When choosing concealers, I also opt-out for lightweight concealers.

- Next step is setting the whole face with powder, concentrating most of the product on the center of the  face. I don’t use loose powders, as they get messy, so I set the face with pressed powders and use brush to pick up small product at a time. Concealer and powder helps to even out overall skin complexion but camera likes dimension, so we'll be adding that next! 

- Use blushes to create dimension on the kids' face by applying it on the apples of the cheeks. You can use either cheek tints or cream blushes (which can be replaced by lipstick as well) for more natural finish, but powder blushes will work too, of course. I don't mind being more generous with the blush, as I find it adds beautiful youthful definition to the face and appears beautiful in photos. I usually skip adding any bronzer or contouring the face to avoid making the makeup look edgy. I feel like when the face is contoured, it immediately appears to have defined bone structure, which children usually don't have. 

- Finish off by adding some highlighter on high points of the face. Make sure the highlighter is blended into the skin by creating natural finish as opposed to trendy "blinding" highlight.

- Brows. If the kid has fuller or darker brows, I usually just tame and brush through them with clear brow gel. If the brows are too light, I add some color to fill in using brow powders or eyeshadows. I do not recommend using pomades or pencils, as they create very harsh finish.

- Eyes. Simple as possible. Define the crease with nude blush or lighter transition shade and add shimmery eyeshadow/highlighter to the center of the lid and tear ducts. I also like adding slightly darker shade to the outer half of the top lash line and smoke it out. It makes the shape of the eye more enhanced. Again, avoid pencils and liquid liners. Apply mascara to finish off the eye makeup.

- Lips. I always choose tinted lip balm or nude lipsticks. I rarely do metallic/high glossy lip unless it's asked by shoot director. I keep the product minimal and don't change the shape of the lips by outlining them and such. Kids makeup should be as natural as possible, it should look good in pictures, but seem as if they're not even wearing any makeup!

- Finish off by setting the face with makeup fixing sprays if you'd like and that's it. This is how my model looked after the completed steps of makeup application listed above:

Model is Elina Agamirza. Photography, makeup and hair is by me

As you can see my model seems as if she's not wearing any makeup and has precious child's innocence. Now, let's talk about the hair.

As for the hair, it usually depends on the theme of photoshoot. Most of the times, directors just want hair down with hair curled or straight. Half up and half down dos are also popular. As you can see from the photo above, braids are another option for the hair styling. Simple updos as in the photo below are a great way to showcase accessories:

Photography, hair and makeup by me (Delia Ahmed)

I filmed the process of getting ready for the photoshoot with my model where we did her makeup and created one of the quick and simple updos. You can watch the process in the video below:

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Leave me your comments, feedbacks and questions and I will be happy to answer them. You can also connect with me on my social media outlets for more content, info and fast replies from me :).

I'll talk to you in my next post, until then stay blessed! xoxo