concealer

How to Put Your Best Self Forward During a Skype Interview or Conference Call

by C on 02/25/2010 · 30 comments

in Business Etiquette, Commuting, Fashion, Interviewing, Networking

Our first thought when we got this request was, “garsh, these times we live in!” followed by, “of course, we will all be doing these very soon”…

Help! I am a 1L interviewing for summer associate position and the firm has decided to do a skype interview. I am terrified I will look washed out/ too made up/ etc on camera. Any tips for hair/makeup? Also, my career service office recommended wearing a nice blouse, but I feel a suit would be more appropriate.

Wow. Ok. We’ve only used Skype a few times (on our Mac laptop, primarily) to talk to a bestie who lives in London.  From our limited experiences with Skype, we would have to say:  it does not seem to be the most flattering. You don’t know where to look, because you want to see the screen and see what they’re doing, but you should be looking at the camera, and nothing is eye level, and it’s all very weird.  (Pictured:  nick skype, originally uploaded to Flickr by nedrichards.)

Some tips:

1) Download the program NOW, if you haven’t before.  Start playing around with it.  You may even want to see if there’s a way to record yourself talking on Skype (or talking on the other end of Skype) so you can practice — really practice — where to look and how to do it.  Make sure your sound is good, make sure your Internet connection is good. Our guess is that your computer should be nearly eye level in order to do this.

2)  Make sure everything about the call is professional. What’s your username?  If possible get something resembling your e-mail address (even if it has a random number after it) — there are no points for creativity.  Next, look around the room where you’ll be interviewing.  If there’s a blank wall behind you, fine.  If it’s your giant poster of Robert Patterson, you might want to find another locale.  Given our choice, we’d go with a bookcase behind us, but really, just make sure there’s nothing that could be misunderstood as reflecting poorly on your personality or character.  We’d also make sure that if you have any roommates (or a significant other, or kids, or even pets) that you barricade yourself inside a room, perhaps with a sign on the door about how you’re in the midst of a telephone interview and appreciate silence.  (Turn off the ringer on your landline, if you have one, and the ringer on your cellphone, if you use one.)

2) We’d wear a full suit. It will get you in the “interviewing” mindset, and will help you feel more professional during the interview.  In this About.com article on video interviewing, the Tech Expert for Skype recommends avoiding patterns unless you’re sure how they’ll look (dots look worse than stripes) and staying away from bright colors (sky blue looks great, but red/hot pink don’t look so hot). You could just do the top half of the suit (we’re sure we remember some comedic anchor joking about only wearing boxers during the newscast) but this could work against you — you might have to walk across the room to get something.  Play it safe; it’s an interview.

3) For makeup, we would advise paying attention to undereye circles, flyaways, acne, and so forth. We’re a bit surprised to see the advice from the Skype expert, suggesting women wear “high-definition foundation (creating soft-focus effect in any kind of lighting), blu ray high-definition matifier (refines lines, minimizes pores for a polished look) and blu ray high-definition lip gloss (for a high shine, plumping effect)” — perhaps this is the world to come?  As luck would have it, Sephora has a lot of those things on sale right now from the CARGO line of products — for example, this bronzer is $15 from $30 (CARGO blu_ray™ Bronzer Medium Matte).  Not on sale, but also fits the bill: this HD foundation from MakeUp Forever (the primer, MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Microperfecting Primer 0 Neutral, is $32, and the foundation, MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation 115 Ivory, is $40). The concealer from the same line is $28 (MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Concealer 315 Ivory).

4) Finally, focus on your posture. Because you’re in your own house you may feel more at home — don’t; this is still an interview.  You might also want to be wary of awkward pauses in the interview, when you might be tempted to fidget, look bored, or allow yourself to be distracted (as you might during a pause in a telephone conversation). You’re still on camera; act as if you’re sitting in that person’s office.

Readers, please weigh in (particularly if you’ve interviewed someone via Skype!)…

(L-4)

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Tool of the Trade: Touche Eclat

by C on 02/03/2010 · 23 comments

in After-Work Activities, Beauty, Energy, Fashion, Sleep

We’re normally not fans of pricey beauty products — the drugstore is more of our vibe.  However, we were talked into buying this YSL highlighter as part of our wedding makeup, and we are absolutely addicted now, because it’s the perfect way to “look alive” after a long day of staring at the computer screen.  (We use it so often we even keep it in our purse, so we always have it with us.)  Before we head out for a night on the town, we’ll add a bit under the eyelids, alongside our nose beneath our brows, and up over the brow bones to perk up without getting that startled look that plain concealer can bring.  Brilliant.  It’s available at Sephora for $40. Yves Saint Laurent TOUCHE ÉCLATRadiant Touch 1 Luminous Radiance

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What Makeup to Wear While Interviewing

by C on 01/26/2010 · 91 comments

in Beauty, Being Girly, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Hair, Interviewing, Looking Young, Makeup That Stays Put

Today’s reader mail is another request for interview advice, this time in terms of makeup…

I have several on campus interviews for 1L summer jobs the first week in February. I have my conservative gray and black suits. I have my sensible Nine West pumps. I have worked on pulling my hair back off my face. The only piece of the puzzle I do not feel confident about is makeup. I have heard that minimal is the way to go, and I wasn’t planning on breaking out my extensive color palette for eyeshadow or lipstick. But how conservative should I go? Are we talking just foundation to cover flaws? Mascara and lip gloss? Neutral eyeliner and eyeshadow?

To be honest, we’ve never really thought much about what makeup to wear when we interview — but then, we tend to be somewhat boring in terms of daily makeup, to the tune of just varying the eye shadow color from day to day.  So we’re curious what the readers have to say on this one. (Pictured:  This is why you don’t give little girls makeup, originally uploaded to Flickr by Checkered and aMUSEd.) For our $.02, the makeup you wear should have two goals:

  1. Making you look awake and alive
  2. Not distracting the interviewer

For us, this translates as follows:

In terms of looking awake and alive:  every woman has her level of necessary makeup, which, if she leaves the house without, will inspire responses ranging from “Wow, are you feeling okay?” to “Get the shotgun, Pa, the zombies are attacking again.”  For us, this bare minimum is a) undereye concealer (we like Neutrogena 3-in-1 Concealer for Eyes), b) blush (lately we’ve liked Benefit Cosmetics Benetint 0.4 oz Benetint), c) curled eyelashes (we swear by shu uemura Eyelash Curler).  But that’s just us — other women feel naked without foundation; others feel naked without eyeliner.  Figure out what you need to look awake, well-rested, not ill, etc., and then be sure to wear those products.  (We’re not saying not to wear more — our own daily regimen, for what it’s worth, also includes brown or black eyeliner, neutral eye shadow, eyebrow powder, and mascara.  We wouldn’t interview without those things on.  However, the interview makeup tip we pass on in terms of requirements is that don’t-look-like-you-were-out-all-last-night-partying-or-possibly-have-an-alien-creature-living-inside-you one.

In terms of not distracting the interviewer, things you want to avoid include: a) anything sparkly, b) anything too stagey (hello, false eyelashes or blue eyeshadow), c) anything applied poorly (for example, we almost never wear foundation, so for us this would be a danger zone because we’d probably be walking around with it improperly blended), d) anything that fades unevenly.  With regards to (d), we’re primarily thinking of red lipstick, which we think can look amazing — but no matter how carefully we apply it, it always wears unevenly and starts to fade at the center of our lips more than at the outer line of our lips.  This is obviously not the rule — we were fascinated to note the number of speakers wearing red lipstick at a recent conference we attended — but for us, that’s the harsh truth.  We would also add the obvious thing — make sure your makeup flatters you. For example, if you never wear lipstick because it always turns an ugly coral shade on you, don’t feel obliged to wear lipstick to an interview.  No interviewer will sit there wondering, “God, why isn’t she wearing lipstick?”, but they might sit there wondering, “God, her perception of reality must be OFF if she thinks that lipstick looks good on her.”

In fact, the only thing we might do differently for an interview would be to very carefully apply a long-lasting lipstick (we’re fans of L’Oreal’s Infallible LipColour) to last the interview, particularly if lunch is included in the day.

Readers, what are your thoughts on the matter?

(L-4)

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