How to Take a Good Selfie

Everyone’s taking selfies these days. Even my folks (okay, mostly my mum) have been attempting to take selfies! This whole selfie thing is an extremely vain phenomenon that totally indulges one’s self-absorbed side (come on, everyone has a vain side – same reason you check yourself out first before looking at others in a group photo!). So since we’ve acknowledged that and gotten it out of the way, let’s go straight to the important stuff: how then to look good in a selfie?  I’ve narrowed it down to four basic tips that work for me.

Tip #1: Lighting is everything

Always face a light source while taking a selfie.

It makes the skin look radiant and rested – even sans makeup! This was taken directly facing a window, while getting my makeup done for a shoot. (Makeup artists always insist on natural light wherever possible when doing up a face!)

While writing this and looking for selfie pictures on my mobile to accompany my tips, I found that most of my selfies were taken in a car! There are a few reasons for this; I am slightly embarrassed to be caught taking a selfie in public, so the privacy of my car is a great place; I get bored when I find myself waiting in the car and also, the car in the day has a great source of natural light from the windscreen!

 

Top #2: Dress up your selfie
Selfies are self-indulgent, especially if you take one daily (or several times a day!) and worst, POST one several times a day! Hate to break it to you, but no one really wants to see you mug on their Instagram or Facebook feed a few times a day, no matter how pretty or handsome you are.

One way to break the boring monotony of selfies (You smiling! You frowning! Your selfies always looking the same, save for change in facial expression…) is to change it up by dressing it up. This may be harder for guys – hate to be sexist here, but I think ladies are ‘allowed’ more self-indulgence in the form of selfies than men – but in your selfie arsenal you have lipstick, shades, necklaces, hair accessories and the like to play around with.

Try fun sunnies for a different look:

Change up your makeup; if you usually do smoky eyes and nude lips, you might want to try a bold, red lippie:

Play with props! Oatmeal the bear sits in the car and keeps me company throughout the day, so it’s only right that he should feature in some of my car selfies:

Funky shades, check. Interesting necklace, check. Front lighting, check. Cutie in the backseat: icing on the selfie cake!

 

Tip #3: Pay attention to your hair

Because while a selfie is about taking a photo of your mug, it’s not just about the face. You may want to change up your hairstyle so you will not have the same look in every selfie.

Things I learnt from Eunice Annabel, who takes the prettiest selfies, is that hair is very important

Eunice was really sweet and gave me a lesson on hair that looks good in selfies – all her tips and tricks in the following video!

Tip #4: Angles are good

Eunice Annabel knows her angles; she knows which her ‘good’ side is and how to make the most of it. To me, she is super gorgeous and if you’ve met her in person, she really looks good from every angle! She did however mention her rounder face shape as a concern and not a feature she particularly wants to play up. She’s not alone; it seems everyone wants a smaller, more ‘V’-shaped face these days, especially in photos. I am generally okay with my face shape, but less fullness in the cheek area and more angles to the face (I love razor-sharp, Kate Moss-type cheekbones!) would be great, thanks.

Taking photos at an angle gives the illusion of a more contoured face. Not quite Kate Moss, but there’s some definition in the cheekbones here:

Something that I’ve found really helped me look better in selfies this past year (excuse the self-praise, sorry!) is a product that de-puffs and slims the face. You see, while I wasn’t blessed with Ms Moss’ cheekbones, some semblance of cheekbones do exist beneath the slightly chubby cheeks that I’ve lived with most of my life.

Check out my journey to getting a slimmer face (complete with old photos!) here if you haven’t!

From working in television for quite a few years now, I’ve realised how much water my body retains! I learnt this the hard way on my first overseas assignment – I was to interview Keane in Bangkok. It’s Thailand, yo, so I indulged in tom yum soup the night before (I love spicy, clear soups such as tom yum and ma la!) and when I saw the interview when it was televised (on national television, no less) I almost died. I could barely recognise myself! My face was so round (doesn’t help that the TV really does “put on” 5 kg!).

After looking through all my selfie photos for this post, I found that in recent times – since I started using this product over a year ago – a lot of my photos are generally taken straight on. No need for any angling!

Here’s the secret (okay, not-so-secret!) product I was talking about:

There’s a new and improved formula now (just launched a few months ago!) that I think works even better than the version I started using over a year ago. Even more people have commented that I’ve lost weight since I started using the newly formulated Shaping Facial Lift by Clarins – I haven’t; it’s just that the face looks slimmer now without all the puffiness and heaviness from water retention! Now I just wish I’d know about this product when I started out in television so I wouldn’t have had so many “omg my face looks super bloated” moments when I watched playback of my shows. Ah well. Sharing this now so at least you have a ready solution – unlike me at the start of my career in the media. Good things must be shared!

One of my most recent selfies so you can decide for yourself if it works.