FtBCon(science)3 is going on right now. I was on the ex-Muslims panel this morning, naturally, and will be on the kink panel that’s on at 1 PM PDT today as well as the poly one that is tomorrow also at 1 P PDT.

I’ve done quite a few Hangouts-on-Air-driven panels and vidcasts at this point, including FtB Con. While a full makeup routine looks great on webcam, there’s really no need to spend that much time and effort. This is especially true when the panel is at a certain time of day in order to accommodate multiple time zones. As a person of the PDT (and sometimes PST) persuasion, I often am the one obliged to wake up rather early to make it to a panel. I don’t always have the time and energy to do a full face and one isn’t really all that necessary anyway.

The results of a webcam-specific makeup routine might look silly in a selfie and even more so in the flesh, but it works for its intended purpose.

Picture-heavy tutorial below the jump.
Behold, my “I woke up like dis” selfie. Well, I did wash my face and moisturize.

Compare how that looks on webcam.

The difference highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the webcam. Webcams tend to smooth out your skintone, so the little scars and imperfections aren’t as obvious. On the other hand, features tend to oversmooth and for a video, you want your features to pop and sparkle, not dissolve. Plus, that oversmoothing means things like undereye bags and hair frizz stands out instead of cheekbones or eyes.

This can be fixed.

I used my favorite anti-frizz product to tame my hair a little, then used my fingertips to tease my roots out. You want volume, but not as much messiness. As for my undereye area, the oversmoothing effect means that all I needed to make them less prominent was foundation. I tapped some on then blended it out with a brush, then used the brush to blend some all over my eyelids and surrounding area. I did the eye on the right of this picture but not the one on the left to show the difference.

I then did the other eye and filled in my brows. Check out how both eyes look in this selfie, like I have a weird yellowish bandit mask on. That’s not how it looks on cam.

I also used a bit of foundation on the brush all over my face to take down some of the ruddiness and smooth out my features. Looking good, but my eyes and cheekbones still aren’t as prominent as I want them to be.

I added some soft brown eyeliner to my bottom waterline, black liquid eyeliner to my top lashline, and mascara to my top lashes only.

I didn’t have to be super precise since that’s not what matters here. Then I added highlighter to the inner corner and under my browbone. For contour, I did my cheekbones with matte bronzer under, shimmering bronzer on the cheek as blush, and a highlighter right along the cheekbones themselves.

That’s better.

Oh, these old cheekbones? Grew ’em myself.

I then added a bit of lip color and highlighter along my cupid’s bow for a finished look.

Compared to my initial webcam capture, you can see my features more and notice my eye bags less.

Now see how the look shows up on a selfie.

My face looks too bright up top and dark on bottom. My brows look overdone. You can see the scars and ruddiness on my face far more. All this is even more true in the flesh. It’s perfect for cam, though.

Also perfect for cam: Business from the waist up, party on bottom.

For useful if less webcam-specific hints, check out How to Be More Photogenic.

Got beauty questions? Drop me a line via the method of your choice: Twitter / Tumblr [anon enabled] / Facebook/ ask.fm (anonymous) / email