A ring light, as the name suggests, is a donut-shaped light that allows the camera to shoot through the hole in the center. The shape of the light allows for soft illumination of all sides of the subject without producing any harsh shadows, which is why this type of light is so popular for YouTube makeup artists. The circular catchlight in a person's eyes and the halo of light falloff on the background are other signature effects.
A ring light is also unique in how it is positioned. Where standard video lights are often placed at an indirect angle to the subject, the ring light encircles the camera lens and directly lights the subject. This is what provides such an even, flat light, but it's also why ring lights aren't suitable for every type of video. Without shadow, you lose contour and dimensionality - making you look flat in a, say, video conference - but that's exactly what you want if your goal is to show off the effect of makeup in creating contour and dimensionality.
Ring lights can be either flashes or constant lights, but we're only concerned with the latter here as we're looking at lights for video, not still photography. These are almost always made from LEDs and may be powered by batteries, wall power, or both. We're also focusing on lights measuring between 10 and 19 inches. Smaller models are available, like clip-on ring lights designed specifically for phones, and while these can create the classic ring-shaped catchlight, they won't deliver the same light quality as larger ring lights. Find out more about what to look for in a ring light.
Here are the best ring lights