- Lora Arellano is a celebrity makeup artist and the founder of Melt Cosmetics.
- While partnering with the dating app Chispa, she shared her on-camera makeup tips with Insider.
There's no doubt about it — one of the most difficult parts of being on dating apps is choosing your profile photos.
Should you use old photos you've taken over the years, or should you stage a photo shoot specifically for the occasion? And how many selfies is too many?
At the end of the day, it's all up to you. But if you're taking new photos and looking for tips on what makeup to wear in them, Lora Arellano has got you covered.
Insider spoke with the celebrity makeup artist and Melt Cosmetics founder as she partnered with Chispa, a dating app that caters to Latino singles.
She shared her tips for on-camera glam and what makeup looks she thinks you should include in your dating-app profile.
Wear the makeup you're most comfortable in
As Arellano said when speaking with Insider, there's no right or wrong way to do makeup for dating-app photos. Instead, it should be about feeling comfortable and being yourself.
"Makeup is just there for enhancing, perfecting, and having fun," she said. "If you want to wear a purple eye shadow, just wear it. It's fun. It's not that serious."
The same goes for wearing viral beauty trends in your dating-app photos.
While Arellano doesn't recommend changing your look too drastically based on a trend — she says you should generally "stick to what you know" — she doesn't see the harm in experimenting.
"You can always redo the makeup if you mess up," she said.
Personally, Arellano likes to create camera-ready looks by first applying moisturizer — she uses the Sisley Black Rose mask — and then using a matte foundation like the YSL All Hours formula.
From there, she applies eyebrow makeup, translucent face powder, powder blush, matte lipstick, and setting spray.
"The Urban Decay one will not budge all day," she said.
Don't worry too much about your glam
Once you've figured out what makeup you want to wear in your photos, it's time to stop thinking about it.
"I heard from one particular guy I was dating that I looked super serious in every photo," she said. "And that's because when I take photos with makeup on, I'm just feeling myself."
So instead of trying to capture your makeup in your photos, Arellano suggests focusing on capturing your personality instead.
"I think I looked good in all those photos, but the one that got the most attention was one of me being silly and hugging my pitbull," she added. "I think those are the photos people tend to gravitate to — ones where you seem like a real person and not a porcelain doll."
And finally, Arellano recommends ditching makeup altogether in at least one photo.
"Don't feel afraid to put a selfie out there with just some skin-care products on, because you are beautiful underneath," she said. "The makeup just enhances the beauty."