Capture Your Essence

Hey Lovelies!!!

Since we are all family, I guess we can go ahead and make a little confession to you guys. Guess what? We LOVE taking photos! To go along with our obsession, we snagged a little saying called "capturing the essence". To have your essence captured is to look your very best in a photo.

Whether a beauty junkie, fashion addict, or neither, everyone wants to look great on film, and with a few tips it’s completely doable. Many times people leave it up to the photographer to make sure the picture is flawless but a great photo is a group effort.

Here are the VB tips to capture your essence:

Watch the Bronzer: I (Teneasha) am absolutely in love with bronzer. On my clear skin days sometimes I’ll dab on a little bronzer and that will be my whole face. However, if your bronzer is like mine with a fine shimmer watch the amount you put on before a photo. Once the flash hits the shimmer it can look oily rather than sun kissed.

Clear Eyes: A few drops of visine can do wonders before a photo. The solution is soothing to the eyes and will get rid of any red or tiredness and it will help those with smaller or lazier eyes keep them open so you don’t look like you’re a step from falling asleep or intoxicated.

Work It!: We like to live by the little saying that states, "Everywhere we is a runway!" The VB girls started using this phrase after we noticed that some of our best photos were in the most random places (ie in the train station or stairwell). Don’t spend so much time finding the perfect background. Embracing scenic options will offer a great variety to your photos, and it gives you more to play with in posing because you can use it as inspiration.

Practice in the Mirror: Get to know your face. The easiest way to do this is to look in the mirror. Practice your perfect smile or expressions. Be crazy and do unexpected things. Roll your eyes, blow kisses, or even scream. You might end up with a very high fashion photo.

Check your Sources: Look in magazines or one of the many fashion/beauty reality shows and determine why you like the picture and try to duplicate it.

Strike A Pose!: You don’t have to have the perfect body, to look like you have the perfect body in a photo. Don’t you love that?! Posing to the side instead of head on can take 20 lbs off in 5 seconds. If you’re butt is not as large as you wish it was than stick it out and give yourself something extra. Suck in the stomach and tuck the extra arm jiggle.

Be Natural: An over posed picture looks just that...overdone. Make sure your smile is natural. Having friends around is helpful because they usually make the atmosphere really relaxed. Its cool to have informal photo shoots with your friends, you’ll feel more comfortable letting go. The VB girls have taken the best picture of each other cause we don’t care if we look silly in front of each other.

Improvise: Wear colors that compliment your complexion and personality (which you should be doing any way). Props are a fun way to throw an unexpected element in a photo and it helps to challenge your creativity.

These are just a few tips we’ve learned along the way. Let us know how you make your pictures fabulous. Let us know if you want us to interview a photographer and provide some professional insight. We love hearing from you!

Keep it BLUE!!!