Ep 129 What is the Best Brand of Makeup for TV Appearances May 8, 2016

What is the best brand of makeup of powder to wear if you're going on television.

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.

This question comes from one of my clients I recently trained over in the Middle East. Fred writes, tj, what is the best brand of thank you for what you're doing. I will get some powder for my face and my head. What specific brands for TV do you recommend? Well, Fred, I appreciate you asking. This is exactly the sort of question that is ideal for this show because this is not a question you're going to find addressed on any other show. It's too niche to see as a segment on cnn. It's too specific to see in any general business publication. It's exactly the sort of question that I like to get here on Speaking with TJ Walker. As you know, we take any question that relates to public speaking, speaking to the media. This is a media related question. Now what I do recommend, some of you have heard in previous podcasts, is that you always wear makeup anytime you're going to be in front of a video camera. It's not that we all have to be beautiful, glamorous movie stars. I mean, those of you watching the video portion of this show will be able to see plenty of flaws with me. However, I do have powder on and Fred was asking me what is the best sort of powder. I have tried lots and lots of different makeups and full confession and I'm not selling you anything today. I have my own brand of makeup that I used to make. I don't sell it anymore and I don't recommend it, frankly. Was like a lot of smart people with smart ideas. I have a lot of dumb, stupid ideas too. One of my stupid ideas was having a brand of makeup just for men who are going on tv. But I still use this makeup in part because I have a lot sitting around and also because it meets my needs. This is what's called a mosaic makeup. Those of you listening on the audio podcast, all I'm doing is holding up a little compact with a mirror and it's a whole bunch of different colors of powder. So I just take a brush, I swirl it around and then I put the brush all over my forehead, my nose and my face. Now, I already had makeup on, so you're not going to see a large difference for those of you watching the video. But what the powder does, what you're looking for in powder is it eliminates the shine, it evens out the skin tone. If you have any sort of blemishes, nicks from shaving moles, it doesn't completely eliminate them. It just minimizes them slightly and just creates a slightly neater look. Now, here's the tip that applies primarily to men, but it could apply to some women, too. If you have less than a completely thick, full, let's say, Prime Minister Trudeau head of hair. Those of you who've seen the Prime Minister of Canada and his perfect head of hair, for those of you who like more older US References, a Ronald Reagan head of hair. If you don't have perfect hair like that and your hair is more like mine, that is three, four of it gone. What I do is I put powder on the top of my head. And certainly if you're just thinning a little at the hairline, you put the powder right at your hairline, it's not going to make you look like you have a thick, full head of hair. But what it does is minimize the shine. It minimizes the attention on your scalp. Because if you have thin hair and you're under bright lights, what happens is if you have a little bit of sweat, then that sweat will magnify even more, your hair will almost disappear and you'll look even balder than you are. And I realize this sounds superficial. Guess what? It it is. We are all superficial at some level. And you want to look your best. More tips on makeup in just a moment.

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The main consideration when you're getting powder. By the way, this applies to women, too. I don't want to sound sexist and stereotype here. Some women choose not to wear makeup anytime. In general, I don't think I'm being boldly sexist to say that a higher percentage of women than men wear makeup in most countries. So I am going to assume a lot of women are familiar with it. But here's the thing about the brand and all that. The main concern is you don't change. You don't try to change the color of your skin. It looks very odd and artificial and fake. If you're putting a powder on your face and it's darker than your natural skin color, because then at the top of your hairline or around your jaw, there's a contrast. It looks fake, phony, contrived, or you bring up your hand and your hand is just 10 shades lighter than your face, it's going to be shocking. To people. So if you have darker skin, the basic mosaic powder might not work for you. You need to experiment. But my recommendation, just go to any drugstore or cosmetic store. And this is not one of these cases where the more expensive, the better. I don't recommend that you spend much money at all. You don't need to put a lot of powder on, but I do think you need to put some on. I typically never speak in front of a camera without powder on. It's just one little extra edge to give a little bit of a neater appearance. Here's the thing, even with speeches, because with most speeches these days, I'm having somebody videotape it. If nothing else, I may want to use footage of that to put on my YouTube channel, to use as a segment for this podcast, to learn, or to use as a marketing tool. So even though it's not a TV appearance, it's still something where I'm on camera and I want to look my best. The problem, of course, is if you don't wear any makeup or any powder, you can look shiny. It can distort your features sometimes, make your nose look different than it does in real life. It can make you look plastic, and you just don't look your best. And here's the thing, Everyone else on TV is wearing makeup. Every news anchor, every actor, every sitcom star. So if you're going on a local broadcast or a national broadcast and you're not wearing makeup, well, then you're the one who stands out. So I would recommend, at a minimum, carry a simple compact. I know some of you men feel a little uncomfortable about this, but I'm just giving it to you straight. This is what I do, and this is certainly what a lot of successful politicians do. Have some compact of powder that you can carry with you, or someone who works with you can. And put it on. Because you go to a big TV network. Yeah, they might make you up, they might not. I've been to small, little TV studios in small towns, and they made me up quite nicely. I've been to Rockefeller center on NBC, on msnbc, and they didn't make me up. So you can't assume. Here's the thing, nobody really cares about you looking your best much as you, so you might as well take it seriously. No one else does. So, Fred, thank you so much for the question. And of course, to summarize, it doesn't matter what brand. I realize some of you may be partial to your brands of makeup, in my opinion. Doesn't matter as long as you have powder as long as it doesn't make your skin look lighter or darker than it naturally is. Do that, you will be in good shape.

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Fred thanks so much for the question. I do appreciate it. As always, all of your questions are appreciated here folks. This show is about you. It's not about me. It's not just me offering more abstract theory. It's about practical, hands on answers to your questions. About public speaking, presentations, speaking when you're training, speaking in a variety of situations, speaking to the media, speaking in times of crisis, any of those situations. No question is too picky, too small or insignificant. It will be answered here, but I can't read your mind. You have to write to me. I suppose you could call as well. I make my number pretty easy to find right on the website. But you can always email me tjediatrainingworldwide.com youm can tweet your questions. J. Walker. You can also post your questions on the YouTube channel if you're watching it there. If you're listening to this, you can write to me through SoundCloud if you're on that platform. You can also post your questions anywhere you are seeing or hearing this show, whether it is on Facebook, LinkedIn, on Tumblr, any other application. Happy to hear from you. Thanks again. I'm TJ Walker. May all of your presentations in life be a huge success.

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