Makeup Disasters – Dealing with Flashback

I had a fabulous 40th to attend a few weeks back and I was so looking forward to doing my makeup, because these days I just don’t get time to do it during the week. #MomLife

I sat down, primed and prepped my face and got the party started…I ended up not going as dramatic as I wanted to, because I only had one hour. True story.

We headed off to the party and danced like it was 1999! I had the best time….literally the best….until I saw the pictures of myself. *insert horror music* Oh. Em. Gee. The first thing I thought was…these are going to go onto social media and people will be thinking: She blogs about makeup, but she can’t control her flashback? 

I looked like an extra from The Adams Family. It was so bad and I was understandably MORTIFIED! I truly believe though, that from every horrible life experience, is a lesson…and boy oh boy….am I hell bent on learning from this one.

What causes flashback?

1. SPF

The main culprit that I know about, is SPF. You find SPF in many foundations, which is obviously great for your skin in the sun, but not so great for your photos when the sun abandons you.

How I understand it, is that UV rays reflect the suns rays to protect your skin, but I’m guessing SPF doesn’t have a brain to know that a flash ain’t skin cancer and it then tries to reflect the light coming from the flash. Voila…FLASHBACK!

Always check your foundations for SPF and try to be mindful of the light situation if you’re going to an event of some sort. If it’s a day time event, no problem. The minute that flash comes out though, girl run for cover!

2. Silica

So I knew about SPF, but I did not know about silica. Silica is predominantly found in HD powders. It’s great for blurring lines, mattifying the skin, but not so great for flash photography.

Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants, and you need the effects of that specific powder, so try to go in with a very light hand where you need it. Use a fluffy brush and definitely do not use it to set your whole face.

3. Titanium dioxide and Zinc oxide

These are also ingredients (commonly found in products containing SPF, but not limited to) that cause flashback , especially if they’re the active ingredients, so look out for them as well.

So it’s not enough that we need different summer and winter foundations, but now we also need day and night time foundations? Urgh…make up is hard gals!

What caused my flashback?

I have an idea of products to avoid to prevent flashback, and I was pretty darn careful with my makeup on the night in question.

1. The 1st problem was that I used a beauty sponge that was SATURATED in foundation that my 8yr old was playing with. I had washed 2 sponges…and had said 2 clean sponges in front of me when I started, but I opted to use the one I lightly washed…the one she played with. When I saw her the next morning I asked her which foundation she had played with…and of course Murphy you sly sly wench….it was the SPF CONTAINING FOUNDATION.
2. The 2nd part of my problem was that I set my face with the Smashbox Photo Set pressed powder (I love that powder). Now I’m not sure if it’s just me, but if something has ‘photo set’ in the title, I’m going to assume it’s safe for PHOTOS??? Doing this blog post I decided to look into ingredients that is not something I have really done in the past and I now see that my precious Smashbox powder has an SPF15. That my friends….obviously sealed my fate.

Needless to say, I hope those pictures never see the light of day on social media, but I know its coming….those tags will come and I will pretend to not see any of them. Also, I take comfort in the fact that this has happened to the best of the best…. as we can see from the pictures above. 😉

Have you ever been the victim of flashback? Do you know of any products that definitely do cause flashback or products that are on the safe list?

PS If you find this post helpful and you think it can save other gals from this awful makeup disaster, be a good gal-friend and share this post with your friends 😉