Before your session
Don’t stress about preparing for your session, I’ll go over everything from what lingerie is best, to what you can do to pamper your body beforehand. I am excited to help you get the boudoir session of your dreams!
- Before we worry about anything else, we always like to start by telling our clients to take care of themselves before their shoots! Drink lots of water, exfoliate, moisturize. Spend extra time taking care of your skin, it’s going to be your main outfit! If you’re shaving or waxing do it a few days before. We can handle a bit of stubble much more easily in post processing than razor burn!
- Refrain from spray tanning! Your natural skin will photograph best! We’ve had so many clients have malfunctions with their spray tanner, resulting weird color patches and drips. The spray tanner also settles in every fine line of your skin, making you look much older. If you absolutely must tan, we recommend UV tanning, which while harmful for your skin, photographs better. Make sure you use extra moisturizer as to not dry out your skin.
- Use this session as an excuse to pamper yourself! Whether that means taking the time to do a pedicure and manicure on yourself, or booking an appointment for someone else to, it’s always a good idea. When doing polish we find it works best visually to have the polish on your nails and toes match. If your polish is chipped, we’ll have you remove it before your shoot.
- Please eat something before you shoot. Don’t do anything drastic like a cleanse or fasting. Posing for our boudoir sessions is kind of similar to a yoga session. You’ll be holding muscles you normally don’t, and often times be inverted laying down. We don’t want anyone to feel faint or light headed. The small amount of body change you feel from cleansing or fasting will not be visible in the final photos. We photograph everyone so their body looks awesome. Even if you think you’re a bit bloated after you eat, we promise you will never be able to tell in your photos.
Lingerie dos and don’ts
Lingerie is important, but it isn’t something you need to stress over. We’ve even shot boudoir sessions with NO lingerie and just some creative bed sheet draping. So don’t let this be a stressful part of your session! These tips are for you to be helpful, but trust your gut and your eye on what kind of things your drawn to!
- DO Get fitted for a bra. This is probably one of the single most important thing you can do to prepare and look the best for your boudoir shoot. If you haven’t been fitted for a bra in the past year, please get fitted. If you were ever fitted at Victoria’s Secret, please go get fitted. We’ve had some of our clients, who are employed at Victoria Secret confirm our suspicions that they really don’t do the best fittings, and will stick you in whatever is close enough to sell you a bra. While we love the lingerie VS offers, please do not get fitted at their stores.
- DO have panties that match your bra! Even if you have beautiful and expensive pieces, please make sure you have at least one matching set.
- DO feel free to over pack. We’ll go through all the options you bring at the beginning of your shoot. We will select pieces based on what we know will photograph best. It’s always better to have more to choose from!
- DON’T buy thigh highs that are “stay-up” and have a silicon or plastic on the inside. No matter how thin you are, the stay-up stocking that use plastic to grip your skin will instantly give you sausage-leg. Either buy the higher end thigh highs made to be worn with a garter belt, or bring in a pair of black panty hose. We can cut the panty hose, and when worn with a garter belt will look just like a well fitting pair of thigh highs.
- DO think texture! We recommend sticking with more solid colors over prints. Our favorite colors are black and jewel tones. We love any texture as it adds interest to your photographs. Lace, beading, glitter, straps, chains, ect. are some of our favorite things.
- DO bring VERY high heels. We love a good pair of flats in our day to day life. Boudoir though is a fantasy and it’s true the higher the heel the better your butt looks. Even if you return them after your shoot, it’s always a good idea to bring a pair of “do-me” shoes. We love black and nude pumps, with a spike heel and a pointed toe. Unless you love the shoe, we don’t recommend ankle straps. Visually they shorten your legs.
- DO bring larger scale accessories. Small and delicate jewelry won’t photograph well. It’s also hard to edit around. When choosing jewelry, think statement pieces! We love earrings over 10mm in size. The more your jewelry catches the light, the better it will be to photograph.
