Have you met my friend Casper?

Have you ever experienced anything like the pictures above? Your face goes from a nice bronzed look to something more resembling Casper the friendly ghost or like you have perhaps had a bit to much of the naughty naughty cocaine in the bathroom at the latest party?


Never fear Matthew is here to explain why the mysterious phenomenon of flash-back happens and how to prevent it!

What causes this dreaded face to rear it's pasty white head? Generally speaking the main two causes of this are foundations with SPF and HD Powders.

If you remember back to school science you might have touched on the fact that white reflects light and black absorbs it. The same goes with makeup too! In foundations with an SPF they usually contain the ingredients Titanium Dioxide and/or Zinc Dioxide which act as a physical sunscreen. These are sunscreens are very white and opaque by nature and as white reflects light increases the chances of the dreaded ghost face appearing. The higher the SPF the more concentrated these ingredients are, also increasing the chance of flash back occuring.

There are another couple of ingredients that can cause flashback too, these are Silica or Silver Mica. These are often found in mineral makeup or in HD Powders. When applied to dry skin these powders white powders do not turn clear as they do on normal skin instead they retain their white cast and thus increase the risk of flashback. When used very sparingly, and on non-dry skin, HD powders can still work and look beautiful on the skin.

So now that we know what causes the flashback how do we avoid it? The simplest way is to not use foundations with SPF and avoid HD powders if you have dry skin. The thing is with foundation if you have found your absolute HG foundation you don't really want to have to go out and buy a new foundation JUST for taking photos so there is a wee trick to help avoid flash back; coloured loose powders. Applying a coloured loose powder of your face such as the Make Up Forever Super Matte Loose powder over the top of your foundation can greatly diminish the chance of flash back occurring! So don't go throwing out that SPF foundation just because you can't use it in photos!

A third and final point with flash back is, if you see any products with the words "light reflecting particles" my advice is to run for the hills if you want to get something for photo shoots. As these particles will reflect any light, including that flash staring at you in the face!

Hope this post helps you all avoid looking like you've done a bit of the naughty in the bathroom at a party or like you are about 50000 shades lighter than you usually are!

X's and O's

Matthew