Presenting Yourself
Photos That Sell Without Overpromising
card 01
Good light does most of the work
for the marketer
Shoot near a window in daylight, light on your face — not behind you. Soft, even light makes any product look its best, honestly.
for the professional
Lighting is the highest-leverage thing you control and needs no editing. Diffuse daylight — a window, overcast sky, a sheer curtain — wraps a product evenly and shows true color.
card 02
Show the real color — don't paint it in later
for the marketer
The shade in your photo should match the shade in the tube. What they see is what they get — that's the whole promise.
for the professional
Filters quietly rewrite the product: a warm filter turns a neutral nude peachy. The customer orders the photo and receives the tube — make them match.
- DO
- Correct only exposure and white balance so color reads true
- DON'T
- Add a filter that shifts the product's actual shade
- WHY
- A shade that doesn't match the tube is a misrepresentation
card 03
No doctored before-and-afters
for the marketer
Never smooth, slim, or "fix" skin in a before/after. If the photo does what the product can't, that's the filter — not the product.
for the professional
A retouched before/after is the riskiest image a distributor can post: it manufactures a result the product didn't produce and presents it as proof.
- DO
- Post unretouched, same-light, same-angle honest photos
- DON'T
- Airbrush skin, reshape features, or edit a "result" in
- WHY
- A doctored transformation is a fabricated claim the FTC treats as deceptive
card 04
Let the caption carry the claim — safely
for the marketer
A pretty photo still needs honest words. Say "the appearance of" a result, and quote wear time right: "4 to 18 hours of wear."
for the professional
The image sets the mood; the caption makes the claim — and the caption is where compliance lives.
- DO
- "Improves the appearance of smoothness" · "4 to 18 hours of wear"
- DON'T
- "Erases lines" · "lasts all day" · "18 hours guaranteed"
- WHY
- Cosmetics speak to appearance; the wear range is fixed — never the ceiling, never "guaranteed"
for the skintellectual
The safe-language structure our guidance applies to every product benefit is [visual verb] + "the appearance of" + [cosmetic noun] — e.g. "visibly smooths the appearance of fine lines," never "smooths fine lines." Percentages must be perception- or study-framed: "in a clinical study, X% saw improvement in the appearance of…," never a naked stat. Per-product wear phrasings are exact and non-negotiable: LipSense is "4 to 18 hours" (never "up to 18"); BrowSense is "up to 16 hours." Say "Lip Color," never "lipstick." None of this changes because the words sit under a photo instead of in a paragraph — the image is decoration, the caption is the claim, and the claim is held to the identical standard.
card 05
One honest look, repeated, becomes your signature
for the marketer
Pick a light, a background, a way of framing — and keep it. A consistent style makes your feed instantly yours.
for the professional
A consistent look does two jobs: it makes your account recognizable, and it removes the temptation to over-edit one post to "win."