Beauty Retouching

I am a London-based freelance beauty retoucher with over 25 years’ experience, working with photographers, agencies and brands. My beauty retouching covers commercial and campaign imagery, from detailed skin and hair work to the finishing touches that keep an image polished without losing its natural feel.

Every project is different. Some images call for a glossy, glamorous finish. Others need a lighter touch that keeps the skin’s real texture and character. I work from your brief, your references and how the images will be used, and I adapt the retouching to suit each project rather than applying one fixed style to everything.

Commercial Beauty Retouching

I have retouched beauty and cosmetics campaigns for brands including Lancôme, Rodial, Avon, ModelsOwn and SleekMakeup. The work typically covers skin clean-up, hair and hairline refinement, make-up and eyelash adjustments, teeth and eye retouching, and subtle shaping of highlights and shadows.

Skin is often one of the most important elements in a beauty image. I combine careful texture work with dodging and burning to refine the complexion while keeping its natural detail intact. My aim is to achieve the finish the brief calls for, without creating an unnecessarily over-processed result.

Consistency matters too when a project involves several images. Skin tone, colour, make-up and overall treatment need to sit together across the set, so every image reads as part of the same campaign.

A Considered Approach to Beauty Retouching

There is no single correct way to retouch a beauty image. The right result depends on the photographer’s style, the brand, the creative direction and where the images will appear. Some briefs call for a natural, minimalist finish that preserves texture. Other briefs may call for something more stylised, highly polished or even incorporate an ultra-real aesthetic.

I usually start by reviewing the brief alongside any references, mood boards or existing campaign imagery. This clarifies the level and style of retouching before I begin. Where it helps, I will produce one image first to establish the treatment, then apply it consistently across the wider set.

I also bring my own judgement to each image, while staying close to the agreed direction. My aim is not to impose a particular look, but to deliver a finish that suits the brief and fits the creative direction.

The same attention to skin, hair, make-up, colour and tonal balance can also be applied when beauty elements form part of a wider image.

Beauty Retouching Portfolio

A selection of my beauty retouching work: skin, hair, make-up and overall image finishing, across a range of styles.

This image for Nip and Fab cosmetics required some product retouching techniques as well as beauty so the product looked great. Specifically this image involved:

• skin work, smoothing of surfaces while retaining skin texture.
• shaping and contouring the lips
• improving / adding to the texture of the lip gloss
• the PDF artwork was used to rebuild the branding on the product which had some glare on the original.

See more in my beauty retouching portfolio.

Beauty Retouching Before & After

Before-and-after examples show most clearly how I refine an image while staying true to the original brief.

This image has been manipulated to:

• retouch all skin to be perfect and free of all blemishes
• the face and arms are dodged and burned to give more form and highlights
• a coloured glitter has been added to all skin to harmonise with the colour scheme

See my Beauty Before and After page for more examples and details.

Discuss a Beauty Retouching Project

Looking for a beauty retoucher for an upcoming project? Get in touch. I work remotely for clients across the UK, and on-site in London when needed.

Contact me about your retouching project.

Additionally, I also use many of the same techniques when retouching portraits and people and fashion/editorial.

All images copyrighted John Deaville / Photofixer.