How to Film a Viral Video Tutorial Like a True Beauty Guru

Good Lighting

Any Hollywood pro will tell you, lighting is everything. According to Molly Gardner, creator of Girl Get Glamorous (@girlgetglamorous on Instagram), lighting your face and your background is crucial for a good tutorial. "The set up should look like: ring light directly in front of subject, to light face and hair, and then a box light on either side, facing towards the background," she says. Ring lights are straight-up magic makers when it comes to taking selfies too.

A Clean Background

Speaking of background, nobody wants to be distracted from your mad curling wand skills because the scene in the room behind you looks like a bomb went off. Keep it simple, but keep it neat too. The elegant bedroom setting for this loose waves hair tutorial with Barbara De Medeiros and the NuMe Dryer Bundle is a great example.

A Great Camera

Gardner suggests investing in a DSLR camera for better clarity. Smartphone cameras are more advanced than ever, but if you want to make your vids legit, the real deal is your best bet. If you're working some serious hair straightening game with the NuMe Fashionista Hair Straightener, for example, you want viewers to be able to clearly see your method. It also helps with getting close-ups of your face or the products. If you want people to remember how much the NuMe Gloss Boss Serum has changed your hair game, you gotta show 'em.

Proper Sound

Sound can make or break any online content. Gardner advises, "Get a microphone. I have a small one that clips to the top of my camera and it has made all the difference in the world." It doesn't matter how glam your contour highlights look or how perfectly messy your messy bun turns out, if the person watching is struggling to hear you break down the steps to achieve the look.

Killer Content

The most effective, successful videos are the ones that clearly and thoroughly explain the technique or product. "I try to keep the chit-chat as minimal as possible," says Gardner. "Imagining the viewer as a customer in a store needing my advice, really helps me cut a lot of fluff out of videos and helps keep me on track while I'm filming." In other words, skip the lengthy anecdote about your jaunt to Vegas last weekend, unless it's really short, and somehow relevant to what the tutorial is explaining.

Savvy Edits

Editing is super important in beauty tutorials because there are certain steps that can be sped up or demonstrated fairly quickly, i.e. no one needs to watch the process of you drying your hair with the NuMe Signature Hair Dryer in real time after you've shown the initial blow out technique. Determine the length of the video by determining the most important elements. Gardner explains, "The length isn't as important as actually making sure that the viewer can walk away and either replicate the technique or have a complete understanding of a product before deciding to make a purchase." So find a good editor you can rely on or even better, become an editing whiz yourself.

The next step is to take on the Youtube sphere and share your talents with the world! Your passion will radiate through the screen and all that hard work will pay off. Share your thoughts with us on IG @NuMeHair or sign up for our newsletter at NuMehair.com for hair tips and exclusive offers.

Check out our YouTube for examples of some great tutorials.

Author: Mary Patterson Broome