The Beauty Light effect fills your screen with a soft, warm glow that's brightest in the center and fades out toward the edges. Pointed at your face, it softens shadows and gives your skin an even, warm cast without the harder edge of a directional light.
Before you start
- A screen you can point at yourself. A second monitor, a laptop, a tablet, or a phone all work — it needs to face you, not your camera.
- A camera and a call or recording app running somewhere else — a second device, or a separate window on the same computer.
- A neutral light source nearby if color accuracy matters. Every Color Temperature option here is warm. If you're checking makeup color rather than just looking good on camera, you'll want daylight or a lamp for the actual color check.
Set it up
- Open the Beauty Light effect on the screen you want to use as your light.
- Position that screen facing you, roughly 18–24 inches (45–60 cm) away to start, behind or beside your camera.
- Set Color Temperature. Warm White is selected by default; switch to Tungsten or Candle for a warmer, more amber look.
- Set Brightness to about 70–80.
- Select Go Fullscreen. Controls fade out after five seconds of no mouse movement so they never end up on camera — move your mouse to bring them back.
- Check your camera preview and adjust distance or Brightness until your face reads evenly lit.
You'll know it worked when your face picks up an even, warm glow that softly brightens and dims every few seconds, with no hard edge visible between the lit center and the darker surroundings.
To leave fullscreen, press Escape or move your mouse and select Exit Fullscreen.
What each control does
| Control | Range | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightness | 10–100 | 80 | Overall output of the glow. The main dial for "too dark" or "too washed out." |
| Color Temperature | Warm White → Tungsten → Candle | Warm White (3000K) | The warmth of the glow, from 3000K down to 1900K. There's no Daylight or Cool White option on this effect. |
You can also drop a logo onto the effect from the Logo tab on the effect page. Logo position, size, and opacity are saved in your browser on that device; Brightness and Color Temperature are not.
Common setups
- Video call on a laptop. Brightness 65–75, Warm White. The laptop screen is close enough that you don't need much output, and Warm White reads naturally under most office and home lighting.
- Beauty or makeup content, screen close to the face. Brightness 80–90, Tungsten or Candle, positioned 12–18 inches away. Closer distance and a warmer temperature give a stronger, more amber glow — good for the look, not for judging true color.
- Long meetings. Brightness 55–65, Warm White. Lower output is easier on your eyes over an hour or two and still reads as well-lit on camera.
- Paired with a directional light. Run Beauty Light at Brightness 45–55 alongside Key Light as your main source. Beauty Light fills in the shadow side softly while Key Light does the shaping.
Troubleshooting
My face brightness seems to pulse or flicker slightly. That's the effect's built-in animation, not a problem — the glow gently brightens and dims on a slow, roughly four-second cycle, and there's no control to turn it off. If you need a perfectly steady light, switch to Key Light, which doesn't animate.
Skin tones or makeup colors look off, especially orange. Beauty Light only offers warm color temperatures — Warm White, Tungsten, and Candle — so everything under it skews warm, and your camera's auto white balance may be fighting it. This is expected: use it for a flattering look, not a color-accurate check. For matching makeup shades, check under daylight or a neutral lamp instead.
The glow barely reaches my face. The light fades to fully transparent by about 70% of the way out from center, so a screen that's too far away or angled off to the side loses most of its effect. Move the screen closer and square it up to face you before raising Brightness further.
There's a bright spot in the middle and dark corners around it. That's the radial shape of the glow — it's centered on the screen, not spread evenly edge to edge. Angle the screen so its center lines up with your face rather than off to one side.
The Settings button or Exit Fullscreen button shows up in my recording. They only fade out after five seconds without any mouse movement. Move the mouse to check your position, then leave it still and wait a few seconds before you start recording or join the call.
My Brightness and Color Temperature reset after I reload the page. That's expected — neither is saved. Note the values you like, or bookmark the effect page and re-set them each time; it takes a few seconds.
Next steps
If you need a fully neutral color range or a light that stays perfectly still, try Key Light for a steady, directional source. For wider, more even coverage across your whole face, Ring Light is the flatter alternative.