Smile, You're on Loli Camera!

I’ve heard it quite often in my daily life: ‘I don’t want to be in any pictures, because I can’t smile!’ or: ‘I feel so insecure whenever there are cameras around…’
The Lolitaworld is no exception: ‘Sorry, I put a star over my derpy face!’ or ‘I cut my head off this picture, I looked so stupid.’

I try to check Daily Lolita as often as possible and it occurs to me that some people just aren’t happy with the way they look on pictures. Or in some cases, just their faces. Or even more specific: their smile.
Smiling is one of those things that can come natural, or not. But don’t cry too early, smiling is something you can easily practise and improve!

If you want to practise your beautiful smile, try it in front of a mirror. Practising in front of yourself is not strange at all. The only obstacle? You. When you’re standing in front of a mirror, looking at yourself and trying out different smiles can feel really awkward. You’ll probably think it’s strange you’re making all kinds of faces and you have the feeling you need to make an apologizing face to the non-present people around you for acting like an idiot (even though you aren't an idiot). Try to realise that you're alone: there's no one there to judge you, except for yourself. Try to remember that you're just trying to create the perfect smile.

When you practise, try to find a smile that suits your face. Maybe you want the Angelic Pretty advertisement smile: enthusiastic, superhappy and bright. Or maybe your prefer the shy doll smile, like on the picture (which is AP too, by the way. Gorgeous picture, I love it).
When you’ve found your ideal smile, start practising it randomly. When you walk past a mirror, quickly flash your smile into it. In this way, you’ll learn to make your smile look spontaneous and not practised at all.

When you don’t want to smile all the time (because your jaws start to feel weird, auch), try something new like one of the Asian Poses. Some of them are just adorable! ^^

Although I am a very insecure person, I am not camera-shy. I know this might sound really contrasting, but I’ve been photographed all my life. My mother loves taking pictures, especially from a person posing. My younger brother hates cameras and never wants to be in the picture, even when he’s having fun. Through the years, both my parents somehow developed some kind of fright for the camera too, leaving me be the only person that didn’t mind to be in pictures. I like to show that I have fun and appreciate the fact that we’re doing something nice, so why would I hide that in front of the camera? Because of this, I can put up a happy smile at any time, always suggesting I have fun. Even when I don’t. Which is quite often lately.