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Author: Lucy Amaral
TIPS: AESTHETIC PFP
Hey there social media superstars!
Let’s talk about that killer profile pic of yours – it’s basically your front-cover look in the online world, right? So, getting it spot-on is super important. It’s like this sweet spot between kicking back casual and owning it like a boss. Ready for a quick rundown on how to be the head-turner of the virtual bunch? Let’s get started!
Tips to nail the perfect aesthetic profile picture
- First and foremost, lighting is your best friend. Natural light reigns supreme, providing a soft and flattering glow that enhances your features. Opt for the golden hour—the magical period shortly before sunset or after sunrise—for that warm, radiant vibe. Experiment with different angles to find your best side, and don’t shy away from shadows for a touch of mystery.
- Next up, it’s all about expressing your personality. Whether it’s through a genuine smile, a subtle smirk, or an enigmatic gaze, let your profile picture reflect the real you. Embrace your interests and hobbies – perhaps incorporate your favorite movie poster or showcase your love for music with a strategically placed instrument. Authenticity always shines through and catches the eyes of those who share your passions.
- When it comes to framing, less is often more. Keep the focus on you by avoiding cluttered backgrounds and distracting elements. A simple backdrop or a well-composed environment will elevate your aesthetic game, allowing your followers to appreciate the artistry of your profile picture without unnecessary distractions.
- Filters can be your secret weapon for achieving that polished and cohesive look. Experiment with different filters to find the one that complements your style and enhances the overall vibe of your profile. A carefully chosen filter can tie together your aesthetic and create a visually appealing feed that leaves a lasting impression.
- Lastly, never underestimate the power of a good edit. Fine-tune your profile picture to perfection by adjusting brightness, contrast, and sharpness. Don’t be afraid to play with color tones to achieve that Instagram-worthy finish. A well-edited photo not only enhances your features but also reinforces your commitment to curating a visually stunning online presence.
Need some visual inspo? Looking for a cute aesthetic pfp to grab and use? Here are some cute ai generated pfps I love:
Aesthetic profile pictures
Alright, let’s wrap this up! Making the ultimate profile pic is pretty much like creating a masterpiece—it’s all about keeping it real, getting creative, and having an eye for what looks good. Stick to these five killer tips and you’re going to wow your peeps while flaunting the cool, gorgeous you that shines bright online.
Now, go ahead, strike that pose, and let your profile picture speak volumes about the incredible young woman you are!
Beijos,
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: POLAROID
Hi guys, good morning! How are you all doing today? 💞
A good way to change your blog designs and your Instagram pictures a bit a give them a unique look, is to simulate the polaroid effect.
I don’t mean just adding the white border, but the real thing. When it looks like you took a photo of a polaroid picture just laying there haha! This is an excellent strategy for when we’ve already posted too many photos of an event, or a trip, and you don’t feel great about posting YET another one… Influencers and celebrities do this all the time ☺✨
At the end of this post I’ll upload 8 png polaroid files with clear background that i’ve made especially for the blog! I’ll also teach you how to insert your photo in the frame for a super realistic result. Spoiler: It’s very easy 🧚🏽♀️💖
🦋 Update: This post ended up being so successful here on the blog, that I wanted to complement it with two pieces of information!
- Meitu, my favorite app in the world, has a border option, which is a perfect Polaroid frame. Super recommend for those who want something easy and fast!
- I made an Instagram feed (my current obsession) using polaroid frames, so I’ll take this opportunity to post it here to inspire you guys… =)
Here’s how you can use the png polaroid frames below with Photoshop:
If you don’t like learning with videos, below is the step by step:
- Open the polaroid image with Photoshop
- Import the photo you want to insert inside the frame
- Position the photo layer below the frame layer
- Adjust the photo to the size and angle to fit it perfectly
- If you’d like, edit the photo to match the background of the polaroid frame
- You can also use the frame’s white area to write something.
- Export your file as jpeg ou png.
Ready to give it a try? 😇
Png Polaroid frame mockups
Hope you like it! Since you’re here, take a look at this post with 5 precious tips for the perfect selfie 💖
beijo!
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: 90S AESTHETIC
Hi guys, how are you all doing? 💜✨
Today I’ll talk about 90s aesthetic photo filters, and different apps we can use to try to reproduce the photography from that decade.
It’s funny how retro aesthetics are always trending so hard. By today’s standards, 90s photography’s quality seem so inferior, doesn’t it? All grainy and blurry and messy…?
Back then of course, cameras were analog and used rolls of film to capture light and not digital sensors like digital cameras do. I remember vividly (who else???) going to the photo shop with my 24 or 32 pics movie roll to get them printed, prayiiiing to the skies that at least one of them would’ve come out okayish. The struggle was real! hahahaha 😅💖
However, like everything else in the world of aesthetics, old is new and photos with that kind of mood achieved by film photography is super hot right now. Many people (myself included) are loving all about the 90s style photography again, no matter how grainy, low resolution or distorted ⏳🤎
Why is the 90s aesthetic so cool?
Here’s what I think. We get a little tired of consuming aesthetic perfection in terms of technical quality. And retro style photos feel more real life. I talk more about that on this post about tumblr photos if you want to take a look!
For me, when I see a photo with flaws – lack of focus, grain, not aligned or ordered, it evokes reality and human emotions and behavior. This connection with the feeling of the moment is the big goal here. It feels like the image has soul.
Besides, as we all know, humans have a tendency to be nostalgic and to romanticize everything from the past. That’s true for fashion, design, architecture, decor, music, movies…
Photos that imitate the 90s visuals and film photography in general might look and feel more innocent or even pure, because it takes us back to “simpler times”. As if the past in general was much more real, uncomplicated, easy… and COOL!
How I create 90s effect on my photos
I know there are prob a million apps that create 90s aesthetic, some paid, some free. And unfortunately it’s hard to find the time to keep up with them. Who has that much time on their hands? That being said, here’s 3 options I use and recommend: Polarr, Huji and, of course, my fav of all time: Meitu 😍
⇢ 90s aesthetic with Polarr app
Polarr has a paid version that allows you a wider range of filter options, some of them having that 90s analog photo aesthetic. But the free version has some cool options too. You can add glitch, grain, blur, and more. Here’s how I do it:
Original 
Pick filter Tap “fringe” Edit grain amount Result ⇢ 90s aesthetic with Meitu app
On Meitu, there’s two main ways I do 90s effect:
1:
Original I use filter VF4 and tap ok Open filters again, and chose T9 Then I add particles and vignette Result 2:
Original Filter S1 Ok, open filters again, filter T9 
Particles and vignette Result There are several Meitu filters with a 90s feel, though. Go ahead and give them a try, and see which one works best for each pic 🌺
I’ve been very into the blur effect style 90s aesthetic lately, and Meitu has a few options like that!
The “movie” filters on Meitu look like this sort of. So I suggest adjusting the contrast and adding a heavy vignette to accomplish this look. There’s even an option with a date in the corner! Look at this beautiful example below:
Here I used the filter VM4 (movie) which is what makes it blurry, and adds the date. Then I used the VF4 to add the effect of the burnt stripe on the left side.
⇢ 90s aesthetic with Huji app
Huji app is also big in the 90’s filter app scene. The super stylish date in the corner became the app’s trademark. The downside of Huji is that it only works for photos taken by the app itself. You can’t use Huji to edit photos saved on the camera roll.
A bonus to give an even more vintage look to everything is to add polaroid frames. I made a whole post here about it and you can check it here! And click here to read more about how to add grain (or noise) to your pics very easily with a free app.
And guys, if you want to learn more about beautiful aesthetic pics, make sure you check out this in depth article with really useful techniques and tips: How to Take Aesthetic Pictures – 10 Beginner Tips 🔮
That’s all guys!
Wow, this post really got me nostalgic AF! I miss the nineties 😫😫
See you tomo!
Beijos,
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: MOVIE POSTERS
Hey gals! 💕
You’ve probably seen them on Pinterest or Instagram. The super simple yet amazing aesthetic movie posters with a single frame of the movie on top and a minimalist description of the credits below it are the definition of cult aesthetic graphic design.
I’ve always thought they’re super charming, and thought it’d be a fantastic idea to add a template to create our own posters to the shop.
So we did it! You can purchase the template below and start creating your super amazing aesthetic movie posters right now. Spoiler alert though: it’s SO easy to edit and customize!
Not only is this super fun to play with and practice your graphic design skills, it’s also an excellent content idea for social media. You can create carousels of the movies you’ve watched on the last month, for example. Your favorite romantic comedies of all time, the most underrated movies in your opinion, or classics you haven’t had a chance to watch yet, asking your followers to vote on which one you should see next. Super engaging idea, right?
Of course, the template can be used to create posters for shows, music albums or even your own life, which I thing is an amazing idea, btw ☺
Check out on the video below how I created the three posters on the top of this post:
I like to keep things as similar as possible to the simplicity of the original, because that’s what’s so lovable about this design imo. But if you want, you can change the color of the background, the fonts and the overall layout of the poster too!
I’m sure all you aesthetic enthusiasts will loooove this template, so let me know what you end up creating with it.
Beijos,
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: BLING
Well, if you’ve been following me for a while, you already know I’m a huuuuuge fan os the app Meitu, right? Basically everything photo and video edit I do (on my phone!!) I use Meitu. If I’m on my computer, I’ll definitely go with Photoshop.
I try to use other apps, I look for cool options, but Meitu just had lots of funtions that I love, so it ends up being my favorite option, even when compared to others hahaha 💖💖💖
After such an introduction, you must have figured it out that I use Meitu to add bling effect to my photos, right?
But keep on reading because I’ll teach you step by step how to do it. Some tools on Meitu are not as intuitive and easy to find as we’d hope. This is one of them.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to add the glitter effect to your pics using Meitu:
✨ Start Meitu
✨ Click “Edit” and pick your image
✨ Click the option “Mosaic”
✨ Go to “More” to downlod the textures
✨ Find your favorites! Here are mine:All you have to do now is fill in the areas you’d like to put sparkles on. That simple!
You can also use the eraser to clean errors and perfect the filling. Use the zoom tool and the different sizes of the brush to make sure you get every little corner right!
You’ll notice some of the textures are clear, while others have an opaque effect. You should pick which one works better for the design you’re working on. They’re all great, but serve to different purposes.
Just a fun gif to illustrate the post, I’ll teach how to make them some other time.. 💡Tip: I think it can make the effect nicer when I add a few sparkly dots around the filled area. On Image 7, for example, I used texture number 5 around the cup so that it’d look a bit more natural.
My glitter effect edited photos
How you like the tutorial and put it to practice soon ✨✨✨✨
Beijos!
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: VALENTINE’S DAY
Hey all! Valentine’s day is coming, and I’ve been planning and preparing some special content for you here on the blog and on the shop. Let’s celebrate the season of love together, right? 💘
So on this post I’ll share with you 3 ideas of edits using free apps to apply on pics with your bae. These are simple, easy edits that take only a few taps.
No complicated graphic design skill techniques will be required here, at least not this time 😂
Here they are. Have fun!
Valentine’s day edit 1: Cloud stickers | App:PicsArt
This is how I did it ☝🏽 ☁ Step by step:
- Open photo on PicsArt
- Tap stickers and search for “cloud”
- Locate the cloud showed in the video and select it
- Position it as you please above your image
- Tap blend and select lighten
- If necessary, use the eraser
- Tap apply after your done adjusting the clouds.
- Tap effects and select dodger, and hit apply
- Tap effects again, select noise, and apply
Valentine’s day edit 2: Vaporwave | App: Meitu
This is how I did it ☝🏽 ⛰ Step by step:
- Open photo on Meitu
- Tap mosaic
- Select a pattern
- Use your fingers to cover the photo’s background area
- You can zoom in and use different brush sizes for more precision
- I increased the speed on the video, it took me around 4 minutes to cover the background on the pic above
- Tap the check sign when you’re done.
- Tap filters and select V20
- Tap save.
Valentine’s day edit 3: Euphoria | App: Picsart
This is how I did it ☝🏽 🔮 Step by step:
- Open photo on PicsArt
- Tap effects and select VNYL3
- Tap VNYL3 one more time to open the editing tools
- Increase horizontal to 100
- Tap apply.
- Tap tools, then adjust
- On hue, decrease the amount to -80 (or however you prefer)
- Tap apply.
- Tap the download icon at the top of the screen.
That’s all for today guys 💖 I hope you like the edits and give them a try.
See you soon!
Beijos,
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: MOOD BOARDS
Hello loves!
I got a comment from Thalyta on Insta about the mockups I use to display some of my designs or blog posts. It was my cue to finally write this post, that was already on my list for this month. Thank you, Tha! 🦋😇
The type of design she refers to is this one below. That’s also the post she commented on 🙂
You may have noticed – specially if you’re a designer or aspire to be one – that this kind of composition has become a big trend recently. It’s beautiful, and can be used for anything; what really matters is the content included in the mood board.
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💡In my opinion, the reason this type of mood board is trending is because it makes the whole image look more human and real. That is, people like seeing actual photos, instead of digitally created graphics. And mockups or mood boards that emulate light and shadow (as if it was a photograph and not a digital design) captures our attention more and creates instant human connection. And that can be both rare and valuable nowadays in the social media world. Right?
Stylishcreative 
Morgan Brewer Romy Collective Jade Brand Studio You’ll probably find online websites giving away mood board templates like this for free. All you have to do is download them and replace with your own content. Mockup World for example has has amazing pieces.
I prefer to create my own mood boards from scratch because it’s super easy and I can implement my favourite aesthetic. Also, I just enjoy making them.. hahaha 💖👩🏽💻💖
Truth is, even though it looks like advanced, difficult design work, it’s actually pretty easy.
Here are the little tricks you should know:
I created the design above for the purpose of this educational post. And I’ll walk you through the process down below. You can add your personal touch by changing details to match your favourite style, ok?
Take a look at the screen recorded video first:
The essentials
Software: Photoshop. It can work with Picsart and other image editing apps too. You should have at least a moderate familiarity with PS to work on the project.
Design elements you’ll need:
🖌 a background with some texture (you can download one for free, take a picture or create it on Photoshop.)
🖌 the content, which is the main subject of your collage or design.
🖌 shadow image to overlay your content softly.Interesting extras:
➕ something to “stick” your content to the surface, like scotch tape, pins, clips…
➕ cutout objects in the composition, like flowers, leaves, stickers, etc.Step by step:
1 Pick a background in the aesthetic you want to use. You can download one for free on Unsplash, they have so many options. Search for “background” or “texture”.
If you prefer to create your ow texture, make a rectangle in the color you want and go to Filter / Noise and choose the intensity.
Chose my bg! 2. Import or drag your content to the project. I can be a photo, another design you’ve made, or even a bunch of images to create a collage (like I did here). If you’d like, you can also type some text, width a rectangle behind it to look like a magazine cutout. You should let your imagination flow at this stage!
In my example, I used only 5 elements to simplify the process.
3. Your content needs 2 main styling edits: shadow and textures. The shadow should be solid, dark and short. It’ll look like there’s a lot of light shinning on your design. If the shadow is too blurry and clear, it’ll look like the object is floating.
Double click the layer and configure your shadow:
1: dois clicks na camada 
2. regular a sombra For the texture, I usually just go to Filter / Noise and add the amount of grain I think is necessary. I posted about that here, if you’d like to know more.
4. Now this is the best, magical, step! hahaha! The shadow overlaying the content will make your mood board look like a photo os a real scene. The two most common shadows I see are plants and window bars. Soooo beautiful and lovely… and ridiculously easy to make! 🙂
If you’re going for a plant, just google image “plant png” and look for results with clear background. Then import it to your project!
Here’s the editing I suggest:
- Image / Ajustments / Hue Saturation and remove all brightness.
- Select the layer and reduce the opacity to 30%
- Last, go to Filter / Blur / Gaussian blur and configure as you wish.
1. import png image 
2. make it black 
3. opacity change 
4. blur After making those edits, place the shadow wherever looks best. You can also make it bigger or smaller to adapt. If you wish to make it look more realistic, I recommend adding a bit of noise and change the hue of the shadow a little bit.
Instead of grey, the shadow should have a more similar color to the one of the background. Go to Hue / Saturation, click “colorize”, and find a good color to match.
If you’d like to add some tape or pin, it’s super easy and, in my opinion, looks great. I usually get some tape image on Google or just draw a rectangle with 70% opacity.
1. Criar o retângulo e escolher a cor 
2. mudar a transparência Important: The shadow layer has to be above al the others. Otherwise the design wont work.
There it is! 🤸🏽♀️✨
Isn’t it super easy and gorgeous?
On my designs, I use the same filter on all the elements, to make them all look uniform. On Photoshop the filters are called “actions” and you can read more about them here.
Phew! Finally. I hope you guys are not intimidated by the length of this post.
If you like the tip, and put it to practice, I’d love to see the results. And if you have any questions or comments, please let me know ok? 💜🙏🏽
Beijo,
Lu
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HOW TO EDIT: SHADOW OVERLAY
Hey chicas! I know It can be difficult to find ways to make photos looks more interesting and unique. There’s so much content out there, available for anyone and everyone, and it looks like everything has been done already, by now. And OMG the technology available allows us to do so much!
The funny thing is, many times, the best way to do it as to make the composition less perfect. At least in the technical sense.
I’ve said it many times here on the blog, I’m a huge fan of blurry, grainy images that look imperfect but have so much soul and you can almost feel them. That’s why I love photos with overlay shadows too! 🖤🖤
I’ve seen it over and over again. Somebody is trying to take a pic and think it’s gonna suck because of shadows disrupting the composition. And I understand that sometimes it is the case, and of course, photographers know way better than me when shadows work and when they don’t. No argue about that! 😆
Art by Xaviera López However, opening your mind to the possibilities of playing with shadows can expand your aesthetic horizons. Trust me! Stop trying to avoid shadows at all costs on your photos and embrace them! 🖤🖤🖤
Here’s a few examples I’ve collected from free image banks. There’s a lot of great inspo down below… 🙂
Photos with shadows
Processed with VSCO with c1 preset 
✨ EDIT TIP: No doubt the real effect is usually better and more interesting, but edit apps like PicsArt have shadow overlay filters that look pretty cool too. I’ll make a reel showing that edit soon and update this post ✨
So guys, don’t be afraid of shadows anymore, ok?!
Beijos,
Lu
HOW TO EDIT: BORDERS
Hey guys!
I’ve been wondering whether or not to post about how to add borders to photos, because I didn’t know if there are many people interested. And I realized it could be a good idea, because I wondered the same thing before the post about the grain effect and I ended up being very surprised by it’s reach 😊😊
Borders are very common in graphic design and art in general, as a way to highlight elements or add style to the composition.
On Instagram, borders (or frames, or margins), can be used on photos to make the Instagram feed look lighter and more organized.
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Dark Academia T-shirtPrice range: $21 through $26
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Oversized heavyweight sweatshirtPrice range: $61 through $67
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Vintage corduroy cap$24
Some of the instagram feeds that I created and that are most successful on my Pinterest have white borders, and I notice that they highlight images a lot. Everything is cleaner and organized, looks like ✨💖
Some examples:
In the fifth post of the series I made about organized feed [here] I talk a lot about the use of borders. Check it out to understand more about border width, pattern, photo orientation and which ones I recommend and the ones I don’t!
If you’re looking for polaroid borders though, check out this post I wrote about it!
Free apps to add white borders to pictures
Several apps out there offer the option to create border on photos only in their paid version 😭. And tbh I’m not even gonna mention those, because I know that anyone looking for info on the subject and is willing to pay, by now have found some hehehe (but if that is your case, I suggest the premium version of VSCO).
Within the free options, a good one to create borders in an easy and beautiful way in my opinion is the APRIL app. Just download it and look for the option you prefer, it has plenty of beautiful designs, including simple, white, square, traditional… Oh, just for the record. April is a delicious app that is worth using for many other things as well, if you like design and are working on a pretty cohesive Insta feed 💚💜
You can also do it using MEITU, my fav app hehe. However, with Meitu you should crop the photo in square format before editing in the app.
How to add white borders on Photoshop
This is so easy to accomplish with PS. I do this several times a day every day.
Basically: Open your image, click on the padlock to unlock it, doubleclick the layer, go to “stroke” and select “inside” position and adjust color, size, etc.
💡To save te final image, don’t forget to export as .jpeg or .png. If you don’t, you won’t be able to use the image online. The default file extension is .psd, which is an open Photoshop file.
If you guys have any questions, please let me know 🙂
Beijos,
Lu
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