“Lighting is the main ingredient of a perfect selfie that can either make or break it,” Raji says. She, Hasson, and actor, social media personality, and pro-Viner Lauren Giraldo (@laurengiraldo) all agree lighting is the most important part of selfie-taking. “Good lighting is key and can make all the difference,” Giraldo says. Some of the places she says are the best for getting great light? Anywhere you can get the most sun against your skin. “Sunrise and sunset are my favorite times to take selfies,” Giraldo says.

“Always make sure the light is coming towards your face and not behind you,” Hasson stresses. “If the light is behind you, your selfie won’t feature as many details and also would be harder to edit.”

Although Giraldo encourages everyone to love all of their angles, she encourages selfie-takers to find their angle to take a great selfie. “We all love a specific angle,” she says. You can find the one simply by taking a bunch of selfies in different angles and comparing each angle to see which is your favorite. Then when you find your best angle, stick with it — you’ll find yourself loving more selfies you take after that.

“Knowing my angles and taking selfies in a variety of places lets me know how to take the perfect selfie each time,” Raji reaffirms.

Selfies require getting up close and personal with your camera. This means you want to make sure everything on your face is selfie-ready. Hasson says that one of her selfie rules is that her lips shouldn’t be chapped in pictures. “[It][s]ounds dramatic but if your lips are chapped that will catch all the attention and will take eyes from your overall beauty,” she says. “A trick to prevent that is to always wear a lip balm before applying lipstick. That way your lips will look good but also feel good.”

Sometimes, selfies need a little addition of something to really give them that wow factor. And you can do this with anything. From a bold lip to a serious pout, adding a focal point of interest to your selfie can make it go up a level in influencer-status. “Chunky jewelry is a fun and easy way to add a pop of interest to a selfie too,” Giraldo suggests.

There’s no rule that says that a selfie has to be taken with your hands (and if there is, we can just ignore it). Giraldo suggests one of the best ways to get the perfect selfie is to use a Bluetooth selfie clicker. “It sounds embarrassing but it’s a game changer,” she says. “No need to bother your friends to take your pics when you got it yourself.”

You can find the best wireless selfie clickers online at Amazon or at any other online tech store. If you don’t feel like shelling out money for a clicker, you can always just use the timer function on your camera app!

One of the main things to remember is to use your Instagram camera and not your camera app when taking a selfie, Hasson says. Why? Because it doesn’t flip your face, which can make your features look different from how you’re used to seeing them. “The quality might be a bit lower but if you have good lighting you should be just fine — which is why I always have a mini ring light in my bag,” she says.

Sometimes, if you lean your head down too much in a selfie, it can create an odd visual effect. “Make sure your neck is showing and your head is a bit tilted,” Hasson says. “It’s very important to do this for the perfect selfie or else you will look like a floating head — we don’t want that.” She suggests that even if you’re wearing a turtleneck, roll it down a little so that you have that little neck showing. “Trust me here,” she says.

When you’re taking a selfie, try to clear your head and not be mad or stressed about something, Hasson advises. “It sounds weird but your mind needs to be clear or else you can see that in your photo — your eyes never lie,” she says. “I always try to think about something that makes me feel happy or sexy, and then I click that button.”

“When you have finished taking at least five to 5 million million selfies (it takes a lot to find the perfect one), then you go into editing — which is optional,” Raji explains. “My favorite editing apps are Facetune and VSCO mainly because they give a very finished look to the photo.” Raji says you can use the apps to blur out blemishes, smooth out your skin, and even change the tones in the picture to create the look you want.

Whichever tips and tricks you choose to keep up your sleeve for the next photoshoot, the most important thing to remember is that taking selfies should make you feel good about yourself. It’s all about loving yourself and celebrating the way you look! And any picture you can get that captures that is your best selfie yet.