Bridal Makeup Do’s & Don’ts

I want to start this post off the same way I start all of my “do this, not that” posts.
This is just my opinion from my experience and my personal taste.
These are not facts.
If you TOTALLY disagree with one of my don’ts and you do it all the time and love it, you are just as right as I am:)
I just LOVE these posts because it’s really nice to show the contrast between two things in helping explain why I choose them.

1. Do Make it about your beautiful face, not just the beautiful makeup on it.
When you ‘re picking your wedding makeup consider first the features you want to bring out before considering which makeup you have your heart set on.
I think sometimes we get an idea in our head or we see a certain photograph and we want THAT look, but it isn’t always the best look for bringing out your best features.
When I approach a client I usually study her features and then I set out to highlight the most beautiful ones and the makeup falls into place after that.

2. Don’t Contour with blush
I don’t know why but I see this a lot at weddings and hardly anywhere else? The thing is, when you contour you are creating a shadow but unless it’s of a balloon, shadows aren’t pink! SO instead of creating a shadow it kind of just creates a stripe. Still to ashy toned bronzers or IIID Foundation instead.

3. Know how it’s going to look before hand
I can’t stress this enough! If you are using a pro be absolutely sure to have a test run a few weeks before the wedding. Be honest with her on what you like and don’t like and be sure to take some photos when you’re done to bring to the wedding day appointment so your artist is sure to remember it clearly. It will also help know if it looks good in photos as well as in person. (check out my photo makeup tutorial for more thoughts on this)

4. Don’t make any drastic changes too close to the wedding day
Spray tans, Brow waxes, invasive facials or new products should all all be tested at least once a few weeks before the big day. So many of the wedding day crisis I’ve dealt with could have been averted if they’d used this rule! When I had my makeup done on my wedding day (the first one I didn’t do a test run, I was looking in the mirror getting more and more uncomfortable with how it was coming together. Luckily my sister was there and she could tell I wasn’t loving it. She announced that she needed a moment to talk to me alone and quickly fixed it for me.

6. Pack on the lashes
If there’s ever a day to to spend some time adding lashes today is the day! They photograph beautifully, they add definition to your eyes without looking like heavy makeup and they make your eyes look gigantic!

7. Bring your lip color along
There’s no way that lipstick is going to last during all the festivities, be sure to have your own on hand for touch ups. A fresh lip color really adds a lot of photos.

8. Wear waterproof mascara
I usually don’t advise waterproof mascara because I think it’s a little hard on lashes but for this one day, it’s a must! I like Voluminous.

9. Don’t forget to set it!
If you are oily you’ll want to set with a good powder like IT cosmetics Bye Bye Pores, more on the dry side? use a setting spray instead!

10. Look like you!
Heavy makeup that you don’t usually wear is one of those things that might make you feel really special but might leave you wondering who that is in your wedding photos when you’re looking back. Plus, I don’t know very many grooms who prefer their brides to look really “made-up” they love the way YOU look

All photos by Jessica Janae Photography

What I did: (isn’t Sidney gorgeous BTW!?)

I started with some moisture on her face. I like to prep with Maracuja Oil because it soaks up pretty quick.
Next I HAC’ed her with IIID foundation in Dark and dabbed her cheeks with Maskcara blush in Jem.
I filled her brows with an angled brush and MAC brun shadow, then I framed her eyes with bronzer. I blended it in down below her lash line on the bottom and almost to her brow on top, it makes your eyes look really big and give a lot of dimension to the eye socket. (I’m really obsessed with this look lately can you tell!?)
Then I went CRAZY with lashes! Using clusters and individuals on her bottom row and on top layered over a pair of lashes (since it was a “bride” I used extra special lashes). Then I lined her tear line and on her top lash line with black liner (Loreal Gel Liner in Blackest Black)
I wanted her to be really luminous so I added some highlighter to her cheekbone and brow bone.
I lined her lips with NYX Taupe and filled them with MAC Creme Cup Lipstick and Soap & Glory gloss in Candy Gloss
Then I dusted bronzer on her cheeks and around the edges of her face and set her with All Nighter.

What do you think? Any of you have any wedding day beauty disasters to share??