Beauty And The Bride

I’ve been a Makeup Artist for my entire adult life and I have found a great niche here in Vail, Beaver Creek and Aspen with the brides because I really understand what a bridal look should be:  fresh, romantic and timeless. Some artists favor using an airbrush, but the key in getting color without heaviness is by using professional makeup meant for photographs. Products like Chanel, Clea de Peau, YSL, etc. are great for everyday use and usually include a skin treatment as well, but the last thing you want when you’re sweating in a hot dress and taking photos outside is a foundation with colorful skin treatment running down your face and dress. One time, I had a beautiful bride who hired me to do makeup for her wedding.  She was the typical anti-makeup woman. She had warned me ahead of time that she may want to wipe the makeup off that I applied if she didn’t feel comfortable. She didn’t wear makeup on a daily basis. We chatted a bit about how she exactly wanted to look. I started by using MakeUp Forever Primer and Cargo Foundation and Concealer, which as far as I’m concerned gives undetectable coverage. Next, I went to her eyes.  Since I wanted them to stand out without using a lot of eye shadow, I used a cream base color in Painterly and loose shimmer powder from M*A*C*. It  gave her eyes a light sparkle and color. For her eyeliner, I made a slim line with Bobbi Brown’s Ultra Fine eyeliner brush using Bobbi’s Ink Gel in Caviar, on the upper lid only for some contrast that also disguised where the false eye lash met the eye. I used Ardell’s “Babies” lashes which are lightweight. They blended perfectly with hers once I curled them. Once I added the amazing Dior’s Extase Black mascara, smudging wasn’t an option.  I used a foundation brush, made for cream blush, then extended the color with a blush brush using powder blush.  I blended and set the color with a makeup fixative, key for natural looking photos taken outside in the hot, humid weather that we had that day.  Lastly, we used a lip stain with just a hint of gloss for a natural looking pout with a kick. Your face should be as dressy as your gown and the day itself, but that doesn’t mean using piles of thick color. Don’t be talked into a look that isn’t you. If you don’t like it in person you won’t like it in photos.  Don’t believe the hype that something photographs so differently that you’re talked out of how you don’t like what you see.  It’s your face, your day, and your dollars. I use lines that are truly for professionals, products you’ve probably never heard of like Cargo, Kett, Eve Pearl, Graftobian, and Ben Nye. Lines like this are made for photography and offer the best looking coverage. Plenty of water and low alcohol intake on rehearsal night is important.  Women that normally don’t have dark circles and are blessed with flawless skin can end up looking shot after too many cocktails the night before the wedding. Making a hung-over face look fresh isn’t something makeup can help.  Get a facial if your skin looks congested, but do it a week before your wedding. You can probably just get by with being faithful to a good exfoliate or mask. Sloughing off old skin clears the way for new vibrant skin which will look amazing in pictures. My favorite mask is by RiVive.  Moisturize twice daily and make sure to use an eye moisturizer nightly.     Why should brides hire a professional makeup artist? For the same reason you hire a hair stylist, you probably can do it yourself but the professional result is so much better.  Women who don’t wear makeup especially need a Makeup Artist because they don’t know the tricks to “no-makeup makeup’ so they either completely over-do it thinking they need ‘more color’ or they wind up looking pale because they didn’t use enough.  More than the amount used though, it’s the products themselves that makes it all worth the small fraction of your budget you will use to hire an artist.  Eyelashes?  Definitely! A good Makeup Artist will have an arsenal of lashes that fit all eye shapes and lash lengths.  What I use isn’t detectable in person and most grooms can’t even tell that they are artificial.  It’s the best way to dress up your eyes without adding color. The word here is “enhance”. Remember, you want a look that is fresh, romantic, and timeless.