bridal beauty Archives

Corinna B August 11, 2015

8 Bridal Beauty Blunders

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life.
It is also one of the most photographed days of your life. Make sure that you can enjoy those pictures forever by avoiding the following 8 Bridal Beauty Blunders.

1. Getting Caught Up In Trends.
Trends and fads come and go. The biggest look of the moment will be out of fashion in 3 months. Your wedding look should be timeless and beautiful, and not look dated next year, or in 10 years time.

2. Contouring And Highlighting Like A You Tuber.
Following on from avoiding trends, understand that the excessive highlight and contour you see on you tube is perfect for drag queens, but can be an absolute nightmare for brides.
Most wedding photography happens outdoors in natural light, which is the absolute worst light possible for an over-contoured face. Rather than making you look beautiful, heavy contour and highlight can make you look like a caricature of yourself.
Save your big contour for nightclubs, where it’s perpetually dark, and everyone is drunk anyway!

3. Trying Something New.
Your wedding day isn’t the day to try something new. Don’t break out a big red lip for the first time ever, or suddenly convert to an intense smokey eye or giant strip lash.
Your groom needs to recognize you as you walk down the aisle. You need to look like your very best version of you, not like a stranger to him.

4. Skipping The Makeup Trial.
The trial is not only important for setting up the look for the day, but it gives you a chance to observe the makeup artist, their skills, products, hygiene. It also gives you a chance to see if their energy matches yours. Some artists are technically brilliant but their energy is just toxic. You need to make sure the vendors who will be around you on your big day bring good energy and a pleasant vibe.

Bring pictures to your trial, both of makeup you love and makeup you hate. It’s the best way to make sure you are both on the same page.

5. Shimmer And Shine In The Wrong Places.
I always advise scaling way back on the shimmer, or even skipping it altogether. Shimmer can translate to sparkle in sunlight, and look terribly wrong, especially high on the cheeks and under the brows.
Glowing, dewy skin is lovely, but can make you look oily/sweaty in the wrong light, so don’t go overboard on the shine. Adding shine to the center forehead and along the bridge of the nose can be fabulous on a fashion shoot, where everything is controlled, but on a bride can often look like greasy skin.
Avoid glitter completely.

6. Too Much Dark Drama On The Eyes.
Black liner and black shadow are a no-no for brides. Black liner grabs the light and makes you look like you are squinting in all your pictures. If it doesn’t shut your eye down in the outdoor light it becomes the main focus on your face, and you see the liner before you see the girl. Opt for dark expresso browns and deep moody purples instead. They will give you the accent you are looking for without closing your eye down.
Even if you can make black shadow look fabulous in the makeup chair, wedding makeup has to last 10 to 12 hours at least, and black shadow as it wears in can make you look heavy and tired under the eye, and can make your eyes look like they have sucked in to the back of your skull.

7. Lashes That Are Too Big.
Back to the outdoor light – lashes can act like awnings hanging over your under eye, creating big shadows that make you look tired and haunted. They can also be too dense at the lash line, making you look squinty in your pictures. Be careful with strip lashes if you are not used to wearing them. Tears can weaken the glue in the inner corners of the lash, making them lift away and look crazy.

8. Foundation Mis-match.
Your foundation needs to match your skin, not only in depth of color, but also in undertone. Your makeup artist needs to know if you are a cool tone or a warm tone, and needs to have a solid grasp on color theory, so that they can build you a perfect color. Once your perfect shade is created it needs to be applied in a sheer and even veil. Thick, chunky foundation looks awful, especially in the daylight. It should look like perfect flawless skin, not thick, opaque makeup.
I just read on a Facebook pro makeup artist community page a post from someone bragging that they do 10 faces in 4 hours for weddings. That is only 24 minutes per person, which tells me some major steps are being missed, and my guess is the first missed step is going to be the creation of the perfect complexion.

Corinna B July 7, 2015

6 Summer Bridal Beauty Tips To Avoid A Makeup Meltdown

Gorgeous sunny summer weather makes for the perfect backdrop for your wedding. But the hot and sometimes humid weather can set you up for a makeup meltdown, so here are 6 tips to keep your summer wedding makeup looking flawless and staying in place until the night is over.

Use A Light Moisturizer.
Unless you have dry skin use a lightweight, gel formula moisturizer. Apply it as soon as you get out of the shower and give it plenty of time to soak in before you move on to makeup.
Blot away any residue on the surface of the skin with tissue before starting makeup.
A fabulous alternative is to use a gel sheet mask to revitalize your skin. Try Glacier Water Gel Mask from Memebox

Invest In A Mattifying Primer
Give your complexion all the help you can by using a high quality mattifying primer to keep foundation in place and too aid in fighting shine. Mattifiers have light diffusing properties that will stop light from bouncing off the smooth planes on your face.
Try Hyaluronic Hydra Primer by Terry

Check Your Foundation Formulation.
If you are being airbrushed on your wedding day ask for a water based formula rather than a silicone base. Water based is much more sheer and weightless.
If you are using traditional foundation keep your application as sheer as possible. The thicker the application the more gooey it will look as it heats up. Try Giorgio Armani Lasting Silk SPF 20 Foundation at Nordstrom.com

Be Aware Of Lash Length.
If you will be outdoors or are having outdoor photography be cautious with strip lashes and with the length of your false lashes.
A lash that is too dense will collapse your eye and make you look like you are squinting in all your pictures. (The dense black line of the lash will grab light and suck it in).
Lashes that are too long will act like an awning over your eyes in the sunlight, creating a shadow below which leaves you looking tired and haggard.
The same applies with lash extensions – they may look good indoors but if they are too long or too dense they can destroy your look when you step outside.

Seal It with A Kiss.
A matte lip can be a lifesaver on a hot or humid day.
Matte lips can tone down the extra glow or shine you are sporting when it’s hot outside and act as a neutralizing balance.
A glossy lip can make your whole face appear extra shiny.
Matte lips don’t slip, and with a good color payoff last longer too.
Try Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution in Miss Kensington

Finishing Spray.
A light misting of finishing spray can help hold everything in place on a humid, steamy day. Try Face Atelier Face Finish from FaceAtelier.com

Corinna B June 30, 2015

How To Be A Good Bridesmaid

How To Be A Good Bridesmaid.

At this point in my career I don’t even know how many hundred weddings I have done.

Hundreds and hundreds of them.

In the midst of all the fun I always see what’s going on, and I’ve learned a lot about what makes a good bridesmaid.
Here are 10 tips for how to be a good bridesmaid

1. It’s not your show.

A really good bridesmaid knows that today she is absolutely NOT the star of the show!

You need to defer to the bride, don’t be an attention vampire, don’t be the loudest girl in the room.

No matter what goes down, be chill.

2. Say Yes To The Dress.

Who cares what it looks like on you? Tomorrow you can wear something different. As for today, don’t complain, don’t make snippy comments about how it’s not your style. Just roll with it.

3. Be Makeup Cool.

Hopefully a good makeup artist has been hired for the big day, and is keeping all the bridesmaids looking beautiful. If you change out your lip color, draw on some big contour, or do something wacky with your eyebrows (ahem – Instagram) you will draw attention to yourself and take it away from the bride (and the other bridesmaids) and no doubt ruin every picture that you are in. Most of the time you will look stupid and vain.

Do your big makeup look tomorrow, but today just be chill.

4. Help Where You Can.

A good bridesmaid will be unobtrusively helpful. You can easily fix things, take care of potential problems, do simple things like get the bride a drink, make sure she has something to eat – essentially help her day flow smoothly. Just don’t do it in a way that makes you look like you’re seeking a pat on the back, or trying to outdo another bridesmaid.

5. Keep The Mood Light And Fun.

A really great bridesmaid will keep the mood in the room light and fun, diffusing any girl-drama that is threatening to break through. The bride needs to remember this as her best day ever, and feel the love and support of her closest friends rather than remember the getting ready portion of her wedding day as being a mean gossip-fest.

6. Bring An Emergency Kit.

If there is no wedding planner onsite then bring a few bits and pieces in case something goes wrong. Tampax, safety pins, bobby pins, bandaids, Excedrin, Fashion Tape, Altoids – little things that can make a huge difference.

7. Only Be Positive.

Don’t tell her her hair looks wrong or that her dress doesn’t fit quite right. Even if they do.
She is probably already feeling vulnerable and this is not the time for some passive aggressive “I’m only telling you because I love you” nonsense.

Tell her she looks beautiful, draw attention away from anything that isn’t quite right.

The biggest component of looking beautiful is feeling beautiful. If she feels gorgeous she will radiate gorgeous. No matter how amazing she looks, if she feels like she’s not looking her best, then that is what she will project.

8. Don’t Get Drunk.

You know your limit. Don’t go past it.

The drunk bridesmaid lowers the tone of the event. And she gets immortalized in the wedding album with her half falling down up-do, bleary runny eyes and smeared lips.