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.
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.
