My Best Wedding Makeup Tips

Should You Have a Professional Makeup Artist Do Your Makeup?

Your wedding day is the day you want to look your absolute best, and I wold definitely recommend having a professional bridal makeup and hairstylist do your makeup. Not only because they will make sure your makeup is long lasting and looks great in photos, but you will be pampered and not have to stress about doing your anything but sitting back and being taken care of. 

You Know That Friend Of Yours Who Really Knows Makeup? 

A lot of brides tell me that they will have their friend do their makeup. Well, unless your friend is a professional makeup artist I would suggest that tis is one day you don't want to have your friend do your makeup. First of all, a professional bridal makeup artist uses specific products to make sure your makeup lasts. Then, they know best how makeup colors will translate in photos. Then, they will most likely will work best under pressure and you can freely tell a them if there's something you don't like, rather then worrying about hurting a friends feelings. 

The Most Important Part of Your Makeup: Your Skin Tone

It doesn't matter how big your eyes are or how glossy your lips look, if your skin looks blotchy or oily, you won't look your best on your wedding day. Your first priority should be making sure your skin looks great, then move on to your eyes, cheeks and lips.

I highly recommend choosing a makeup artist who does airbrush makeup to make your skin look as flawless as possible. 

Pick Your Eyes or Your Mouth as your Focus

A basic rule of makeup is to either play up your eyes or your mouth. Play up both and you risk looking like a clown. So if you decide to go all-out on your eye makeup, keep your lips light with a gloss or a light pink lipstick. If you want to play up your full lips, do so with a bright or deep color, but keep your eyes relatively light.

This is the Day to Play up Your Eyes with Some False Lashes

Unless you're one of those people with such amazingly long eyelashes you are regularly asked if you use Latisse, you'll benefit from some false lashes. I am not a fan of the strips as much as I like the individual eyelashes for your wedding day. They look and feel way more comfortable and natural. 

Two Words: Waterproof Mascara

Whether or not you are an emotional gal, there's a chance you will tear up sometime during your wedding day. The last thing you want is black tears running down your cheeks! 

Prime, Prime, Prime

Just as you would prime a wall before you paint, you should prime your face before you apply anything powder-based. I swear by eyeshadow primers -- nothing, and I mean NOTHING works better to keep your shadow from melting into your eyelid crease. I use a primer every single time I wear eyeshadow. Also, make sure you use primer before your foundation foundation. Primer fills in pores and fine lines and you'll find your foundation glides on effortlessly.

Invest in a Highlighter Pen

One of the products I use religiously on brides is  Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Concealer. Although it's called a concealer, it's really a highlighter. Trust me, nothing brightens the face more.

The Trick to Keeping Lipstick in Place

Who has time to apply lipstick or gloss every half hour when they have 200 guests to entertain?

On my brides, I always use a long lasting lipstick such as the MAC longwear color or Chanel Longwear. However, here are some tricks you can do to make sure your lipstick stays in place all day:

• The morning of the wedding, exfoliate lips by slathering them with Vaseline. Scrub them in a circular motion with an old toothbrush.
• When you apply makeup, fill in lips with a lip liner.
• Apply lipstick or gloss over this. The lip liner is key to keeping color locked in place.
• Keep your lip liner close at hand so you can refresh your lips a few times during the evening. Better yet, put one of your bridesmaids in charge of lipstick/gloss duty.

DO NOT Wax the Day Before Your Wedding

You may be able to cover up a red upper lip or brow with a thick concealer, but trust me the redness will wear through at some point. It's best to wax no less than 48 hours before a big event.

Oily Skin? Carry Blotting Sheets

To keep your oily skin at bay, definitely set your makeup with a loose powder before you walk down the aisle, but don't keep overpowdering skin as the day and night wear on. Instead, carry blotting papers. This way you don't have to keep powdering your face all night long. The blotting papers soak up the oils leaving your makeup in place.

Don't Go Overboard With the Fake Tan

If you like the tanned look, get a spray tan or at least use a self-tanner you know works. If you're new to fake tanning, be careful because the orange look on your wedding day is not cool. Also, self-tanners reek and you don't want to reek on your wedding day.

Exfoliate in the Weeks Up to the Wedding

To make sure your skin looks its best, exfoliate your face and neck once or twice a week a couple months before the wedding. A week

 before your wedding, I always recommend treating yourself to a professional facial 

Just Say No to the Gum

Another good item to pack is breath strips. Today is not the day to be chewing gum or sucking on mints.