Will’s Bridal Beauty

Finishing touches…

OK, so now your face is on, and it’s time to take the rollers off and tussle some hair. I would say that 99.9% of brides wear their hair with some degree of curl in it. Weather it’s in an up-do, half-up, or free flowing you are going to want to make sure it lasts all day and into the night. There are a myriad of products one can use depending on their hair texture and the desired affect but a good hairspray is going to be you best ally today.

Two of my favorite hairsprays are Sebastian Shaper Hairspray and L’OREAL Elnett Extra Strong Hold Hairspray. The Sebastian Shaper Spray is great for up-do’s as it really binds the hair together creating a beautiful helmet. However, if you are wearing your hair in a half-up or free flowing style you are going to want to avoid helmet hair. For that pupose the L’OREAL Elnett is great, It will give you moveable hold with a satin finish.

Now that your hair has been curled, pined and sprayed it’s time to get dressed. This is the moment all of your brides maids have been waiting for, and a great opportunity to get some beautiful pictures too. This could take a while depending on how complex your dress is, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of help.

At this point you look fabulous and there isn’t much to do but take some deep breaths, smile, powder your forehead and nose, gloss your lips, tame a couple fly-away hairs, and maybe add another hair pin or two for good measure.

All that’s left for you to do now is enjoy your day and don’t forget to eat for goodness sake.

Now It’s time for lip color…

Almost done! Applying your lip color is one of the last steps before you’re done and ready to go, but hopefully the color and formula has been chosen weeks in advance. You want something that compliments the rest of the look, suites your personality, doesn’t clash with your dress, and most of all is long wearing, and wont transfer on to your new hubby.

To this end, SeneGence LipSense Liquid Lip Color is my product of choice. It literally stains the first two layers of skin creating a very natural looking hint or burst of color. The first layer of color goes on very sheer and intermingles with your natural lip color so you can look like you, only better. By applying two or more layers of color you would get a more opaque level of color. Try using two or three different shades to create your own unique variation.

I love this stuff because it does not come off. Whenever I have left a wedding where I have used SeneGence LipSense Liquid Lip Color, I have no fear what so ever, that my clients lip color will fade, smudge or bleed beyond the lip line. It’s not going anywhere!

In fact if you would like to remove it before it’s time, which in some cases has been up to 2 days, you would have to use a remover. The Oooops! Remover will help you correct any application errors or remove your long-lasting lip color at the end of the day.

Application tips…

■Before you do anything, start by marinating your lips in an ample amount of chap-stick or lip moisturizer of your choice.
■When you are ready to apply your lip color make sure you blot of any excess moisturizer. Your lips should be clean and dry.
■If you are going to use a lip liner, now would be the time to apply it. Just remember to blend the inner edge of the line in to avoid that dated dark lip pencil / light lipstick look. We don’t do that anymore…
■Now for the lip color — I like using two shades, a base color that goes all over the lip, and on top of the lip liner too. The second shade would be a highlighter. It would have to be slightly lighter than your base color and may even have some shimmer in it. Place just a little bit at the center of your lips, upper and lower.
■Lastly gloss over finished lips with moisturizing gloss and you are good to go for hours if not days. All you have to do is continue to gloss throughout the day to keep your lips moistened and the color strong.

You are almost out the door and on your way to your beautiful wedding. just a few finishing touches and you are on your way. In the next installment of this series I will talk about the finishing touches including an overview on hair.

Eye Makeup…

In one word — Waterproof… Waterproof mascara. Waterproof eyeliner. Water resistant eye shadow primers or cream eye shadow! Get it!?

Even if you are not a crier, there is a chance you may shed a tear or two on your wedding day. However, waterproof formulas aren’t just to protect against tears… Some of us have very oily eyelids, and to make sure that you look just as good on your way to the honey moon suite as you did when you walked down the aisle, waterproof everything is highly recommended.

My favorite waterproof mascara is DiorShow but a more affordable alternative is CoverGirl LashBlast. Both produce richly volumized lashes that won’t budge no matter how wet you get around the eyes.

As for Eyeliners, I like the PowerPoint Eye Pencils from MAC and I LOVE Aqua Eyes from Make Up For Ever. Both come in a beautiful assortment of colors. Both provide long lasting definition and if you work quickly you can get a nice smoky affect by smudging them in a little before they set.

I love working with cream eye shadows on any job I’m on, weather it is a wedding or television. They really give you the most bang for the buck. They are long lasting and blend beautifully on the skin. I often layer a powder eye shadow on top of a cream eye shadow for a little more intensity and staying power. My cream eye shadow of choice is SeneGence ShadowSense. All you have to do is dab some on your lid in the area you want the most color to be and then blend it from there using your finger or a soft, fluffy, densely packed brush like #217 from MAC. My second choice for cream eye shadow is L’OREAL HiP Cream Shadow Paint. You would use the L’OREAL ones in the same way that you would use the SeneGence ones but work quickly because the formula is a little dryer and sets faster.

If you opt not to use a cream eye shadow and stick with good old fashioned pressed powder eye shadow instead, at the very least use an eye shadow primer. Almost every brand has one of these now, but my favorite is still Eyeshadow Primer Potion from Urban Decay. It’s easy to use, is very light weight, and sets instantly without leaving any color on the lid.

As for the actual application of color to the lid, that topic goes beyond the scope of this entry and is best dealt with one on one in a consultation. However, here are some looks that I created for clients during the 2008 wedding season. Since I avoid being trendy for wedding work, these colors and techniques are still relevant today…

This is a classic bridal look using earth tones and a pretty pink for the lips and cheeks.

Here is a slight variation on the first look using cool gray tones accented with some pink in the crease of the eye, over the cheeks and on the lips.

This look was for one of my clients who required a little more drama. For her I used stormy silver, blue and gray shadows with a splash of lavender — it is a wedding after all.

This look is slightly different than the previous three. For this look I used pretty much one color over the entire lid.

In my next installment of this series I’ll go over lip color options!

Brow Shaping…

Now this is where I have to draw the line — no pun intended. I can not condone anyone shaping their own brows. Minor touch ups maybe, but for a full on grooming please see a professional.

Once you’ve had your brows professionally shaped, and in no less than a week in advance of your wedding day, there is very little that needs to be done with them. If your brows are very dense and evenly spread out, consider yourself lucky, you may be able to get away with just brushing them in place using a tinted or clear brow gel. Brow Set from Mac is one such product. At this point you are done and you can move on to the next task at hand.

If your brows are very light in color and sparsely sprouting above your brow bone, you might want to fill them in a little. Don’t grab the same black or brown pencil you would use to line your eyes please. There are pencils made specifically for your brows in muted tones. Better yet use a brow powder or my brow product of choice, Sonia Kashuk Brow Kit Arch Alert. There is no need to over do it unless you like looking dated. This palette comes with four colors of muted velvety matte gel so finding or making the color you need is easy breezy.

Using an angle brush like #208 from MAC or even Laura Mercier’s Smudge brush for a thicker brow and a softer look, gently stroke in color where it is most needed and then blended across the brow for a natural look. Finish by brushing the brows upward with a clean spoolie or with your brow set and you’re done.

As long as your brows have been well shaped in advance, these steps should not take you more than a minute or two complete. Now you are ready to move on to eye makeup.

Bronzer, Blush and Highlighter oh my…

Here is where it starts to get fun.. Your canvas is clean, balanced, beautiful, and ready for some color!

Let’s start with bronzer… I use bronzer on all my clients to varying degrees. Bronzer is not only a great way to warm it up, but also to frame your face. In general I use a small blush brush, pick up just a little product, then draw a large number three on the side of my clients face… Start at the center of your forerhead, close to your hair line with the first gentle stroke. Keeping the brush on your skin the whole time follow the hairline down to your check bone. Under the check bone is where you want to make you next gentle stoke outwards towards the tip of your nose, then back again to where the check bone begins near your ear. From your ear down follow the jawbone all the way across until you reach the under part of your chin. This is just my basic bronzing technique. At this point you may want to go back and build up the bronzer at your temple, under the check bone, and under the jaw bone, depending on the shape of your face and the desired affect.

There are tons of bronzers to choose from. I favor Refined Golden, Matte Bronze, and Refined Deeper Bronze from MAC.

On to Blush… For bridal work I think translucent peaches and pinks like Deep Throat and Orgasm from NARS, are ideal. I also love using cream blushes like Stockholm and New York from Face Stockholm, or any one of the gorgeous Convertible Colors by Stilla.

Once you have made your color selection simply dab the product on to the apple of your check and blend. Smile if you need help finding the apple of your check.

If you are using a powder blush, you will want to get just a little bit of product on one side of your brush; a small, soft, round brush like #7 from Face Stockholm. Gently stroke the apple of your check a couple of times, and with the clean side of the brush blend the color in, so there is no begining or end, and it looks as if you have naturally produced that color yourself.

If you are using a cream brush you can opt to use your fingers tips to apply it, or a flat, wide, densley packed foundation brush like #190 from MAC. Again simply find the apple of your check and blend to perfection.

At this point you can choose to take it one step farther with a translucent, shimmery highlighter over the check bone and/or the brow bone. Just be mindful that a little goes a long way and a lot makes you look sweaty in pictures. Keep the shimmer away from your forehead, and nose.

My favorite powder highlighter is Albatross from NARS and my favorite cream highlighter is Mousse Glace in Gleam from Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.

You are well on your way to a beautiful you now, and in my next installment we will discuss eyebrows!