You spent several stressful months planning your wedding, and now the big day is around the corner. You want to be the most beautiful woman in the room, but you are low on funds, and your choice of makeup artists have all been booked solid. The only alternative left is to do your own makeup. This may sound like the most intimidating prospect in the world, but these tips and tricks will show you that there is nothing to be afraid of.
Get a free makeup consultation
You may be comfortable with doing your own makeup, but having a second pair of eyes looking over your face from a new perspective can do wonders. The consultation could also produce suggestions to guide you on this quest. Beauty consultants at your local Benefit, Sephora, Ulta, or cosmetics counters in department stores are usually willing to answer questions.
Drink a lot of water
Doing something as simple as drinking enough water can do wonders for your body. This is something you should do all the time of course, but especially when your wedding is looming, it is even more important. Water decreases fatigue, carries oxygen around your body, and helps flush out toxins. These benefits will keep you feeling good for the wedding. Water will also keep you looking good for the wedding because it keeps your skin looking healthy and helps you burn fat, so hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate! To figure out how many ounces of water you should drink per day, just divide your weight by two.
Start with a great base
We all know that primer will keep your makeup intact all day, but primer can also actually affect the wear and look of your makeup. Sure, primer turns your face into the perfect canvas for makeup, but it can also determine how the painting will turn out. If you have redness, you should use a color correcting primer. If you have dry skin, you should use a hydrating primer. If you have oily skin, you should use a mattifying primer. There are many options to choose from!
Remember your neck and decolletage
This is a common mistake in makeup application in general, not just wedding makeup. The thing is, though, that most wedding dresses bare the neck and decolletage area, so it makes it a lot more obvious. When you're applying foundation especially, don't ever forget to extend it onto your neck and decolletage so that there isn't a line separating your face from everything else.
Keep it simple
Avoid a complicated look that'll make you seem like you have makeup plastered on your face. Keep your makeup sweet and simple. To avoid the appearance (and reality) of thick makeup, start with sheer layers. Then, take a picture of your face. Does it look too sheer? Build on to it! Repeat these steps until you have the look that you love.
Avoid SPF
This isn't something that we hear often, but it's advisable to leave out products with SPF for your wedding makeup because SPF comes out weird in pictures. It gives you a strange pale sheen. It's only going to be for a day at most, so the sun can't harm your skin too bad.
Make falsies look natural
As is with anything false and fake, false eyelashes look exactly that - false and fake. Even when you do manage to pin down the almost impossible task of finding the perfect pair of false eyelashes, you can still sometimes tell that they're not really your natural lashes. One way of making false eyelashes look more natural is to use individual lashes. Yes, these are a huge pain in the butt to apply, but they'll look way more natural, and hey, it's your wedding day! You can also choose falsies that are longer in the middle that taper out on the sides. Since these are rarer than the usual type of falsies that we're all used to, you can trim any pair that you already have.
Consider your tan
Brides love to tan. Being Asian, I have darker skin, so I don't see the point in tanning, but I'm assuming tan skin looks better in wedding dresses or something. Either way, if you do end up tanning, make sure to always keep that in mind when putting on makeup for your wedding day. If you're not one to tan on the regular, remember to buy foundation that matches the tan! You don't want your face to look three shades lighter than the rest of your body.
Go for trial runs
Don't leave something as big as your wedding makeup to the final second. Over the days leading up to the big day, try on your whole makeup look to see if it works and if you like it. Then, don't take it immediately off! Keep it on for a few hours to see if it lasts. You want a look that won't melt down your face throughout the day of your wedding. If there's something that you feel can be tweaked, you have time!
Use different lighting
Makeup looks different in different lighting. Make sure you like what your finished look looks like in different lighting especially the ones that you'll be in. The most important thing to keep in mind is what your makeup looks like with flash photography!
Ask your friends
Do you have a friend who always looks good, someone who always has their makeup how they want it? Ask them for advice! Who knows, they might even volunteer to do it for you?
What are your tips for DIY wedding makeup?
