Your Guide to Flawless Wedding Day Makeup
10 Step Bridal Makeup Application
“The wedding day has arrived, that wonderful and oh-so-stressful day that a woman spends her youth dreaming about. For most of us becoming a bride is about achieving the most beautiful day of our lives and yet it comes with high expectations and an abundance of stress. With so many decisions to make about our nuptials we tend to forget about the wedding day makeup application until a few weeks before the big day. Then we think we need to hire a professional makeup artist to give us the perfect wedding day look. This can be a great decision or it can be a huge wedding day disaster.
Hiring a pro makeup artist is a nice bonus if you have worked with your makeup artist on other special occasions and they know exactly how you like your makeup done, but if you don’t have a makeup artist who knows you and your skin it might be best to learn the secrets to wedding day makeup yourself, this will save you a lot of money and you can be confident that you will get the results you desire.
If you desire a more detailed step by step guide we recommend our DIY Bridal Makeup class with step by step video instruction.
Step 1: Prime
Without a doubt this is the most important step to achieving an all-day long-lasting wedding day makeup look. Once your face is cleansed and moisturized use a quality primer that is lightweight, then apply with fingertips to the face and the lids of your eyes. This will stabilize and keep your makeup in place all day and will help minimize the appearance of large pores. Your primer will act as a skin spackle and reduce the appearance of fine lines, large pores and mini-flaws of the face.
Step 2: Conceal, Correct & Brighten
Concealing is your bridal makeup secret weapon.
Start with a beige or yellow toned concealer under the eyes to hide dark circles and brighten the face. Check the face for those little flaws you might want to conceal and use a pink or peach-toned corrector to neutralize discoloration or a green concealer to hide redness. Brighten your neck and chest with a light bronzer and add a shimmer of highlighter.
Step 3: A Perfect Base
Finding the correct foundation is crucial for an all day glow. You want a foundation that will give you all day coverage, is sweat proof and one that and is suited for your skin type. The right foundation will match your skin tone perfectly. Use a strip test to match your skin to your foundation. Apply your foundation with a stiff puff brush all over the face, forehead, chin and neck and even on the chest if necessary to give it an airbrush and luminous finish.
Setting your concealer and foundation is an important step in achieving a long lasting makeup application. Use a yellow toned powder to give you a shine free look this will ensure that when your wedding photos arrive your face will have the exact same tone as your neck and body. Apply a light dusting to the face, forehead, chin neck and even the chest if you are wearing a strapless gown.
Step 5: Define Your Face
Your wedding day is not the day for heavy contouring but the day to give your face definition and detail. You will want to enhance your cheekbones and chin and if you are wearing a strapless dress you will need to tie in your neck to your face.
Use a little contouring powder in a shade just darker than your skin under the cheekbones with an angled brush to give definition and apply a light dusting below the jaw line to enhance the face.
Brush on a light layer of bronzer to the neck, chest and ears to give you that sun kissed glow.
Step 6: A Blushing Bride
For a fresh and luminous bride-to-be glow use the 2-step blush application. Apply a light natural shade of blush to the cheekbones moving in an upward swirl to the hairline followed by a brighter pink or peach shade tapped onto the apples of the cheek, this will brighten your face and give you the blushing bride glow.
Step 7: Showcase Your Eyes
Your wedding day is not the time to have heavy smoky eyes or to test out trendy new looks. Your wedding day is about an ethereal look that enhances your natural beauty. Avoid bright or dark colors, stick to pinks, peaches, light greys or charcoal.
Shadowing
We suggest the following 3-color application
Apply a light pink or peach to the lower eyelid.
Smoke out the corners of the eye with charcoal grey
Highlight the inner corners of the eye and the upper lid just below the brow with a beige shimmer.
Lining
Try the tight lining technique for your eyeliner to showcase the eyes
Line the upper lash line with a dark charcoal or light black
2. Line the lower lash line with the same color
Soften the liner by smudging
Brows
Defining the eye brows will create a natural frame for the face and make eyes pop in your wedding photos. Be sure to use the correct color brow powder or brow pencil to fill-in brows, we suggest a two-color brow process to get a natural look. One color the same as your natural brow color or hair color the other a lighter color to give your brows definition and depth.
Lashes
Enhancing your lashes will be the final step of your eye makeup application and we recommend getting lash extensions if you can afford it or use fiber lash mascara if you can find it. Top off with black waterproof mascara in case you spill a few tears! And if you want more pop, this easy technique of adding individual lashes to the outer 1/3 corner of your lash line after your mascara application.
Step 8: Luscious Lips
On your lips, try to use brighter shades of pink, rose or plum colors.
Line your lips with a longwearing non-feathering matching shade of lip liner that enhances the color.
We recommend applying a lip stain after you apply your liner and then top it off with lipstick or lip-gloss. Lip stain will ensure that the lip base lasts all day and can be kept up with quick applications of your lipstick or lip-gloss.
Use your lipstick throughout the day and keep it handy in an easy to access location.
Make sure to ask your photographer if the color of lipstick you have chosen will work well with the pictures they are going to take.
When it comes to bridal makeup your lips matter a great deal. So practice different techniques until you find the look that works well for you and lasts the whole day
Step 9: Brighten & Highlight
This crucial step creates a glow like no other.
Highlighting your face at the end of your makeup application gives you a shimmering glamorous glow and will enhance your wedding day photos with the illusion of perfect lighting.
Use a shimmery powder highlighter below the brow, on the top of the brow bone, and on the top of your cheekbone over the top of your blusher.
Then add a small dot of highlighter to the tip of your nose to bring your face forward in pictures.
This is the secret of celebrities who use the camera as their best friend and draw their faces into the sense for beautiful results.
Step 10: Maintain Your Glow
The final step in having success with your bridal makeup look will be to keep your skin looking fresh and dewy all day. Be sure to set your face with a setting spray if you have one and keep your skin hydrated.
To do that you will need to make sure you hydrate yourself throughout the day with plenty of water. Most brides get so caught up in all the excitement that they tend to forget to keep their bodies hydrated. Drinking water throughout the day and evening is the final step in keeping your gorgeous makeup flawless and this means avoiding too much alcohol as well, which will dehydrate your skin and give your skin a sallow look.
Your wedding day is your chance to be the star of the show and we know your makeup application is going to look stunning and beautiful.
Your groom will appreciate all your hard work and beauty!
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