Every beauty magazine and site can tell you the color and makeup trends to follow for your upcoming wedding. Since we’re iconoclasts here at Beauty News NYC, we’re not going to waste your time. We know you are a busy, to-be-wed woman, dealing with invitations, seating charts, looking for a Vera Wang dress and other general planning tasks for your big day. To make your life easier – you’re welcome! – we’ve assembled the 10 Commandments of wedding makeup. You don’t have to go to confession if you break them and you certainly don’t need to adhere to or follow all of them. But we certainly hope our advice makes your wedding day that much better!
1) Be bold and do red lipstick. It shows up better in photos – in both color and black and white. If you can’t get with red, try pink or a berry shade that you like and feel sexy in.
2) Be comfortable. If you are not comfortable wearing red lipstick, it’ll show and for all of posterity, you won’t love your wedding pictures. And you can’t have that. Try a darker pink lipstick topped with gloss, or a stain glazed with gloss. That way, you stay moist. Forget “not wanting to constantly reapply.” That’s just not realistic. It’s your wedding. Everyone wants to take a picture of the bride and kiss the bride, so keep a mini vial of gloss in your bag or in your hand the entire day. If you have fuller lips, you can play with rich reds and deep-toned berries. Tiny lipped ladies needn’t fret. There are plenty of nudes and neutrals that will play up that smile!
3) Do not deviate too much from your routine. Don’t wax your brows, chin or upper lip too close to the big day. You could have a reaction or the ingrown and resultant bumps can mar the photos. So do yourself the favor and get your weekly or bi-weekly maintenance a week before the wedding. If you are on a ritualized schedule and wax every two weeks on the button, then try this. About six weeks in advance, forego a week to reset your waxing clock so that you wax a week out of your wedding.
4) Accept that you will have to wear more makeup than normal. It’s like a red carpet; celebs are forced to layer on more product in order to look their best under the harsh light of all those flash bulbs. You won’t have to deal with surprise shots, but you will need a primer, concealer, foundation and powder in order to create a flawless look.
5) It’s in your best interest to hire a makeup artist for the event. If you do your own makeup and all your bridesmaids always ask you to do theirs, then you’re probably good to go doing it yourself. But if you don’t use a lot of makeup, don’t leave that big of a margin of error and just hire someone. It’ll be worth the investment and you’ll thank yourself later when you page through your wedding album. Do research, as you don’t want to work with someone who doesn’t know you, your personal style or what you are looking for and will have you looking nothing like yourself on the most important day of your life.
6) Keep blotting papers in your bag. No matter how tiny your wedding day handbag, these tissue-thin sheets will come in handy for touch ups and to mop up any shine or perspiration that rears its head on your big day. I like Bobbi Brown’s chic sheets.
7) Waterproof mascara is a must. There is no way around it. Even if you’re not uber emotional, you’ll be crying many tears of joy this day, as will your family and friends, so you don’t want to look like a raccoon and the best way to avoid this problem is to invest in a quality waterproof mascara. Spend the extra money at the Chanel, Dior or MAC counters for the best water-resistant brands on the market.
8) Pick a color palette and stick with it. Play up one feature. Invest in a clutch or a bag big enough to house your essentials for the touch ups you will undoubtedly be doing, as mentioned previously.
9) Have a pre-wedding makeup party with your girlfriends, like a modern day sleep over. Decide how cohesive or different you want your looks to be from one another for the wedding. Experiment. Play. Test out new products. You could find a bunch of gems in the lot by sharing tips, finds and excitement with each other.
10) Pay the most attention to your lips. Everyone will zone in on a bride’s smile, so teeth whiteners and blue-based lip colors will aid in showing off your gorgeous, ear-to-ear grin.
