Makeup by Jyoti Nair
For most women, the wedding day is the most important day in their life. The day they dream of looking their best and all eyes are on them. I have been doing bridal makeup for over 14 years and let me just say no matter how prepared and organized you think you might be, there are many changes that occur every minute on that very special day. So I decided to talk about how to choose the perfect makeup artist for your special day.
Tips on choosing the right makeup artist for your special day
Talk to a few different girls at your work, friends, or even department stores and start asking about some referrals on makeup artist.
If you choose not to ask anyone, try Google under professional makeup artist or bridal makeup or go to your nearby department stores in the cosmetic counters like Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Trish Mcevoy, MAC or Chanel and ask a sales associate if they know anyone who does bridal makeup.
I would highly recommend to spend a few bucks and pick up some bridal magazines to look through for the kind of makeup you like and then save some of the picture to let the artist know how you would like your makeup.
Consult a few different makeup artist and ask the following questions:
- What is the cost for bridal makeup, any additional cost such travel, parking, eyelashes , brows, any package deals.
- Is a consultation for makeup free or is their a cost and if so, how much does it cost and how many different makeup looks.
- Is there a deposit required.
- If you have multiple people getting their makeup, ask the artist how long each makeup application can take – most artist can do a makeup between half hour to 45min.
- Ask to see their portfolio.
- What brand makeup does the artist use.
- Ask about airbrush makeup if you are interested.
Some additional things to keep in mind:
- Find yourself some images you can show the artist of the looks you like and try them during your consultation. After each look, remember to take a picture.
- Take a girlfriend or sister who is very honest with you during your consultation. Ask their opinion on how the makeup looks. VERY IMPORTANT: Please ladies, from experience avoid taking your mother with you. In my personal experience, it always seems to turn into a battle that no one wins.
- Its important to make sure you really get along with the makeup artist and that the artist is listening to your needs, as this is going to be your very special day, but also be open to suggestions from your artist.
- Make sure the makeup artist can also do eyebrows, otherwise get them done prior to wedding day.
- One trick that is very helpful to help with baby hair, is to get some bleaching cream for the face from your local drugstore and use it 4 days prior to your wedding day. This is very important for girls who have baby hair on their face. It makes the difference on your whole skin and your makeup.
- Personally, I believe you should have a separate makeup and hair person because it is very rare that someone can be good at both.
- Make sure that if you have to be ready by 12pm you should have your makeup and hair person there by 9:00am. Three hours may seems too early to some people, but trust me, it’s not. Give at least 45 min for each task, and if you have multiple girls getting their hair and makeup done, make sure the artist knows how many before the day of the wedding. This gives the artist an idea to bring an assistant if they need one. If you think you will only need the makeup artist for about 4 hours, let the artist know it will be 6 hours just in case. Always add about 2 hours to your time. I remember many incidences where I was told 6 hours and I ended up worked 10 to 12 hours. So just try to be fair to your artist (helps with Karma points).
- Finally, make sure to purchase the lipstick, gloss, and pressed powder that you will be using so you can carry it with you throughout the day for touch ups.
