Wedding Makeup Tips
Welcome to wedding makeup tips and tricks with some of my favorite wedding make up artists around Massachusetts! I’m going to ask them a series of questions and provide you with their answers. I’ll also provide my reasoning for asking the questions, as it relates to photography!
I had the pleasure of interviewing the following make up artists for this series. To check out their gorgeous work and to contact them, please see their information at the bottom of the blog!
Carla – Creative Contour by Carla
Ashley- Snatched Beauty Bar
Jenny- Jenny Luu Hair and Makeup
I hope you find this information helpful when choosing your make up team as well as some thoughtful wedding makeup tips for your Big Day!
1. What’s one thing you suggest clients look for and/or ask when they are searching for their makeup artist/team?
Maureen Russell Photography: When it comes to the photography piece of working with a make up artist, I always suggest finding someone that you get along with and has a portfolio of brides. While I’m taking pictures of the bride and her tribe getting ready, I want them to feel relaxed. It’ll show in the pictures if you aren’t enjoying getting all done up for the Big Day. So a person that’s going to put you at ease and that you trust will go a long way in your images. More to come on the portfolio!
Carla: I actually recommend three things when looking for your ideal makeup artist. 1. You like their work. I know this sounds so silly, but you should be able to see yourself as one of the brides in their portfolio. 2. Chat with your potential makeup artist! You want to make sure you get an idea of their professionalism. I always offer potential brides the option to chat on the phone for a 15-minute consultation. It’s always nice to know that there is a real human on the other end. 3. Discuss their sanitary practices. Professional makeup artists follow the federal sanitation standard set by the CDC. I am extremely open about my sanitation practices, and will gladly answer questions that brides have.
Ashley: There’s so much that goes into picking wedding vendors, makeup artists included. A makeup artist is going to be spending your wedding morning with you, you want to make sure you feel comfortable & relaxed around them. If personalities or expectations clash it can lead to more stress no bride wants to deal with on their wedding day. I also suggest finding an artist or team who only commits to one wedding per day. if you end up running behind your timeline you don’t want to worry about your makeup artist having to leave to get to another wedding. Your glam squad should be yours until you’re 100% ready for your big day.
Jenny: The one thing I would suggest is that clients do their research – finding an artist that has experience with working with brides would be a plus. They will have a better understanding of the whole wedding day process if they do. And make sure the artist’s website and portfolio resonates with your style and most importantly, that they are professional and reliable.
2. To follow up on searching for a makeup artist, what is the biggest advantage to hiring a professional makeup artist versus having a friend or family do your makeup?
Maureen Russell Photography: This question comes from my own wedding experience! I actually had my sister in law do my make up for my wedding day. I wanted a natural look for a beach wedding and she does great make up! At the time, all I could think of was the over the top prom make up that I had done years prior, so I didn’t want a professional to do it. So while I loved that I still looked like “me”, I realized now that I don’t pop in my pictures. So having a professional will give you the right amount of makeup to make sure that you stand out in your images. Whether it’s a natural look or a glam look, they will know what you need.
Carla: A professional has a certain level of experience that friends or family may not have. We understand and study skin tones, undertones, bone structure, face shape, etc. We are always practicing and learning in the off-season. This includes attending trade shows and taking classes. We also have just about anyone sit in the makeup chair. This means we have experience working on any skin tone, age group, and gender.
Ashley: A professional makeup artist is just that, we are professional. We show up on time, we use the best products, we are trained to be sanitary, we know what works best with professional photography. We are experienced with wedding mornings & everything that comes along with them from timelines, working around photographers, stress, etc. Plus this way, your family & friends get to relax and spend the morning with the bride!
Jenny: A professional artist, especially one that has experience with weddings, will understand the entire process. Especially how important the whole wedding day timeline would be and staying on schedule. Sometimes having someone you personally know, if you do not like the look, you might feel bad about sharing how you really feel about the look.
3. How important is a trial run? What are things to look for while the makeup artist is working?
Maureen Russell Photography: I love when my bride or couple is able to book their trial before their engagement session! The reason being is so you can see whether you like your make up look in professional images. You can change it up a bit, so it’s not the exact look your partner is seeing, if you’re worried about it. I have had brides add more, change colors, or tone it down a bit after seeing the look in their photos. This is also why I’m a huge advocate of having your wedding photographer also do your engagement images!
Carla: A trial run is very important! If I’m being honest, the trial run is more important than your wedding day makeup, because your trial run is the time to really communicate with your artist and let us know your desired look. During your trial (and during any makeup application in general), you shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. Your wedding makeup trial is the perfect time to tell your artist the styles and colors you like and don’t like. We work together to create your perfect wedding makeup look!
Ashley: I will not do bridal makeup without a trial run, they’re so important for so many reasons. At your trial you’ll be able to show your makeup artist examples or your ideal look, go over any skincare concerns, allergies, what you like & don’t like about makeup, past experiences with makeup & more. I spend probably an hour of my trial times just talking with my brides about their dream wedding day look. As a bride going into a trail, you want to be sure your makeup artist is professional from scheduling the trial to being on time for your appointment. You want your trial to run as smoothly as your wedding day. Everything should appear clean & sanitary; from the appearance of the artist to the brushes & products. At the end of a trial appointment after I show my bride her makeup, I write EVERYTHING down. I write down products I used that she loved as well as didn’t love.It’s so important to have this information to recreate the same look on the wedding day.
Jenny: Very important – regardless of how much you trust your artist, you want to ensure the look you envision will be the look you really want. What you can look for aside from how professional and organized they are, would be how clean their makeup brushes are, what type of products they use, how sanitary their workstation or setup is.
4. If a bridal party wanted to compile “looks” for themselves to present to their make up artist, what do you suggest looking at OR staying away from?
Maureen Russell Photography: This is such a tough question for any wedding vendor. While we all know that Pinterest is such a go-to for inspiration, so many factors come into play on the wedding day. I love sending images to make up artists after the engagement session or wedding, so that they can use them in their portfolio. This will give a bride and her bridal party a real-life look from a wedding. That way it’s not studio lighting or over edited images that can come up on Pinterest, which most likely cannot be recreated on your wedding day.
Carla: Great question! I always recommend looking through the artist’s portfolio and social media. The makeup artist will proudly share their best work at that time, and the photos will not be heavily edited, in order to really show the makeup. If the group doesn’t find the look they desire, other social media is an alternative. However, please be aware that photos on any social media forum could be heavily edited via Photoshop, Facetune, and have multiple filters applied. If you have questions concerning this topic, I recommend asking the artist when you chat!
Ashley: It can be helpful to see an example look of what your client is looking for, but it can be tricky too. As a client you have to keep in mind sometimes looks you see on Pintrest or Instagram are created specifically for that picture. Makeup can look amazing in a picture on Instagram but if you saw it face to face it would look so dramatic. I suggest looking at your makeup artists social media pages or portfolio for inspiration. If you’ve had your makeup done in the past those pictures can be great examples too. It’s also just as helpful to know what clients dislike about makeup. If you’ve had your makeup done in the past & you didn’t love it, showing pictures & explaining what you didn’t love about it can be great to better understand what a client is looking for.
Jenny: For the bridesmaids, I would usually suggest they look at my instagram for ideas. The artists portfolio would be a great place to start as well as Pinterest. In terms of staying away from something – not really. Unless a bride is ok with her bridesmaids wearing a bold red lip color, that is something I would suggest them checking with the bride first to see if it’s ok.
5. What do you tell brides that never wear make up and want a more natural look?
Maureen Russell Photography: In my prior answer about hiring a professional, I talked about how I personally wanted a natural look on my wedding day, with reservations about hiring someone. Looking back I would highly recommend it to my past self. With the talents that professional makeup artists have, they’ll have no problem coming up with a natural look that will also pop in your images! The trial is so important for this reason. You’ll get used to wearing more make up than you normally do. Again, if you’re able to do the trial before your engagement session, you’ll be able to see how incredible the make up looks in the images.
Carla: I welcome brides who don’t wear makeup regularly! In fact, these folks are my favorite people. Understand that while there are no formal rules when it comes to makeup, professional makeup artists use techniques that enhance your natural beauty. A lot of my brides described their ideal makeup look as they look like themselves, but elevated.
Ashley: For a makeup artist, I wear very very little makeup in my day to day life. I completely understanding wanting to look natural & like yourself. It’s important to have makeup on so you look brighter & more radiant in photos, however it’s equally important you feel comfortable face to face in front of your husband & wedding guests. For someone who wears no makeup, even the lightest makeup application can look & feel dramatic at first. This is why it’s so important to do a trial run, so you have an idea & expectation as to what you’ll look like with makeup on. I typically tell people to wait an hour before you decide to change anything about your makeup. As your skin produces oil & makeup settles it will appear more natural and skin-like. Also this will allow some time for you to get used to seeing yourself with makeup on. Usually after looking at themselves a few times clients find it appears less & less dramatic than they originally thought.
Jenny: My most requested look is a “natural look” but we all define natural makeup differently. I will have some brides that really do not want any makeup and then some say they want something natural and show me a photo of Kim Kardashian or want to keep their skin as natural as possible and want to emphasize their eyes and ok with a dramatic eye look. It varies and the best thing to do is just listen and take the time to get to know your bride and her ideal style.
6. Now that they have chosen a makeup artist, what are a couple of simple wedding makeup tips the wedding party can do to prep their skin leading up to the wedding day? Are there any specific tips based on age or for the guy’s skin to look their best too?
Maureen Russell Photography: There is a lot of celebration and organizing leading up to the wedding day, so definitely drink water! Keep hydrated and it’ll help your skin and in general on the Big Day! While I can can edit out blemishes for the bride and groom, this will hopefully prevent the need to!
Carla: As a professional, I have worked on both men and women, all age groups, and all skin tones. However, I have come up with a foolproof skincare routine in preparation for your special day. The routine is four (4) easy steps: cleanse, exfoliate, mask, moisturize. Keep your skincare routine simple in order to prepare for your wedding day, you’ll thank yourself in the long run!
Ashley: It’s so true that good makeup starts with good skin. In addition to being a makeup artist I’m also an aesthetician. I love working with my brides to get their skin wedding day ready. I highly suggest working with an aesthetician & getting monthly treatments to get your skin looking its best. Any treatments you’re planning on doing the month of the wedding I suggest doing a few months in advance as well. It’s important to know how your skin will react & look in the days following the treatment so you can time it perfectly. Dermaplaning is one of my favorite treatments, it removes all peach fuzz as well as dead, discolored & dry skin cells from skins surface (aka your skin is baby smooth.) I also recommend products containing glycolic such as a mask or peel. I love Dr. Deniss Gross’s AHA Universal Daily Peel wipes for both the bride & groom. Glycolic is an exfoliant great for many skin issues such as fine lines, skin discoloration & more!
Jenny: Keeping the skin hydrated, drink plenty of water and having a good skincare routine. A flawless makeup application really starts within the skin first.
I’s a bit tough to provide general skincare tips, based on age or gender, as it’s really based on the skin type (oily, dry, normal, combination) plus it’s more a personalized experience – you need to see the skin in person or have more information about what is happening with the skin in order to provide recommendations. I usually provide skincare recommendations for my brides. It’s really rare the groom would ask me for skincare tips.
7. What if a client has allergies? What can they do or what do you do differently?
Maureen Russell Photography: I ask this question because I have seen allergic reactions happen on the wedding day. When it comes to the photography piece with an allergic reaction, we might be able to adjust angles, but in some cases it’s noticeable when you are looking straight at the camera. So definitely address this with your make up artist!
Carla: If you have an allergy, please make me aware before the date of your makeup application. This is extremely necessary so I can prepare and plan to avoid all products with the allergen. Communication is key.
Ashley: This is another great example of why your bridal makeup trial is so important! It’s important for a makeup artist to have an idea of the ingredients in their products & what’s safe with most common allergies. If a client has specific allergies I’ll usually ask about the makeup line they use at home & how their skin reacts to that. If a client is worried about their skin reacting I’ll offer to apply their own products rather than what’s in my kit. A lot of cosmetic lines try to make their products safe for various allergies but it’s always important for makeup artist to know what ingredients their products contain.
Jenny: I have this within my contract so I will know ahead of time if someone is allergic to any beauty related products. If someone is allergic to beauty products, I would take extra precaution and if they felt more comfortable using their own products that would be an option for them.
8. How much time do you need to allocate to the Bride and rest of the wedding party?
Maureen Russell Photography: Earlier I mentioned that choosing a make up artist that has a portfolio of brides is very important. THIS is where this comes into play. When a photographer is making their timeline, we like to know that the bride’s make up artist is experienced on a wedding day. Things happen on a wedding day, so it’s important that the make up artists can work under a tight timeline and under pressure if things start to run behind. It’s really important for you to let your make up artist know what time you need to start getting into your dress, so that they can balance the time for you and the bridesmaids as well as decide whether to bring in help.
Carla: For the bride I allow a lovely 1-hour Makeup Experience. For the members of the wedding party, I allow 45 minutes per person for each Makeup Experience.
Ashley: I always always always like to give myself extra time. I would much rather finish earlier than expected than than bride feel rushed on her wedding morning. I typically allow myself about 40 minutes per bridesmaid plus a few minutes to clean up & sanitize my brushes in between. I like to give myself about an hour for the bride. When creating my schedule for the morning I’ll add on about 30 minutes at the end for touch ups & then a 30 minute buffer in case anything runs over.
Jenny: A bride is up to 2 hours for both hair + makeup. Moms are usually 30 mins for makeup. Then for the bridesmaids – 45 mins for makeup.
9. What is a big ‘don’t do it!’ the day before and/or morning of for wedding day make up?
Maureen Russell Photography: When it comes to photography, definitely avoid new routines that could cause allergic reactions. I would probably suggest not adding anyone else to make up schedule, i.e. a bridesmaid with a last minute decision to get make up. Any last minute changes can throw a timeline off, which could mean less images of getting ready or with your bridal party and can even push a ceremony to start late.
Carla: Do not decide to start a new skincare product, routine, or hair removal process! Make sure you allocate a lot of time for your skin to heal just incase you have a reaction. I recommend having any hair removal services 3-7 days before the wedding. Concerning skin care, it varies. If you introduce a new skincare product, and your skin has a reaction, it could take days to clear up. I recommend avoiding new products altogether less than 2 weeks before your wedding. If you have regular facials with the same esthetician for at least 3 months, it’s likely that they will be comfortable providing your facial the day before your wedding because they know your skin well enough.
Ashley: The day before your wedding or morning of your wedding I don’t recommend trying any new products for the first time. I always recommend my brides be careful with everything from chap stick to under-eye masks. Your wedding morning would be the absolute worst time to realize you have an unknown allergy.
Jenny: For the day before, try something new such a getting a spray tan which is probably less likely a bride would do but you never know.
10. Last, what do you suggest a photographer keep in their bag, so we can help with make up throughout the rest of the day?
Maureen Russell Photography: I ask this throughout the series to all the vendors. Photographers are a jack of all trades on a wedding day and we usually have a bag of tricks to help during the day. When it comes to make up, we don’t want to touch anything that’ll change the look. Things come up though, such as sweating from extreme heat or mom kissing with red lipstick. I love to know what we can do to help!
Carla: If you are not a professional makeup artist, you should not touch any professional makeup look. There are a number of reasons why, but the most important reason is sanitation. There is a strict standard of sanitation set by the CDC that makeup artists must follow. Professionals take strict measures to prevent bacteria transfer. If you are not a professional makeup artist, you cannot prevent the transfer of bacteria. However, if the bride purchases certain products (ie powder, or lipstick) from her makeup artist, she may ask that you hold onto this product while you take her photos. I think this action is fine as long as the makeup products are held in her purse or bride bag.
Ashley: This is such an amazing question & shows how dedicated you are to your brides! Oil blotting sheets are always great to absorb any excess oil caused by humidity or sweat from nerves. A clear lip gloss with disposable applicators are a great touch too since some lipsticks can be drying. A facial mist or spray is always nice to refresh the skin as the day goes on, one of my favorites is Caudalie’s Beauty Elixir which leaves a gorgeous dewey glow and the smell is so calming. I typically suggest my brides purchase their own lipstick for touch ups & oil blotting sheets but obviously with everything that goes into wedding planning it’s easy for them to forget those small details. Having a photographer that has these items readily available would be such a nice touch.
Jenny: The makeup would stay put all day and night with the exception of the lips. I always have a bridal touch-up kit for my brides. Some things would include sample lip color, oil blotting sheets, trial size hair spray, extra bobby pins…
Thank you so much to these amazing ladies for their answers. These are such great wedding makeup tips and tricks for the wedding day. Check out their gorgeous work on the website and social media links below!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s vendor series. Head back to the blog to see more tips and tricks from other wedding day vendors!
Carla- Creative Contour by Carla:
Website: www.creativecontourbycarla.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/creativecontourbycarla
Facebook: www.facebook.com/creativecontourbycarla
Ashley- Snatched Beauty Bar
Website: snatchedbar.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/snatched.beautybar
Facebook: www.facebook.com/snatchedbar
Jenny- Jenny Luu Hair and Makeup
Website: https://jcluu.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_jennyluu/