We are excited to announce that we were interviewed for The Knot's Beauty Week coming up February 15th - 21st! They asked for our Top 10 Beauty Mistakes to Avoid Surrounding Your Wedding Day.
As a special preview, we thought we would share our Top 10 with you:
1. Try things out at your trial. If you are unsure about the way you want your hair and/or makeup for your wedding day look, be sure to try out different styles and looks at your trial run through to make sure you are comfortable with whatever you choose. Choosing a hairstyle that is more formal than your everyday look is a delicate process, and choosing a style from a picture and then seeing it on your head with your amount of hair are two different things. Remember that the model, celebrity or bride in the picture may be wearing extensions, may have a different hair type than yours (i.e. you have baby fine hair and she has thick coarse hair), and don't forget that your head shape/face shape may be different as well. All of these factor into if the style will "look like it did in the picture".
2. Have an idea of how you want to wear your hair prior to purchasing your veil -- unless your veil is a specific item that your hairstyle choice will work around. Veils come in many different lengths, materials, details (or lack thereof), and some are meant to be worn under your updo and others are meant to be worn above the style on the top of your head. This is especially true when the veil has a blusher. You want to be sure of your purchase--especially as some bridal salons will not take back veils or headpieces after you buy them.
3. Choose a hairstyle that you will be comfortable with the whole night through. If you are the type of person who may start the day with your hair down but puts it up by the end of the day, you will want to choose an updo or some kind of modified half-updo style so your hair is away from your face and off your neck. You don't want to have your reception pictures with you in your dress and your hair thrown back in a ponytail, especially after you just spent all that time and money getting it done.
4. Make it last. At your trial run through, really "test-drive" your makeup. If possible, try to schedule your trial run through for a morning so you can see how the makeup lasts all day long. This will help you understand if you need touch-up products or not. Ideally, you would want to have the makeup last with little to no touch-ups required being that once you have your dress on, the rest of the day goes by in a whirl—you have people to see, pictures to take, vows to make, dances to dance—and the touch-up products end up being forgotten until you empty out your purse the next day.
5. Do not try any new products the week or two prior to your wedding day. This includes facial cleansers, moisturizers, toners, serums, creams, treatments, shampoos, conditioners, styling products, makeup, etc. Your hormones can make your skin more sensitive due to your stress level so close to the wedding day, and you definitely don't want to deal with a major breakout or reaction on the day of your wedding.
6. Gather together an emergency kit. There are adorable kits available for purchase, but in reality, you can pull this together with little to no money. Get a makeup or toiletry bag and designate it for your emergency day-of kit. Include safety pins (small gold, small silver, regular sized), double-sided sticky tape, needle and thread/small sewing kit, small scissors, tide-to-go pen, bobby pins, hairspray, gum/mints, razor, deodorant, band-aids, small packs of tissue, nail polish remover, clear nail polish, emery board, nail clipper, makeup remover wipes, tampons, etc. Be prepared for what can go wrong so it doesn't ruin your day.
7. Don't be deceived by the makeup counter salespeople who tell you that you need every product and powder because "you want to make sure you look good in the pictures". It is important to be aware of the lighting and environment of your wedding so that you understand how it will affect the way you (and your makeup) look in pictures. However more does not always equal better.
8. Get rid of the old…skin, that is. Exfoliating your skin on a regular basis leading up to the wedding will make a dramatic difference in the way the makeup sits on your skin. Applying makeup to a fresh layer of skin versus a dry layer makes the makeup look more like your own skin and less like makeup. Don't forget about exfoliating your lips as well. The best time to do this is right before you get out of the shower, take a washcloth and a mild face scrub and gently rub your lips pulling them taut as you go as if you were applying lipstick. Don't scrub too hard or you will end up with raw lips. Afterwards, make sure you apply a lip conditioner/balm to keep the new skin layer fresh and moisturized. Your lipstick/gloss will look a million times better!
9. Designate someone as your point of contact for the wedding day. Generally it is best if this person is not in your wedding party or a mother as they will have other things to tend to that day. Give this point person all your vendor information, phone numbers, schedule and any other information to help this person act as you would when you are in "wedding planning mode". Make sure you also give your vendors that person's phone number to call in case of emergency, if they are lost or need directions, etc., as well as the information where they should go to once arriving at the venue or hotel and who they should ask for. This will hopefully prevent the bombardment of phone calls and inquiries you need to deal with on the day of—you certainly have enough else to do that day!
10. Remember that this is a personal day of celebration that will be documented in pictures. If you are uncomfortable with the amount of makeup you are wearing on your wedding day, it will be more unflattering than if you wore no makeup at all. These are your friends and family who have seen you in all different stages of life and amounts of makeup—not to mention blue eyeshadow and 80s spiral perm with high-sprayed "wall" bangs and side "wings". They will know if you are unhappy—and a happy bride is always the most beautiful.
