Sam goes to beauty school #8: Bridal makeup

There are many times in a woman’s life when she requires her make-up to be absolutely perfect, but none are nearly as important as her wedding day. So you can imagine the enormous amount of pressure felt by make-up artists to ensure not a lash is out of line on the big day. Thankfully, my housemate Jemima is not getting married (yep, she’s single lads), so practising a bridal look on her in class wasn’t nearly as stressful as the real thing.

BRIDAL MAKE-UP TIP #1: Long-lasting coverage

A bride isn’t going to want her make-up to start fading after an hour, so make sure to start off with a primer, use a long-lasting foundation and apply the base in the order of foundation, concealer, foundation. Finish by setting with powder.

Hint: If you’re about to be a bride, it’s a good idea to keep your skin well moisturised weeks before the wedding so that your foundation will sit nicely and not be absorbed by dry skin.

BRIDAL MAKE-UP TIP #2: Keep it natural

If you want to rock a bright red lip and smoky eye at your wedding, go for it! But most brides prefer to keep it natural by using neutral colours like browns, nudes and greys. I used a dark brown shadow and gold brown shadow on Jemima’s eyes, with a subtle flick of black liquid eyeliner for further definition. For softer lined eyes, use grey eyeshadow and a fine tip brush instead of eyeliner.

BRIDAL MAKE-UP TIP #3: Single lashes, outer edges

I love big, full, voluminous false lashes, but those are probably more appropriate for a nightclub than a wedding. Instead, I used single lashes (also known as clusters) to enhance Jemima’s eyes. I used three clusters on each eye, starting on the outer edge and working my way towards the middle. This gave natural length and a subtle winged effect to her eyes.

BRIDAL MAKE-UP TIP #4: A lip colour you can take with you

It’s a good idea for the bride and make-up artist to co-ordinate a lip colour before the wedding day, so that the bride has the option of purchasing her own if she needs to be applying touch-ups throughout the day. A natural colour like a nude or soft pink is what most brides tend to opt for. I used Max Factor Colour Elixir Lipstick in Eternal Flame for Jemima’s lips.

What do you think of my bridal look? Did you have a make-up artist do your wedding make-up? 

Sam is enrolled in a Make-up Design and Application course at the Artistry of Make-up Academy in Sydney.