As a professional hair and makeup artist for 15 years, I want to share the top 5 tips for you to have a successful bridal hair and makeup trial before your big day. This is one of the most important days of your life and you deserve to shine. Choosing the “look” can be confusing and hard. You want your wedding day hair and makeup to be the best version of you and also reflect your wedding theme and style. I have outlined the top 5 tips to have a successful bridal hair and makeup trial.
- Choosing your stylist- When looking for the right bridal hair and makeup stylist, be sure to do your research. If you like light and romantic makeup and hair, choose a stylist who is geared towards this style. Do not choose an artist who specializes in heavier makeup looks and winged liner, and ask them to a soft and romantic makeup look. Remember stylists are artists and we each have our own “niche” or style. Try to stay true to that particular stylist and his/her work.
2. Being realistic- Its so easy to be unrealistic in the world we live in. When jumping on Pinterest, it only takes 1 second and you are instantly accusing thousands of photos of hair and makeup it can be easy to get carried away. My suggestion is to look for photos of hair and makeup with your same coloring of hair and skin type. Remember that dimensional blondes always look stunning in braids and updos. If you have darker hair and choose a very dimensional blonde photo, just remember the style may not look the same on you. Comparing your hair and makeup pictures to perfect photos of Kim Kardashian is not realistic. Be true to you and try to remember that each style and makeup look will look differently on each human being! If you find photo of a gorgeous hairstyle and you have fine or thin hair, consider getting hair extensions before your hair and makeup trial.
3. Scheduling- So many brides reach out to me and want to coordinate their hair and makeup trials with the same day as their engagement photos or any other photoshoot or event. I do not recommend this. Engagement makeup should be a separate appt. I think that a bridal hair and makeup trial should be specifically geared towards this. You more than likely will not want the same hair or makeup as your engagement photos or another event. Bridal is a very unique style and time. We should be recreating the bridal look and no other look for your bridal hair and makeup trial. My biggest suggestions with scheduling is to try to coordinate your dress fitting on the same day as your hair and makeup trial. You will get to see the entire look this way and see if you feel beautiful with your hair and makeup style combined with your dress. Also consider, if you are hiring an established wedding vendor, their weekend availability may not to open to trials. Weekend time = bridal time.
4. Bring pictures, but not too many. I suggest bringing two photos of hair and two photos of makeup to your hair and makeup trial. You want to give your stylist a clear vision of photos that you think are beautiful without confusing her on having so many photos, she/he doesn’t know what direction you want to go. Giving your stylist 20 photos can be confusing and overwhelming. Try your best to narrow down to some of your favorite looks. If you don’t have any pictures, don’t worry. Ask your stylist what she recommends based upon your hair and skin type.
5. Feedback- Remember that its OK to not love everything about your hair and makeup trial. This is what a trial is for. More than likely, this is the first time you and your bridal stylist are meeting and connecting. Your stylist will do what he/she thinks is best based on your photos and also your hair and skin type. A lot of brides feel not like themselves after the trial because bridal hair and makeup is more than you usually wear. Make notes of everything you love and give your stylist feedback of both what you loved and also what you didn’t like. (i.e., I loved the way the back of my hair looked, but on the wedding day could we pull some front pieces out). This will help you and your stylist achieve perfection! Remember, trying on your dress helps so much because your bridal hair and makeup look may feel and look like a lot when you are in everyday clothes. 🙂
I hope these tips and tricks help you to have plan and execute a successful hair and makeup trial with your bridal stylist. If you want to look through any pictures of bridal styles to bring to your trial, please visit my portfolio.
XOXO
Until next time,