Wedding Makeup Tips
Do a deep conditioning treatment once a week or once a fortnight in the run-up to the wedding. Make it a calming experience, apply conditioner, wrap your hair in cling film and relax with a glass of wine.
Get a great cut two to three weeks before the wedding day. Even if it’s long, get your ends snipped off. I’ve heard some hairdressers tell their clients to keep the ends and not cut them off as hair is easier to put up. I say get them trimmed — you have to think about your hair after the wedding and you want it to look good on your honeymoon.
BEST TIP
Your hairdresser will be able to tell you whether you should wash your hair the night before or in the morning. If you are getting it done in the salon don’t wear anything that has to go over your head. And do what the Hollywood sirens used to — sleep on a silk pillow (Silk Perfect Premiere, £29.99, silkperfect.com) and your hair will be super shiny when you wake up.
HAPPY MEMORY
‘For Sarah Ferguson’s wedding I didn’t have the chance to try the tiara beforehand, so I practised on another girl who had long red hair. Sarah wanted to go up the aisle a country girl with flowers in her hair and come down the aisle as a princess, in a tiara. The veil was very heavy and needed to be attached to the tiara.
I had my head down, carefully sewing it on stitch by stitch on the night before the wedding. While I was sitting there sewing, the Queen Mother popped in with her butler, the lovely Billy Tallon, and he brought me in a glass of champagne — on HRH’s insistence.’
Treat yourself and have your make-up done professionally, but always have a trial before the big day. Take photos of the trial make-up in natural light and also with flash. So many brides don’t like their make-up at a trial because they think it’s too heavy, but when they see it in photographs they often change their minds.
You need good products to create a flawless base.
Foundations I like include Lancôme Teint Miracle foundation, £25.55 (lancome.co.uk) and MAC Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation, £23, a gel-based foundation (maccosmetics.co.uk) Bobbi Brown Foundation Sticks, £27 (bobbibrown.co.uk) are easy to blend and provide medium to full coverage.
They can also be used as a heavier concealer on age spots.