Hair & make-up by Tina Prajapat
With so much to organise when planning a wedding (especially an Asian wedding) it’s quite easy to forget about yourself when it comes to preparing your skin so it’s at it’s best when the big day arrives. Make-up is great for hiding imperfections on the skin and sculpting and enhancing your features but there are a few things that you can do in the months and weeks building up to the wedding to create the perfect canvas for that flawless finish to your look. It might not be till you’ve had your make-up trial that you start to think about your beauty routine and it can be quite confusing where to start with so many treatments and products around. So here are some tips and advice for my bridal beauty count down:
12 – 6 months before the wedding
Most of my brides start coming to me for their trials 12 – 6 months before their wedding day, they don’t have their outfits at this stage but need to book their make-up artist before their date gets booked up. Trials at this stage are usually done with the wedding outfit in mind assuming that the colours are going to be traditional. The style and strength of the make-up is worked out so any changes that need to be done when the outfit arrives are not usually going to change the make-up too much. This initial trial will start to give you some idea of what you need to do prior to the wedding.
What I typically find is that sometimes a client will come for a trial having never worn foundation before, when the foundation is applied you can suddenly see that the skin is very dry. The reason for this sudden appearance of dry skin is because the pigment in the foundation grabs onto the dry patches of skin, this suddenly magnifies the problem and doesn’t give that flawless finish. Sometimes you don’t realise you have surface dryness until you apply make-up because you can’t always see it when the skin’s bare. Seeing this minor problem at this stage gives you plenty of time to work on your skin with a few recommended treatments. Moisturising dry skin is good but it’s not always dealing with the problem when you have visibly flaky areas as you are just sticking the dry skin back down again, what you need to do is remove the dry skin and then of course moisturise the skin after. This is where Microdermabrasion facials come in, they are not the most relaxing but with tiny crystals blasting the surface of your skin and then a small vacuum sucking all the surface dead skin cells away this facial not only exfoliates the skin but also helps to unblock the pores. Microdermabrasion can either be used on it’s own or incorporated into a facial, a course of treatments is usually recommended for best results.
If you are prone to break outs then start trying out treatments now www.acne.org is a useful website on how to treat acne with non branded products that you can buy from most chemists (basically benzoyl peroxide and jojoba oil) along with information on other treatments and about spots in general. I’ve see good results with this but just be careful that your skin doesn’t get too dry as benzoyl peroxide can be quite drying on the skin and as mentioned above that’s not good for the finish of your make-up, to counteract this use lots of moisturiser for dry skin either before or after applying the benzoly peroxide (you can always blot off any excess).
If you have never had a facial before and are planning to do them for the wedding then now is the time to try them out and see what suits you, some facials will draw spots to the surface of the skin so you need to see how your skin reacts especially if you have not had facials in the past. Sometimes a course of six is recommended to see results so you need to plan them out so that the last one is about two weeks before the wedding day just in case it draws out any spots you have enough time for them to go down.
If you want to change your eyebrow shape then you have time now to regrow your eyebrows and experiment, if you need to find someone new then now is the time to start looking and testing them out. If you live in the North West London area then I can highly recommend Anisha Kiri-Patel at www.anisha-beauty.co.uk for all your beauty needs, Anisha offers Microdermabrasion facials as well as being a Billion Dollar Brow Artist, she also does Shellac nails and much more so visit her website for full details and be sure to check out the Yumi Lashes as the results look amazing (the Yumi Lashes won’t be compatible if you are planning to use individual false lashes for your wedding day).
If you are planning to wear false nails and you have never worn them before then it’s a good idea to try a set on at this stage so you know what type of nails you like the feel of rather than leaving it till the day before the wedding and struggle to get used to them. It will also give you an idea of what length you should go for as some people struggle to do things when they are too long.
If you are planning to change your hair colour then it’s worth experimenting now to find the colour that you feel comfortable with. It’s also the time to start thinking about how you want to style your hair on the wedding day, most hairstyles will require you to grow your hair and that might also include your layers too, layers are just short hair and if your hair is up and you don’t want to add in additional hair pieces then you can only style what’s in a ponytail so you may need to grow out your layers.
6 – 2 months before the wedding
Usually a few months before the wedding you will start to have your final fittings for your outfit and will soon be able to take them home which is when you might want to consider having another hair and make-up trial as most brides will have done their initial trial without having their outfits with them. Not all brides will do a second trial but some find it useful to see the whole look together before the wedding day especially if their colours have changed since their first trial. If you are thinking about changing your hairstyle or haven’t done the hair trial yet then now is a good time to finalise everything bringing with you any hair pieces and accessories you are thinking of using so you can see how it all looks together. This is also a good time to find out if you need to buy any make-up products for touch ups throughout the day, usually lipstick and a pressed powder or blotting papers is all that’s needed.
If you are planning on doing any hair conditioning treatments whether professionally or at home then now is the time to start doing those so your hair is looking shiny and healthy on the day. Don’t over condition your hair in the last couple of weeks before the wedding as it’s better not to have overly silky hair so it can have more staying power when it’s put up or will hold the curls better if it’s down.
If you are planning to get your teeth whitened then I would start discussing this with your dentist around six months before as it may take some time to get your moulds done and if you are doing it at home this may take a number of weeks as it’s a gradual process.
1 month before the wedding
If you are planning on wearing a fringe on any of your events or having short layers to frame your face then get these cut in around now. Don’t get any length cut if your hair is going up and you aren’t adding any hairpieces, if you want to trim the length then mention to your hairdresser not to cut too much as you will need the length for your bridal hairstyle.
If you are doing facials then have your last one around now so that your skin has time to settle down just in case your facial draws out any spots. Book all of your beauty appointments such as hair removal and nails at least three weeks before so that you can get the time and dates that you need as you may not be as flexible the week of the wedding, sometimes beauty salons and mobile therapists can get busy periods where they are fully booked so don’t book too late. If you are doing any waxing on your arms and legs then consider when your mehndi is being done when booking your appointment, it’s probably best to do it a couple of days before the mehndi so it gives your skin time to settle down before applying the henna.
The week of the wedding
As just mentioned get any waxing done a couple of days before applying your mehndi, if you are doing threading on your face and eyebrows then a couple of days before the wedding is ideal, it’s worth mentioning to your therapist not to press too hard on your skin as little cuts that can be caused by threading turn into little scabs which can ruin a flawless finish to your make-up. It’s better to leave a few hairs and pluck them out after than have cuts on your skin from overdoing the threading.
If you are varnishing your nails then do this the day before to avoid any chipping and if adding rhinestones then these are more likely to last you throughout the wedding day if applied the day before. Shellac is worth considering for long lasting chip free nails, it’s applied in the same way as nail polish but briefly cured under a UV light resulting in nails that will stay varnished for two weeks. Don’t forget about your feet as those will be on show too.
Two days before the wedding day is when you should apply your mehndi as it will take a further 24 hours when you take it off for the colour to continue developing, so if the wedding is on Saturday then the best day to do the mehndi is Thursday (you might find the post ‘Tips to make your mehndi darker’ useful’). If you have a french manicure then be careful when removing your mehndi as the henna can sometimes stain the white tips yellow.
Wash your hair the day before the wedding so it’s not too silky and fly away on the day, if your hair is greasy and you have to wash it every day then you can wash it on the morning just make sure its dry when you start doing your hair and make-up. Put on anything that is going to go over your head before you start your hair and make-up as you don’t want to ruin your hair trying to squeeze it on after, usually this is your top but don’t forget about your necklace because that can be on a rope and doesn’t always open up wide enough. If you want to be one step ahead or have some spare time while waiting for your make-up artist to arrive you can start putting on your jewellery as bangles can sometimes take a while and it will just leave you a bit more time to spare which is always more relaxing giving you a stress free start to your day.
