Weddingbee Blog

Oh, dear!!

The most prominent thing that I notice in the photographs is that you look very, very unhappy. Miserable, even. Yes, you look like you are wearing makeup. But that is not the first thing I notice given your expression. It is even a normal amount of makeup for some people, if a little dark on the eye makeup, and pictures do change how the makeup is perceived.

Not that you should use this makeup artist! Clearly you don’t like the effect.

(Just as a side note: no amount of blush in the world is going to make you look like you have a fat, droopy face. I don’t like having blush under my cheekbones either, but its done to provide shadowing and emphasize the contour under the cheekbones so that the cheekbones themselves look highlighted.)

And given your coloring, I imagine that what you are going for is not just less makeup but lighter colored makeup to keep things light as well.

If you are going to do it yourself, make sure you take pictures to see how it photographs and wear it for many many hours to see how it holds up. I don’t normally wear makeup but did find a nice artist that I like. She put on what I thought was a ton of makeup, but after a few hours it did soften and it also photographed very well, especially the foundation. So I’ll ask her to make some tweeks (to the cheeks as well) but am very glad not to have to deal on the day of.

one of my best male friends told me frankly and cheerfully that I looked like I had a pair of matching shiners.

I think your makeup looks fine… if you were someone who wore it regularly, but it’s probably too jarring a difference from your everyday appearance. you look perfectly pretty in the head shot in your profile.

and yes, I am doing my own makeup now!

Ha Miss Radish! I’m sorry for your misery, but the expressions on your face made me laugh out loud at work! You look so sad! I agree, it’s WAAAAAY too much makeup for you, for someone who typically doesn’t wear any/much.

I was originally considering getting someone to do my makeup, but then decided to do what you are now doing - took one of my makeup saavy friends to Sephora with me, she gave me a makeover, and I bought everything she used and have been practicing for about a month now - so come wedding day I should be able to do it all in about 20 minutes.

I would recommend doing several more trials with your friends to make sure that you come up with the right amount of makeup (meaning not too much so you feel comfortable in person, but not too little that you looked washed out in photos). My first “real trial” was for our engagement photos, and FI promptly told me I looked like a call girl (in a nice and joking way of course, and bc I normally wear zero makeup). However the photos turned out fabulous, you can barely see that I’m wearing makeup at all.

Good luck!

me baby!– doing it myself with that bare escentuals/bare minerals stuff. i never use make up but i’ve practiced alot, and had my guy take pictures of it too… that definately helps.

boy, your face DOES say it all It’s definately the heavy eyeliner.

i do love your engagement pictures!

I’m so sorry you were unhappy.
The lip liner thing-I was watching What Not To Weat-bridal edition and Carmindy told one of the brides that she hates lipliner,but since on your wedding day you do a lot of things that are hard even on good lipstick(Kissing,drinking toasts,eating etc) she was going to use to help the lipcolor. That may have been why she put it on.

I’m with you, Miss Radish. I think you are beautiful, but that makeup is *not* a good look for you. It looks so heavy and overdone. I think you will be fine doing your makeup yourself.

I think you’re making a good decision to do your own. I kind of like the makeup here too, but if it’s not the look you were after then it’s not the look you were after. I do agree that the eyeliner line is too harsh and would look better if it were blended. So, trust yourself. Just make sure you do a couple of trial runs doing your own makeup and take photos

I’m also doing my own makeup. I don’t wear lots of makeup, but I do wear it everyday and I think I apply my makeup well. I often get compliments on my makeup, and I am extremely picky. I’ve had makeovers at makeup counters before, and I have learned some good techniques from makeup artists but I never like the overall effect because I’m just too damn picky! I kept thinking for awhile that I should get a makeup artist for my wedding day because it’s just the thing to do, but I have been really nervous and hesitant about it and I realized it’s because I just trust myself more. I don’t want to be worried about hurting a makeup artist’s feelings on the day of by wiping off their hard work and redoing it, so I’ll just save myself the money and hassle and do it myself!

aww! i’m sorry you didn’t have a good experience with the makeup trial. i know how you feel.. i dont wear much make-up myself, so whenever i get a makeover, it feels like i’m wearing too much! (because i’m so used to wearing nothing on my face at all). for my own wedding i decided to ask a friend to do my makeup since i trust her. anyway, good luck on your next makeup trial!

i think the lip color isn’t bad, but the eye makeup is definitely too heavy.