Weddingbee Blog

I had my makeup trial with the amazing Sally Duvall a few weeks ago and really loved how everything turned out. I found Sally after extensive research on New York Magazine Weddings. I looked through every listed makeup artist’s site, but was really drawn to Sally’s work. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. I knew I wanted natural, but not too natural. I wanted a touch of glamour and pizzazz, but wasn’t quite sure what… so I brought three inspiration images for Sally.

From there, Sally asked about the event– where it was taking place, the kind of dresses I would be wearing… and then got to working her magic. I’ll let her handiwork speak for itself. It was exactly what I wanted: natural yet glamorous.

What I normally look like without makeup
After Sally’s trial.

And for comparison, here is an application I had done at the local MAC counter to learn how to use products for my engagement shoot.

I thought the overall coloring was too severe, but I liked the shades of brown on my lids, so I may ask Sally to change the eye color to more earthy and brown tones for the tea ceremony and morning activities of the wedding day. Then, make it darker and smokier for the evening reception.

Sally was really easy-going and fun to chat with. She uses a variety of different products, sort of a best of the best, and because of her, I discovered NARS blush in Orgasm. Love it and now proudly own it! She also uses airbrush for foundation and mixes a custom color to suit your skin tone. It was so light I didn’t feel like I was wearing foundation at all!

My biggest roadblock with makeup was not anything to do with makeup specifically, but the size of my party (in addition to me, I’d need makeup for six bridesmaids, two moms, and Mr. Canary’s sister, thus totaling 10 people who would need makeup!) The other caveat was that I’d prefer the makeup artist shadow me for the day since I will have so many dress and location changes, I don’t want my makeup smearing and then stressing out my bridesmaids about fixing it. A lot of the artists I spoke with charged exorbitant amounts for day rates or weren’t too keen on the idea, i.e. “You just need to touch up your lipstick and your bridesmaid can help you do that.” Great.

But Sally was the total opposite. She has a very reasonable day rate (her prices are listed on the Web site) and offers a ton of options for all bridal party sizes. Plus, she wasn’t adverse to trailing me on the day of the wedding, which was a huge positive. And she offered some great suggestions on how to spice up my makeup and adjust it to different lighting for the day.

Sally is super responsive (we’ve been corresponding through email) and very friendly. She also has a background in editorial makeup for the fashion industry and used to work with the famed Kevin Aucoin. With her experience and warm demeanor, there was no reason not to hire her! If you’re still on the search for a makeup artist in the NYC area, don’t forget to look up Sally!

Sally Duvall
Site: www.sallyduvall.com
Email: sally@sallyduvall.com
Phone: 917.670.4271

~~~

ed note: please see our vendor policy.