Wedding Blog

I have a confession.

I don’t have any eyebrows. Well, I DO have eyebrows, but if I let them have their way with my face, it would be a jungle! I get my eyebrows from my dad. They’re thick, but they look triangular. It’s a little hard to explain, but the first half of my brows shoot straight up, then the second half of my brows shoot straight down. Once I start plucking away at the second half, I pretty much end up with two little stubs of brows. I’ve been over-plucking my brows for a long time, and for as long as I can remember I have been at the mercy of my trusty brow liner.

I thought that was okay. I will even go as far as to say I thought my brows looked good! Yes, I have to make a run for it whenever it rains, but people get surprised when I confess that my brows are drawn in.

When it came time to find a makeup artist for the wedding, I knew I wanted to treat my bridesmaids to hair and makeup, and I also knew that I had to find someone who had a team, rather than just one person, since there are nine women who will be getting their hair and makeup done: two moms, six bridesmaids, and the bride. I was also looking for someone who did both hair and makeup, since that would have been the most cost efficient and convenient for so many people. I tend to wear a lot of makeup and I’m used to the smoky look, so I wanted someone who could give me a natural look, and still make me look good (It would take an army of beasts to drag me out of a house without make up on).

A friend recommended Blush to Mr. Martini, so we decided to check them out a couple of months ago.

Blush is a team of three women who specialize in wedding makeup and hair. Mr. Martini made the appointment for me, drove me there, waited the entire FOUR-hour duration of the trial (!!), and took pictures of me so I could blog about it. The Blush experience might be a little different than other trials. From what I hear, brides usually get their trial done on the day of their engagement photo session. Well, you can’t exactly do that after getting a trial at Blush because you come out looking like Batman’s enemy Two-Face, only a lot prettier. What they do is first ask you what you’re looking for, abd then they try out two different looks on each side of your face. Since I wanted a natural look but still wanted my eyes to pop, Jiyee (my makeup artist) went for a super natural look on one side with longer lashes, and more eye shadow with shorter lashes on the other side.

This is what I looked like when I first walked into Blush. To be honest, I was terrified of getting my makeup done because I wasn’t sure what it would look like. What if they drew my eyebrows in weird? Since I don’t have much there, the sky is pretty much the limit, if you know what I mean. So I arrived in full makeup so that she would know what I usually look like before she was able to get her hands on me.

OMG. I can’t believe I’m posting a picture of myself without makeup on. Ladies and gentlemen, my brow stubs!

Jiyee started out with my foundation. Meanwhile, my stubs were screaming for attention. When she did get to my brows, she told me to use my remaining 6 months before the wedding date to try and grow my brows out a little bit. LOL.

Almost done. I was shocked. I was so nervous about my brows coming out too high, too low, or too thick. At first I wasn’t used to them, but when I saw myself in pictures I couldn’t believe the difference. Why didn’t anyone tell me I looked like Cruella De Vil for more than 10 years?! I never even realized how highly arched my brows were until Jiyee filled them in thicker and lower.

Here is the right side of my face, which had very minimal makeup but longer lashes.

Here is the left side of my face, which used a little more color and shorter lashes. I loved that I didn’t have too much on but I still looked like me. I decided I wanted a little more color, with longer lashes, and that is what Jiyee thought looked best on me as well.

After makeup, we went straight to the hair trial. Once she started on my hair, the floodgates opened. If I was crying during a TRIAL, imagine how much I’ll be crying on our wedding day???

After getting in trouble for messing up her work, Jiyee did her best to wipe the tears away without also wiping away the makeup. The absolute bane of my existence is my Rudolph nose whenever I cry. Just the tip of my nose turns super red when I cry, and it stays like that for a long time. I just hope I don’t look like Rudolph in all of my wedding pictures!

Here’s hair suggestion number one. Blush tries out about three different styles so the bride can get a feel for what she wants. This was perfect for me because I honestly had no idea what I wanted. I knew I wanted an updo, but I didn’t know if I wanted it low or high, big or small. I liked that I got a taste of each. Above is a loose, low hairstyle. I really liked it and thought it looked romantic (don’t mind the clips).

Here is hairstyle number two. I liked that the bun sat low on my head, and I loved the curls. When she stuck a flower pin on the side I thought, “This is it! This is the one!”

Here’s finished hairstyle number two, with the flower.

Here is hairstyle number three. This was a tighter updo that sat higher on my head. It was a cleaner look, but I preferred the loose look of style number two.

Here is style number three from the side.

I liked both the first style and the second style a lot, but I really really liked style number two. Mr. Martini thinks it looks the best on me as well. In the meantime, I’ve made style number two my decision, but I like knowing that if I ever change my mind I have the option to, up until the very moment that she begins styling my hair on the day of the wedding.

Ever since I walked out of Blush, I was on a mission to grow my brows out. Let me tell you, it has been a real experience. I have hairs growing out every which way. It’s a little bit unruly. It was definitely a trial and error situation, but in the end I got the hang of making my brows look more natural than they were before. Below is a recent picture of me (on the right) with one of my MOHs and my friend Caroline when I went to Williamsburg for Caroline’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. Oh they’re still stubs, but not AS stubby as they were before. But that whole thing about the fact that I don’t have any eyebrows? Let’s just keep that our little secret.

I picked style number two, but which hairstyle do you think suits me the best?