Weddingbee Blog

On Monday, before heading back to Santa Fe, I had my makeup trial with Katelyn Simkins, one of Denver’s favorite makeup artists. It took almost two hours and we still didn’t quite achieve the look I like, but we got darn close. My inspiration was heavily based on the Vogue cover I blogged about here. We were aiming for dewy skin, a pewter, smudgy eye (although, not too smoky), rosy cheeks, and a glossy, stained lip. Before I show you the results, though, you deserve a makeup less picture (even though I wear a little bit of natural-looking makeup on a daily basis).

Me (left) hiking with my two MOHs

Now, onto the trial. Here’s the first iteration:

It could’ve been the light in her kitchen, but I looked pale. My eyebrows looked too dark. And the false eyelashes were making me feel weird about my eyes. The look was a little bit vintage, and not sun-kissed enough for what I want. Not really knowing how to tweak this look in order to achieve what I’m going for, I asked her for more cheek color and gold eyeshadow, as opposed to pewter. I really had these things in mind: gold, apricot, peach, coral, and dewy.

This is the second version:

She didn’t take much off, but she added gold to my lids and another layer of blush to my cheeks. She also added a little under-eye smudge to get the look that’s on Vogue’s cover. Unfortunately, the gold she used is a little more green than yellow. I became obsessed with gold eyeshadow when a friend of mine showed me MAC Goldmine. Luckily, Katelyn said she could pick some up before the wedding.

For the third try, I wanted darker lips. I’ve always loved a bride who can pull off the less eyes, more lips look. By this point, though, I think I had too much on my eyes to try it out.

It came out a little vampire-y. Maybe it was just the lipstick color? I think I’m sticking with a more natural-colored gloss. She’d also added more cheeks above, too. After this, we went back to the neutral lip color and my trial was finished.

As the day progressed, I took a few more pictures to see what the makeup would look like over time.

Immediately after the trial

Two hours after the trial. Still holding strong.

Six hours later.

Katelyn definitely achieved the skin, cheeks, and lips. Now, I need to find a very specific picture of the overall look I want (in particular, eyes) so that she can achieve it on my wedding day. I definitely think she has the skills to pull it off and she got the dewy skin right (without too much shine) which seems hard to do. This is similar to what I want in terms of color:

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Her lips and cheeks are similar to what I want, but with gold eyes

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Did your first makeup trial go as planned? Or did you have to work towards what you wanted?