Weddingbee Blog

So I’ve got to warn you - this post contains some pretty downright frightening picture of me. Now, I’m not saying that I’m some kind of beauty queen, because I’m not - but I look very much not like myself in these pictures. Really. So… uhhhhh, don’t judge me? I could be the poster child for what NOT to do for your wedding makeup in the following pictures. And don’t any of you lie to me and tell me I look good - because I don’t!!! At any rate, let’s just look back on these pictures and laugh at the fact that this could possibly only happen to Miss Ramen. I still need someone to make this bowl of Ramen look delish!

From this…

… to this!

So, I have had a total of 3 makeup and hair trials. Why so many, you ask? Because I have bad beauty luck? I don’t think my request is unreasonable - I just want to look clean, classic, fresh-faced, and natural. I don’t typically wear makeup, aside from the occasional (and I do mean occasional) mascara, eyeliner, and some Chapstick, if you’re lucky. (Check out Miss Parfait’s post for more Asian makeup inspiration!)

1, 2, 3

The hair I want is more of a low, simple, and sophisticated, slightly romantic look. Think soft curls, lightly pinned up. Surprisingly, finding someone who could actually figure out what this meant, or even listened to me has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Rawr.

4, 5
I love Eva’s look in these 2 photos - so chic, sweet, and romantic!

From the front, this is pretty much exactly what I want! The back is a little curlier than what I’d like… but it’s still so cute!

And the ever fabulous Miss Swift.

So let’s do a bit of a recap on what has happened to me….

Makeup Trial #1:

I found a girl on Craigslist that does freelance makeup work. We scheduled my trial for the same day as my engagement shoot. She was actually freelancing at the Nordstrom in Chandler at the Smashbox counter, so I stopped by there for a *free* trial. The only bummer was that she doesn’t usually use Smashbox, so the trial was kind of not true-to-life. At any rate… like most Caucasian makeup artists that I’ve encountered throughout my life, she initially tried to make me look like I have double lids. Sigh. I realize that I’m quite Asian, and I know that I’m never going to have double lids unless I get surgerized… nothankyouverymuch. Anyways, after much prompting, we finally found a look that I liked (I left my inspiration pics in the car - boo). And we ended up wiping of 2/3 of the eyebrow darkening stuff she used. Scary eyebrows avoided = happy Ramen.

Anyways, while I really liked the girl and she was super nice and quite affordable, I felt like I could essentially have done my own makeup to the same level. In that sense, it was not quite worth it to me. (Granted, in the above picture, I probably had sweated off 1/2 of my makeup….)

link

What I DON’T want to look like….

Hair/Makeup Trial #2:

So, I decided that I needed to try out an Asian hair and makeup artist this time around. Again, I went to Craigslist, and found an Asian girl… but she ended up not doing bridals anymore, so she referred me to a friend of hers that she’s worked with, who does bridal hair and makeup. So, here come the realllllllllly fun pictures. Please brace yourself.

A blurry shot - but the last one of me looking normal.

At this point, I was feeling good - like, “Woo hoo! I finally found my person!”

And from the sides, the hair wasn’t so bad… maybe a bit more body than I wanted, but eh, it was ok.

… And then I saw the back. OK, don’t get me wrong - I know some of you will love this hair, but I didn’t. It was all tight curls pinned to my head, versus the sophisticated and soft romantic hair that I wanted. I talked about it with the stylist and I thought we came to an agreement of what I wanted versus what she had done. But it was at this precise moment that I started to see that she was kind of used to doing things a certain way and didn’t like to stray from her normal routine.

So…. I was OK. Until she started on the makeup…

Notice the look of extreme panic on my face. This would be the start of the ugly geisha face, complete with extreme eyebrows. Seriously, whenever someone starts filling in my brows uber dark, I’m thinking, ‘what on God’s earth makes you think that could possibly look GOOD?’ No one has pure black eyebrows! And for reference, I had actually made her take off most of the eyebrows at this point. She kept insisting that it looked better this way.

And then… it gets better. So, after showing her my “VERRRRRY natural” inspiration, she proceeded to tell me why I should have darker makeup, for pictures, blah blah blah. OK, I know people keep saying that, and I agree - to a certain extent. But this… this was taking darker to a whole new level. I asked for neutral colors and got… a black eye. The stylist decided that it would be best if she did 1/2 of my face light “like I wanted” (and I use that quote quite loosely), and the other 1/2 darker like she recommended. She said I would probably like the darker side better…

I’m sorry if this makes you cry. As you can tell, I wasn’t exactly pleased. The left side of the picture is the “natural” and the right side is the darker side, aka SCARY!

Not scary enough for you? Need a better view?

Here’s a pictures with my eyes closed. Again, notice the unnatural darkening of my left eye? It literally looked like I got into a bar fight. Needless to say, I will not be hiring her, and am happy that that trial only cost me $25, or 3 hours in work-study equivalence.

Hair/Makeup Trial #3:

The Asian Craigslist girl actually recommended this other girl who does makeup and teams up with one of her friends who has a small salon in Glendale.

I was kind of an idiot and didn’t even get pictures of this, but let’s put it this way - Sister Ramen, upon seeing my hair said, “uhm, NOT worth it.” And FMIL Ramen told me to just do my makeup myself. Bah.

Overall, I would have hired at least the makeup girl, BUT both girls wanted $100 for travel. Each. For travel alone. Not including the actual service fees. If I’m going to be spending over $300, I was definitely just going to hire one of the best hair and makeup artists in the area.

Again, what the Ramen does NOT want to look like….

So anyways, I’m back at square one. I really don’t want to spend more money on hair/makeup trials because with my luck they will probably be a waste of time and money. And did I mention we have 1 month until the wedding?!??!? Sigh. I have a Yelp recommendation that I’m going to try out. But if that doesn’t pan out… I’m not sure what I will do with myself!

Do you have any tips? Should I brave the waters and try doing it myself? Or should I splurge and go with one of those top-of-the-line artists?

Did any of you have multiple (failed) trials?