Aahhhhh, to have your hair and makeup professionally done every day…what girl wouldn’t want this kind of pampering?? Sadly I’m neither a rock star nor a gazillionaire, so I’ll just have to settle for getting beautified on this one special day in May. 
While up in Montreal this past weekend, it made sense to schedule my hair and makeup trial at this time to determine the looks for the big day. As I mentioned in a previous post, my “hair-spiration” was a fabulous Tyra Banks updo, and for makeup, some kind of semi-smokey-eye look. Ladies, do yourself a favor and make sure to schedule a trial before your big day—the last thing you want is to be (unpleasantly) surprised the morning of the wedding because you hadn’t previously given your looks a test run.
My trial started with makeup first—and I even remembered to take a few “before” pics specifically for the blog.
*All photos are personal unless otherwise noted
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No makeup in either pic, as I’m sure you can tell
The fabulous Kat from Kat & Lea Artistes Maquilleurs (translates to Kat & Lea Makeup Artists for you non French speakers out there) started with a natural foundation base by blending two colors I had (one from MAC, one from Sephora, both slightly different shades). For the eyes, she toned down the smokiness and used a slightly darker color on my outer lids and a lighter color on the inner part. For my cheeks, the blush she used had a slightly pink hue (something I’ve never done before and surprisingly worked well on my skin tone!) and lastly for lips, used a slightly coral/pinkish shade. And voila! The idea was to go for a look that highlighted certain features but didn’t look to heavily made up.
I absolutely love the makeup (if you couldn’t tell by the huge smile on my face!).
Next up, the hairstyle reveal!
Wow! Both your before and after are beautiful. Your skin and eyes are to die for.
oh my gosh!! beautiful!!! i can’t wait to see the fabulous hair to match 
I don’t really see any difference between the Before & After. In the “After” pictures you just look more washed out. I hope you didn’t pay a lot of money for something so simple that doesn’t seem to have made much difference. At least you aren’t as shiny in these pictures as you are in your profile pic… Silver linings.
Wow Maggie, that was really mean. A lot of brides don’t want to look heavily made-up on their wedding day. I know my fiance has this mentality as well that he doesn’t want to look at me, or our pictures don’t the road, and only see heavy makeup. I think makeup highlighting the bride’s natural beauty is nice and refreshing.
Jeez… You look so beautiful without makeup! The makeup really only enhances your beauty.
And Maggie, I’m not really sure what you are seeing but maybe you should think before you type.
So pretty! You’re a natural beauty and I love that you’re choosing make up that enhances rather than makes you look like a totally different person!!
You look very pretty! Your skin is flawless even before make-up. I have to confess I already saw the pictures because your make-up artist posted one on FB. I hope your hair trial went well too!
your complexion is gorgeous! You look natural, and lovely.
It’s always funny how the “snark” comes from non-bee’s! Get your eyes checked, @Maggie:.
You ladies are so sweet, thank you so much
@Maggie: Sorry you hate it–but I absolutely LOVE it!
@Tallis: Thank you! I’ve been doing monthly facials since last April in preparation for the wedding. I’ve also been drinking a ton of water, trying to get more sleep and taking biotin–it’s all really made such a difference.
Your before was so fabulous, I thought it was the after!!
That being said, I would have opted for more blush and a brighter lip. But if you love it, that’s great! It looks very natural and polished.
@Miss Mongoose:
it shows! ….I’ll definitely be getting more sleep and upping my water intake now
Also, I’m a makeup lover….LOVE glitter and shine and sparkles lol…but there is DEFINITELY something to be said understated yet beautiful makeup on your wedding day…it’s timeless and looks like ‘you’..I think I will be going with a similar route….
Ditto the previous posters, your before looks amazing too… you’re just beautiful! I love that the makeup enhances that and looks natural
@Firework: For the lips, we were torn between the pink hue or potentially a golden tone lip gloss–so that’s something we will definitely experiment with the day of. As for the blush, I’m nervous going with even more blush since pink isn’t very natural on my complexion–anything thicker and I might end up looking like Nicki Minaj!
@Tallis: I’m similar, I love shine (after all according to “Maggie” I am pretty shiny!) and sparkles but since these pics will live on forever, I think something a little more subtle is the way to go for me.
@Miss Lemur: Thank you Miss L!
You are positively stunning (and I’m jealous of your perfect skin), your makeup is perfect!
You look amazing! I think your artist nailed it. You look glowing and enhanced but totally like yourself. Breathtaking!
stunning. only changes i would make are minor: maybe a little bit of a brighter lip, and false lashes would be sooo gorgeous on you. you have luminous skin!
Gorgeous!!! U don’t even need makeup. I wish I had skin like that!!!! I would echo emeraldcity13 about false lashes, have U thought of adding some? I think they would pop your already gorgeous eyes and yes try a brighter lip color..I hear it makes a difference.
Mrs. Mongoose, New Haven, CT Age and Occupation: 28, Digital Advertising Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business Development Engagement Date: November 19th, 2011 Wedding Date: May 2013 Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CA About Me: I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
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