- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
I’m sure you could consider me vain. I very much care about my appearance, and will take as many repeat photos as it takes for me to find an “acceptable” one. Oh, the joys of digital cameras.
Well I’m not really going to have that option at the wedding. I’ll be trusting our photographers and wedding guests completely. Hence, I need to make sure I look as good as possible. Obvs.
A few things I’m worried about:
1. Getting a cold sore. Not just fever blisters or canker sores…I’m talking full-blown, caused-by-genetic-herpes-simplex-virus-1, can-only-get-rid-of-it-with-prescription-meds type of cold sores.
I won’t go too in depth, but I tend to get these when I get stressed. Before my doctor recently informed me of the wonder that is Valtrex and how well it works for the kind of cold sores I get, I would be stuck with those suckers for weeks. It hurt, it looked like I had a fat lip, it was disgusting. Naturally, I started getting worried that one would show up around the wedding. The meds definitely help—I just take a few pills when I feel the cold sore first coming on—and it’s usually only bad for a day or so now (instead of two weeks). Still, no amount of lipstick or makeup can cover that baby up once it’s there. So, to all that is good and pretty in this world, please do not let this happen!!
Go Mets!
2. “Asian-flush” red face. I promise this isn’t racist—it’s seriously called the Asian-flush (or glow), even though I’m not remotely Asian (or am I??). It tends to happen when alcohol is consumed, which I definitely plan on doing at our wedding. Sometimes I’m fine—fill me up with some drinks and I look like any typical, tipsy normal person. But sometimes? Oh my gosh you guys…I get red. Combine that with the red hair and I look like a freaking tomato. The thing is, like I said, it just happens randomly. I get red or I don’t, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Some people have suggested taking Pepcid AC at least 20 minutes before I start drinking, but I’m a little wary. I can’t really do a test run for this because the flush is so unpredictable. Needless to say, tomato face = not attractive = bad pictures. Harumph.
Now that I have found my dress, I have begun the search for the finishing touches on my wedding day look. While I am most likely getting my hair done professionally that day, I will most definitely be doing my own makeup. I do wear makeup on a daily basis, but it’s pretty light and not very complicated. A little mascara, a tad-bit of eyeliner, some lavender eye shadow, a splash of bronzer, and some lip-gloss is all that I need. It seriously takes me about five minutes and I’m out of the house.
Obviously I want something more for my wedding day. Some days I am dreaming of something soft and dreamy. Other days I am dreaming of something striking and dramatic. My dress could allow for either makeup style. So what should I do? Most people at this point would start the inspiration hunt online and find styles that jump out at them. Then once that is narrowed down, the logical next step is to go out and buy the makeup and try on the styles for yourself. Well, I don’t exactly have the funds to toss around and buy makeup that I may or may not use again. Bummer.
Then my friend had a brilliant idea.
Read more…
After a roller-coaster ride of making a hair and makeup artist decision, I’ve finally found the woman who will be making me up on the day of the wedding. Despite some previously unfortunate circumstances on the glamour front, and having not budgeted any money for my day-of hair and makeup, I was left in quite the predicament. Thankfully, I have the most amazing family in the world, and my parents graciously offered to pay for my dream vendor! A winning situation? I think, YES!
Anyway, enough jibber-jabber. Let’s get on to the good stuffs.
Last week, I met with the lovely Susie Cee for a hair and makeup trial, and boy was I blown away! From the moment I sat down, I knew I was in good hands and knew that the unexpected investment would be totally worth my parents’ money. 
What I typically look like without makeup:
Mr. Seal and me after completing Bay-to-Breakers in SF this past May
Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t show you what I looked like “before makeup” on the actual day of the trial, and I will gladly explain. The only picture taken of me without makeup that day was by Susie…and it was right after I got my eyebrows waxed. When I showed the picture she sent me to the Sealman, he (no joke) laughed for a full minute. Anyway, I’ll let you see the picture below, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of that photo being on the FRONT page of the blog for all to see and laugh at…because I totally look terrifying.
Hello hive. I hope y’all had swell weekends! Mr. Funnel Cake was on military leave from Friday evening until Sunday evening and during his visit we DIY-ed the crap out of our wedding programs, which I promise to share soon!
I somehow managed to dislocate my arm on Saturday with my loose joints, so all of Sunday was spent forgetting (and remembering) that my arm is dysfunctional. But despite that, I still managed to play around with makeup and do some more DIY looks to show you. And since you asked about what products I was using last time, I thought I’d show some pictures of the eye shadow palettes I’m using after my massive summertime Sephora haul.
Stila “In the Light” palette from Sephora.
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
The wedding-planning process has been fairly problem free so far. Because of this, I decided there were certain areas that I just did not need to worry about for a little while. Such as immediate decisions on beauty experts. A few weeks back I decided to halfheartedly start searching for a makeup artist. I actually prefer to do my own makeup, and I don’t think I am half bad at it. However, on my wedding day I do not want to be worried about doing my own makeup. I would rather just leave it to a professional.
I started browsing the different artists in the area, looking at reviews and so on. I did not feel like I needed to commit to anyone yet. There was one particular makeup artist who had fantastic reviews and came highly recommended. I emailed her with my wedding date and asked for some pricing. She emailed me back with a sad-face emoticon and a “Sorry, I am booked for your date.”
{Image via: Just in Case You Were Wondering}
Now that I have an idea of what my engagement-sesh look will be, it’s time to get the makeup down. While Mr. Warbs was busy with football this weekend, I tried out some “war paint,” as Mama Warbler likes to call it. I’ve worn makeup before, but have only recently started wearing it on a regular basis. My main problem is that no matter what I do, I always end up looking shiny after only a couple of hours. I sweat a lot (TMI?) even when it’s not hot out, so I’m constantly feeling self-conscious. I needed to find something that wouldn’t make me look as shiny. A friend of mine recommended MAC’s Oil Control Lotion and swore that it kept her shine free.
Image via MAC Cosmetics
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Four days a week, I cover myself in flour around 5 AM and then sweat for the next eight hours hawking bread at farmers’ markets. So not conducive to makeup.
The other three days, I’m on rock or at the very least at the gym. Again, not a place for makeup. For the most part, unless Mr. Skunk and I are out on a date, the most that’s on my face is ChapStick and mascara.
My mom, on the other hand, won’t leave the house without makeup. It’s just not proper. My grandmother was the same way. And as a nod to them, I do want to get all fixed up for the big day. I decided I wanted to go to Bare Escentuals since it was the original 100% pure mineral makeup and the only thing that I’ve worn (thanks to mom’s hand-me-downs!) for the past five years. For me personally, I wanted something that would look nice, but still not feel too heavy. About an hour later I was set!
I got set up with the whole foundation set, but the fun stuff was with my eyes! My eyes are blue, so we opted for rosy colors on my lids. I will use a creamy white highlighter just under my brow line that my mom already owns. All over the lid I will use a rose gold, and in the crease a deep plum color. I’ll finish up with eyeliner plus this amazing mascara. I LOVED my eyes.
High Shine Eyecolor in Rose Gold by Bare Escentuals
My wedding-day hair and makeup artist came over today to do a trial run of my wedding day look. I’d talked before about my extensive inspiration—natural, curly, loose side bun or ponytail and fresh, rosy romantic makeup. I was weirdly nervous when Marci from Kyle Lynn came over, since I hadn’t ever had my makeup done and was frankly afraid she’d make me look like Tammy Faye out on the town. So I awkwardly paced around our living room while she set up. She was quiet, which made me think she thought I was weird. As always.
But I showed her my inspiration file, and we got started. She was so great! We nearly nailed the makeup the first time around—we just had to try a couple of shades of lipstick before we found the right one, and tone down the lower lash line’s eyeliner. The hair, too, was about 95% there—the day of, we’ll be doing it a bit looser and less structured, with some more ends showing. But I felt like a total princess—and the bonus is I barely felt like I was wearing any makeup, which is very important for a makeup-phobic chica like me.
First, the before—apologies in advance.
Gah.
And—drum roll—the after!
I’ve been having a hard time contacting hair and makeup vendors in Columbus. Basically… I email them and they ignore me. It’s been rather fruitless. Luckily my mother remembered that a friend of brother Funnel Cake that is a hair stylist, so I asked her if she would do my hair for the big day and that’s set. But makeup… makeup, makeup makeup… what shall I do for that?
Having recently started working in the beauty industry where appearance is key, I decided to use this as an excuse to order my very first haul from Sephora. (Which meant shipping to my mother’s house in Ohio, since they don’t ship to Switzerland and then having her repack and send to me.) I went a little crazy and bought myself a ton of brushes, which I’ve never owned before, and all the necessary tools for Mrs. Rainbow’s Ace Your Face tutorials. After reading and re-reading Mrs. Rainbow’s guides, I went off practising and here are the results! (You can tell I ignored Mrs. Rainbow’s brow tutorial for now…)
Look #1:
Left - No makeup.
Right - Foundation and powder.
So, I put off two important factors of the wedding until now—hair and makeup. Oops. Tonight I made an appointment for a hair trial, which is supposed to take place on Sunday. I’m in the midst of working out a time for my makeup trial, but hopefully it will be the same day so I an see how it all works together.
Image via Deirdre Cahill
I wasn’t really sure exactly what I wanted to do. For makeup, I wanted to look pretty and not go too heavy since I rarely wear makeup to begin with. I want to look pretty and fresh but not over the top. I Googled up a few pictures:
Read more…
Hello, Hive! A fever pitch is on the horizon with W-Day less than a handful of weeks away. I’ve completely focused all effort and energy to crossing off to-dos and making the last decisions to impact the look and feel of our wedding. No more time to change my mind, it feels good to find some final answers!
Case in point, my beauty trials. From my initial hair inspiration, Anne Hathaway’s glamorous locks clearly won out.
Image via Real Beauty
And as it has been throughout the planning process, my style turned out nothing like the original vision.
When I first told my friend who is a Mary Kay consultant as well as my hairstylist about my engagement, they both launched into plans for the wedding. I’ve read enough posts around the hive to be aware that having a good plan in place ahead of time can save you a lot of hassle in the long run and avert a possible crisis.
So, hive, I will share with you what these two lovely ladies have told me in hopes that someone else (especially with my type of skin or hair) may benefit from their expertise.
Skincare: My skin type is combination. That means I have some areas that are normal, some that are dry, and some that are oily. I’ve been blessed in the skin department, people. I’ve never had any terrible outbreaks or bad acne, even in puberty. But choosing the right products that make my skin neither dry nor oily has been a delicate balancing act. I use a Dove bar on my face and skin because it has amazing moisturizers in it. I use Oil of Olay body lotion as well as Palmer’s Cocoa Butter. My skin stays smooth and healthy because of it. We also do a number of Mary Kay products that are targeted toward someone in my age range. There’s a long list of products I use, but I use them all every day for the most part, in addition to drinking lots of water.
Image: Oil of Olay lotion via Bzz Agent
This weekend was my hair and makeup trial. I am so excited to report that it went fabulously. Bring on the pictures!
I can’t believe I am about to post these for the world to see but here are my before:
Sammie Sister took my picture while I was staring in the sun. I am completely making excuses because I look like a hot mess! Please scroll quickly.
Read more…
Recently, I went to get a makeup trial done. On the advice of my hairstylist, I went to see her cousin who works at ULTA but also has done bridal makeup for years. I talked to her cousin on the phone and she was super polite and upbeat, so I had a good vibe.
I made an appointment for a trial during an event they were having. That seemed like the easy, affordable way to go, but wasn’t the best idea in the end. Each makeup artists was only allotted 30 minutes per customer, so it felt kinda rushed. Plus, we weren’t really supposed to be talking about bridal makeup…it was a covert operation. So I couldn’t really go into too much about what I wanted, which is really something like this:
Carrie Underwood / Image via Zimbio
When all was said and done, I liked the foundation fine, and the blush was OK, and the lips were good…but the eyes were bad. My immediate thought was, “I look like a zombie.”
Can you guess what happened during the week? Yes, I had my hair and makeup trial. Why else would I feel so pretty? I was armed with inspiration pictures coming out of my wazoo, and I knew what I wanted. Explaining that to my hair and makeup artists was what I thought was going to be the difficult part! It turns out they are both very professional and can interpret my vague requests, so it was all incredibly easy!
First, a before photo, after a long day at work.
Personal Photo
I was actually still on a teleconference when I arrived at my parents’ house for the trial. Not lettting that faze me, we got started with the hair, from my inspiration here.
Read more…
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
