Weddingbee

Read more… or Read more right here… »

…and yet this is all that the overpriced stylist was able to give me:

Remember her? The one who said that because my hair was “too thick” and because I “had a hairline,” she was unable to give me any volume like I had requested, and would not be “able to do a nice updo.” These are direct quotes!

Well, $75 later, I asked Youngest Sister Shortcake (YSS) if she could try to do my hair at home. I had narrowed down my desired look to the hairdo pictured in this vintage magazine advertisement:

(from user Charm and Poise on Flickr.com)

Which coincidentally is almost identical to Jessica’s hair on the “Martha Stewart Throws a Today Wedding” series:

(See more images and videos from this beautiful wedding here)

YSS did an amazing job on my hair, despite her lack of proper hair tools and products (she’ll be getting them from the salon where she works), and despite her lack of formal training.

With every trial that we did, she improved ten-fold, and with additional practice on the hair dummies at work and on Sister Shortcake (whose hair is thicker than a bison’s), I have full confidence that when I return to BC in September her skills will be riding quite happily on the plains of fabulous.

Unfortunately for me (and you), my laptop built up static to such a degree that it short-circuited and destroyed itself this month, leaving me with nothing but frustration. I lost most of my photos from my trip to Vancouver, except for the few that follow, which unfortunately are from my very first hair trials with my sister and not from the final (better) ones.

First Hair Trial with YSS: Side View

First Hair Trial with YSS: Side View

Third Hair Trial with YSS: Back View

Look at the improvement in the curls between the first trial and third!

I’m so frustrated that I have no photos to show of my later trials with my sister. However, I will be having quite a few more trials with her when we go back to BC for the wedding, so this photo-saga isn’t quite over yet.

Are any of you planning on having your hair done at home?
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Here’s the after:

And here’s how my makeup looked after 10 hours of running around in the city:

And here’s how my hair looked:

I’m amazed at how good it still looked the end of the night! Jennifer does the hair and makeup for many of the Asian pop stars that come perform, so I always knew I was in good hands. And her rates are very reasonable considering her expertise. She does airbrushing too, if that’s your cup of tea.

Here’s her info if you want to check her out:

Jennifer Ngo
Istana Spa de Palace
36-48 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11354
718-961-9888

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

I’m so glad I wasn’t the only person who thought it was lame! I’ve decided to go with Youngest Sister Shortcake (YSS) as my stylist, and will definitely blog about my three (amazing) hair trials with her soon!

In the meantime, let me show you my makeup trial!

If you remember, I originally had a makeup artist booked to come do a trial at my house. Unfortunately, her travelling expenses were *coughridiculouscough* above what I was willing to pay, so my sisters and I began to look at alternatives.

One such local option was getting mine and their makeup done at a M.A.C. boutique. The nearest M.A.C. was 20 minutes away (in heavy traffic), well within my travelling comfort range (I had planned to commute an hour both ways on the wedding morning to have my hair done with my AWOL old stylist).

If you want to get your wedding makeup done by a M.A.C. artist, you have two options in my area (I don’t know about eastern or American M.A.C.s):

1) Pay for your trial in purchased products, and have your makeup done by a M.A.C. artist while she is available on the floor. If it gets busy in the boutique, she will have to leave you and attend to other customers.

2)Pay $55 for a private room makeup application. You pay the $55 as a fee, not as products, but you do get a complimentary mascara.

For my makeup trial, I opted for #1, as I had a lot of time, and needed new makeup products. For my wedding day, I’ve opted for # 2, and have booked rooms for the interested bridesmaids as well. If you are considering using M.A.C. for your wedding day like me and Mrs. Lemon, I highly recommend doing option #2, as weekend (wedding days) are usually the busiest days for business!

I was very impressed with my makeup artist, Olga - as a 9-years-and-counting-veteran, not only did she know what she was doing, but she was more than happy to educate me.

COOL TIP FROM OLGA: Use a small, soft eyeshadow brush to gently apply undereye concealer - this lessens the risk of damaging the delicate skin with your finger’s tugging or patting motion!

COOL TIP FROM MY MOM: Use a teaspoon to curl your eyelashes! After placing the concave side of the spoon against and underneath your upper eyelashes, use your thumb to “flick* the spoon out and upward. Position your thumb on the inside of the spoon, on top of your upper lashes, and remember to apply only gentle pressure on your lashes against the spoon - don’t pinch!

For my wedding face I asked for something similar to my everyday makeup (which revolves around a warm palette of neutrals), but fancier (obviously), and something that emphasized my eyes.

NOTE: Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion during your trial! I wasn’t comfortable with the sheerness of the first foundation we tried, as I tend to have uneven skin coloration, so Olga redid my ENTIRE face just so I could try it again with the Studio FX liquid foundation (liquid gold, in my opinion, it stayed on and stayed put all day and night!)

MY FACE CHART:

As Mrs Penguin noted before, in order for your makeup to actually show up in pictures, it needs to be heavier than usual. Knowing this beforehand was crucial, as my makeup was significantly heavier than a normal person would wear.

However, I won’t be a ‘normal person’ on my wedding day -I’ll be a bride - and I’ll get to look like this in photos:

Can I have a woot, woot? I am SO pleased with the results!

On the day of, I’ll also be wearing false lashes, which is great as long as they don’t spider-crawl their way down my cheek during vows!

What do you think? Where are you getting your makeup done?
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

This is just a random Tuesday after work. No product - just me, a comb, and some bobby pins. It took me a whopping 5 minutes to get it up there, but it’s kind of challenging to hide bobby pins in the back of your own head. (Note: I am WORTHLESS at styling hair. It’s a small miracle that I got it up there in the first place). So, armed with pictures of my own hair the way I want it (there was a front one too but I can’t seem to find it now) I went for my second trial.

When I walked in, the woman who turned out to be my stylist was sitting in a pedicure chair eating a bag of chips. She stood up, wiped her hands on her apron, and got up to shake my hand. At this point my feet actually turned involuntarily towards the direction of the door, ready to run. But I thought to myself, “Don’t be judgmental, she is probably great at what she does. So good, in fact, that she has to eat right here because she’s so busy all day. What if the poor woman didn’t get lunch? You should give this a try.” Don’t get me wrong, I love chips and one is allowed to eat them wherever they might like, but there was an air of professionalism that was missing. Note to self: always go with your gut.

After 45 minutes in the chair, I was left with this:
Please note that there is a whopping total of two bobby pins holding up the ’do. Two. It was sliding down my head as I took this. And another shot to demonstrate my favorite part, the slope:Left side? Good. Right side? Not so much. I didn’t take a picture of the front because I had already pulled it out…it was literally shellacked to my forehead. Sigh. At this point there is one last salon in Lake Geneva that I can try, and then I am left to my own devices.

I can’t help but think that maybe I should just let it go and wear it all down like I normally do everyday. With some professional makeup and the big white dress, maybe the hair isn’t that big of a deal? What do you all think, anyone decided to either do their hair themselves or just forgo any form of updo and wear it down? A few bees (most recently Mrs. Lovebug and Mrs. Penguin) have gone that route and I think it turned out lovely!
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

(miscellaneous images from knotties kayrose and others, weddingbee, dancing with the stars)

I thought I knew what I wanted: an updo, with a side part and ’sweep,’ volume on top, maybe a chignon, maybe a higher updo. Something pretty, elegant, vintage-inspired, and above all, something that flattered my features.

Like many people, I am very insecure about my looks. Mr. Shortcake can tell me I’m beautiful a million times over, but if I’m having a fugly-feeling day, ain’t nothin’ gonna help.

Unfortunately, today was a fugly day. To me, my teeth looked like horse teeth, my nose was too big, my eyes uneven, my chin weak…I could go on and on. Armed with an arsenal of insults aimed at myself, it was no wonder that I was unimpressed and depressed with my hair trial. However, my mother (who thinks I’m pretty good-looking), made a disgusted face when I walked in the door.

“How much did you pay for that? I could do that myself, for free!”

…and I paid more for the trial at this spa then I would have for the trial and hair combined at my ex-stylist’s salon!

Ignoring that my hair is largely the same texture as the fuzzy, un-ironed mess that I came with (hair product? What’s that?), I think the back of the hair is quite pretty. Harder to ignore is the fact that the curls began falling out less than an hour after the trial…

…and even harder to ignore is the fact that the front is exactly the same as how I wear my hair everyday:

The hair is nice, but the overall feeling (despite my Miss Congeniality smile) I had and have about this hair-don’t is

“meh.”

Here’s the side view. Um, where is the volume I asked for? The hairdresser explained that because my hair was thick, she couldn’t do as nice as an up-do as she wanted…

And the side-sweep? I couldn’t have one, she said, because of my “hairline.”

The front is just SO boring to me - and with my (short, reception) drop veil on, the only cool part of this up-do is covered, so it looks like I’m wearing a bun.

I’m just so disappointed. I didn’t expect to pay a hefty chunk of change for such unimpressive hair and service - I even had to supply my own hair elastics! After three hours, it was already all loose….we’re thinking of not bothering with trying to find other salons in Langley and just doing my hair at home!

What do you think?

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

I said that I fancied something whimsical, a little loose, soft, and feminine. I wanted to try a style with a side-part, like Miss Petunia, gathered low on my head.

So we had a first go of it, and she tried this approach with the top layer of hair pieced into three parts, the side pieces twisted near the nape of my neck and all gathered into messy curls at the back:

BACK:

FRONT:

SIDE 1:

SIDE 2:

I think you can see from my face in the photos that I wasn’t super thrilled. It just didn’t work for me. Aside from baring my obvious desperate need for a full foil (see the nice dark parts on the side of my head?) this style sort of made me feel like Princess Leia. I think it was the twists. They were a no-go. And it was messy and loose. I know it’s a trial but I want to at least get an idea of the final product.

I mentioned my apprehension to my stylist and she set out to tighten it up. She took out the twists, secured the sides, gave it a bit of volume, and cleaned up the back. The end result was (I think) a much better product with a fun little button:

BACK:

FRONT:

SIDE 1:

SIDE 2:

I thought this second style was cute, but it was still kind of messy and loose and it started to fall out in less than half an hour. (Not to mention during the disastrous misadventure only an hour later.. but I’ll get to that.)

I still had that niggling feeling that something wasn’t right. Maybe it just wasn’t me? Maybe I still didn’t know WHAT I wanted. Well, thank goodness for trials, right? I’ve still got another one on the night before my wedding and I’ll try and try again, as they say.

Since coming home, I’ve found a few new hairstyles that have tickled my fancy:

As mentioned in my makeup trial post, I love the front of this style on Hayden Panettiere. I think that it’ll hold together nicely while the loose bangs give it some whimsy. I don’t mind a bit of a trim before the wedding as I’m planning to continue the Bee trend of chopping it all off afterwards anyway.

[Image Source]

I’m digging the bun/chignon back in this next photo. It’s got room for a flower, hairpin, brooch, or veil. It also looks like it should hide hairpins and stay together much better than the piecey bits in my trials.

[Image Source]

So that’s what I’m going for next time.

I have to admit that I’m still really nervous that I’ll never find something that suits me, or that my next trial will suck and my day of hair will be awful. It’s not that big of a deal because I’m sure it will turn out OK in the end - I’ve got nimble hands and skilled ladies at my beck and call. But still… eek. Any words of reassurance? Comments on the styles & trials above?
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Here I am at the makeup counter, getting my face done-up:

And here’s the final result:

(Don’t ask what I’m doing with my eyebrow in that pic… I have no idea.)

I’m pretty confident at doing my own makeup, so it was odd to have someone else applying their idea of what my makeup should look like. Even though the stylist followed my direction pretty well, I had to have her redo my blush after the first application because she gave me “apple cheeks” rather than setting the color higher up on my cheekbones, which is how I prefer.

Ultimately, I think I would change a few things. First, I think I’ll go for a more subtle lip and blush color. Something less… PINK and more neutral. I’ll probably have my own lip liner, lipstick, and gloss on hand on the day of, so maybe I’ll just hand them to her and see what she can do.

Secondly, I do love how the makeup brought out my eyes, but I feel like it might need just a little more something to make it pop, but I’m not sure what.

I don’t think the look is perfect, so I’m thankful I have another trial to work it out. Be honest. What works, and what doesn’t?

I really don’t want to look over-done, and I want to emphasize my features without glopping on gobs of makeup, but as an amateur photographer, I know how much makeup really helps with facial definition in photos.

Overall, I’m going for the fresh-faced, glowing, blushing bride look that is so popular these days. I just love these photos of Hayden Panettiere that I found today, so maybe I will try to copy that look (and the hair too!) at my next trial, but without quite as dark of a “smokey” eye - that look is best reserved for weddings less rustic and more elegant than mine!

[Image Source]

Any advice for me?

Next up: Hair Trial #1.
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

…and this is what Tasha did for makeup. Overall I am really happy, but I think I would like the makeup on my eyes to be a little bit darker, and FMIL Puff thinks I should have more blush (”because you’re the bride!”). In person I felt like it looked really pretty, but I felt like in pictures I didn’t look all that much different than I normally do. Thoughts?

(warning: this is not a cute picture. I look much better when I smile!)

My friend Amanda and I (she had a makeup trial, too):

I feel totally clueless in this area. I was asked to bring examples of what I was looking for… hair-wise, I knew I wanted something mostly down, but makeup-wise I had no idea. Here’s what I brought for hair inspiration:

(photo from knottie yoraflea):

for makeup:

Anyway, so that’s what I’ve got. What do you guys think of the trial? Do you think I should have more makeup on my eyes? I don’t feel like I look much different than I normally do. But maybe that’s the idea?
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

The thing that was most conflicting though, was the fact that in person, I looked like I had RIDICULOUS amounts of makeup on, while in pictures, the makeup looked great. Before snapping pics of myself, Lisa held up the mirror for me, and I quickly thought it was too much makeup, and had her wipe a lot of it off. Then I snapped a picture of myself, and realized that I hardly looked like I had any makeup on at all. She only did half my face with eyes/cheeks/lipgloss, to make sure she was heading in the right direction…

I mean, this is practically what I look like every day. It looks GREAT in person, but just kind of…blah in pictures. I remember thinking back to my Engagement Picture makeup and thinking how HEAVY it was, but in the pictures, it turned out nice. So I told her to go heavier on everything and here’s how it turned out (inside/outside):

Great for pics. Problem being, I look like a crazy hooker in person. Like, scary. So I’m conflicted. Should I wear makeup for the pictures, or wear makeup for how I look in person? I’m sure striking some sort of balance would be just fine, but in the end, pictures are all that you’ll have left of your wedding. And I want to look my best for the ages!

Were you surprised by the amount of makeup it took to get you to look pretty in pictures? Or am I the only one with this problem? In the end, did you decide to go heavy on the makeup for pictures, or more natural?

Makeup by:
Lisa Deniz
Bobbi Brown Business Manager
Travels within the greater Sacramento Area (Contact for travel rates outside of the area)
336.848.0357
« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Since I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my hair, Lypor decided to do my makeup first, so that at the end, we could try as many hairstyles as time would allow. I told Lypor that I wanted a mostly natural look, but I wasn’t afraid of eye makeup, and that maybe we could go more dramatic with the eyes.

Miss Toucan is staring at you. (Note: one eye has false lashes and the other eye does not)

Lypor suggested since we were going more a little more dramatic with the eyes, that I try false eyelashes. Despite having pretty full eyelashes, mine are actually pretty short. You can see the biggest difference in the profile shots:

Normal vs Fake eyelash

I wasn’t fully convinced to use falsies because I’ve never worn them before, so Lypor left them on one eye for the entire trial (you will notice lopsided eyes in all my hair pictures!).

After the makeup was done, it was on to the hair!

I am a dork and took pictures of the hair trial through the mirror during the entire trial.

I really thought I wanted to do a down-do or half-up half-down, so we started with the down-do first (plus it’s the easiest to start with).

Hair option #1

It felt really glamorous, but at the same time, for some reason, it felt like too much. Lypor suggested that if I chose this look, I might want to trim my shorter front layer a few inches so that weird curl on the right-side of the picture fell better. Lypor also felt that possibly this do would be too much, and suggested that we pull at least half of it back so that you can see my face.

In between styles, here I am being annoying and taking pictures from the chair again.

Hair option #2

I really liked that my hair was out of my face, yet I still had some of my hair down, but we had one more hairstyle to try…

In between hairstyles again…

The up-do:

Hair option #3

I was actually really surprised that I ended up liking this one the best! The back is a little messy because this was the 3rd hairstyle of the day, but it will be much neater the day of. The other reason why I think I’ll end up going with this style is that both my wedding dress and my qipao have lower backs, and an up-do would probably give both dresses extra drama.

After the trial, I took more pictures when I got home. Lypor didn’t use the zoom on my camera and took pictures literally less than a foot away from my face, so the unkindly light + the flash so close to my face didn’t show what a great job she actually did on my makeup.

Pictures by the window at my parents’ house
(Note: Little Sister Toucan is a goober and loves to pop up into my pictures).

Here in these pictures, you can see that the makeup is much more natural looking than some of the pictures above. All in all I was relieved that I had a great trial! I’m still surprised that I ended up liking the up-do the best since I usually don’t like to wear my hair up. Though, I guess it is kind of nice to look different from how you normally look on your wedding day.

What do you think? Which did you like best?

*Note: Lypor’s website only works in Internet Explorer, and not Mozilla Firefox.

« Hide it