A Very Kikay Trial Makeup

My friend Jill is getting married and I'm glad to have the task of being her makeup artist on her special day! So last Saturday, we had trial makeup in her place at BF Paranaque. It's been a while since I've seen her and I'm glad that I'll be part of her wedding.

Jill is actually one of my first blogger friends. I met her online when she left a note in my blog and her note lead to the famous beauty website Kikay Exchange. We've been exchanging comments since then as well as stories on beauty and fashion. Now, stories include organizing, details, and stuff for weddings and all.

Anyway, I arrived at her house Saturday afternoon. I was introduced to her matron of honor. While waiting, we exchanged stories and she showed me pictures of her gown, accessories, and even the invitation so I get a general "feel" of her wedding. I asked her what look she wants and she said, everything's up to me.

Normally, for weddings, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to color palettes. In fashion shoots, I tend to go crazy with styles and colors. For brides however, I need to play it safe and classic. I want her skin to look fresh and dewy. Yet, I want her to still look like her. Jill has very warm-toned morena skin (she mentioned she's an NC40) and perfect eyebrows that needed little reshaping. She also has a nice smile, something I would like to play upon.

So I proceded to swatch colors on her jawline. I blended several shades of foundation and finally came up with a shade that matches her skin closely. I cleaned and prepped her skin for makeup. After applying the base and setting it with powder, I proceded to contour her face. I did subtle contouring here to give her face a bit of dimension so that it doesn't come out flat in pictures. Contouring also gives warmth to the skin so she doesn't look that ashy.

For her colors, I chose a warm palette of browns, ambers, and peaches. Her motif is blue so I thought that would make a good contrast as well as complement her skin color. I used amber and brown on the eyes, a subtle smokiness for impact. However, we toned it down a bit when she didn't feel comfortable with too-dramatic eyes. What I did was blend in the highlight color with a blending brush to lighten the eye. I used waterproof gel liner and mascara to frame her eyes and for a finishing touch, I used a pair of natural-length false lashes. It took a while for Jill to get used to wearing falsies (it's her first time) but eventually she got used to it and loved the results.

For her cheeks, I used peach-colored sheer blush and some shimmer highlights so they're soft, warm, and dewy. To top off her look, I used a sheer corally-red lipstick blended in with nude creamy lipstick for her lips topped with very little gloss to keep her lips moist yet not intimidating. I didn't go heavy on gloss since gloss tends to stick to the veil.

Jill has always been sporting short hair since I've known her. For her hair, Wacks, the hairstylist did an elegant hairstyle that mimmicked an updo for a different look. Tessa even sacrificed her neckpiece to make into Jill's headpiece. The result is a fresh and different Jill ready to walk down the aisle and say "I do".

So this was Jill before makeup and after skin care:

And here's Jill after makeup and hair...

I love the hair too.

Jill and her dream team... me and my hair magician friend, Wacks.

She definitely looks fabulous! I'm really excited for her wedding. I'll see her in a couple of weeks now!

Congrats Jill!