My Gorgeous May Brides

May 2010 was the month of my two brides, two of them who have been my friends as well. It's been a couple of months since their big days and I would like to share my work with them to all of you. After all, they are my two May brides. I've already shared my trial makeup with them. I'll also insert some of my input with wedding makeup and all, for those interested in a bit of wedding makeup 411.

JILL

My very kikay lawyer blogger friend Jill gets married. I was so happy that she considered me to do makeup. Not only do we live close to each other (a cartwheel and tumbling away, as I would joke), we are both openly kikay and share our love for beauty despite our "serious" backgrounds.

Wacks and I arrived at Parque Espana hours before call time. Hours meaning we were the first to arrive and the bride, groom, and maid of honor were still fixing souvenirs. Why hours earlier? I thought the call time was at 9 but it turns out, it was 11. It was a good thing though because we were able to set up equipment first and study the place on where to get the best light source. While at it, we chatted with Jill and Tessa and helped them fix the souvenir boxes.

When time came for makeup to start, we had our equipment ready on by.

Makeup is MAC, nonetheless. :)

It was good that we were there really early because we had time to relax first and setting up wasn't a frenzy. We were able to move stuff around as well. Plus, working is relaxed rather than rushed so I was able to take my time to make Jill look her optimum best without my brushes moving like speeding bullets tensing us up.

Much of her look and its technicals were described already in my post on her trial makeup. As I was doing her makeup, Wacks set her hair in pre-heated pin curls for her updo. For Jill's look, I made her look fresh and glowing. She's not much fond of heavy eyeshadow and so do I so I opted to define her eyes so they don't end up looking washed out and dead and did a very rosy lip color on her. I opted for Viva Glam Cyndi Lauper as a base and topped it with Viva Glam gloss. By this time, Jill has been used to falsies and she totally loved them.

It was good that I already did my trial makeup on her because I was able to analyze her skin condition and know her foundation shade. I already have her look already mapped out. It saves time on the actual day, so there's more time for picture-taking.

With her dress and headpiece, here's a picture of Jill with her flower girls:

I love the all-white scheme Jill chose for her entourage dresses. It matches the Greek theme of the wedding. For colors, I really prefer a classic and warm palette with my brides since it looks more natural and glowing. I do like the matte texture, and this really looks nice on photos rather than shimmer overload, which could look oily. However, to prevent the matte from looking too flat, I break the monotony with a bit of shimmer and satin textures in moderate amounts.

The flower girls may opt to wear makeup or not. I honestly do not like too much makeup on children. Children naturally have nice skin so there's no need to put on too much. I just brush pressed mineral powder on the face and dab a bit of blush on the cheeks. A slightly tinted gloss just gives the right healthy glow. I use makeup that's hypoallergenic and safe for children. For their hair, the hair wreaths were too heavy on the little girls' heads and kept falling off so Wacks just picked the flowers from the wreaths and pinned them on the hair.

For Tessa, Jill's cousin and matron of honor, I had more leeway to play with color and style. I still wanted to keep it classic and beautiful though, so I made the look balanced. Since Tessa sported a bob, Wacks gave her a blowout with a bit more volume. I went for smoky blue-gray eyes to go with the wedding motif and to make her eyes stronger so they don't get lost with the bangs. Falsies kept the look feminine and opened up the eyes more. For Tessa's lip, a light, creamy pastel pink was my choice of color for her. So here's Tessa and I in an obligatory camwhore shot pre-wedding march while on guard for last-minute bridal touchups
And Tessa's solo shot

AIA

A trivia I learned too with Aia and Jill is that they were friends in high school. It was thru Jill's trial makeup pictures that Aia finally contacted me. I'm glad she booked me and I've been wanting to do Aia's makeup since day one. Another coincidence is that Aia and Jill also had the same wedding gown designer and a similar Greek-inspired theme.

Instead of a cool white, Aia had a very warm palette of golds and bronzes for her wedding motif. Since she would be sporting a gold and ecru dressfor her Big Day, I went for a more dramatic eye while still keeping the look classic. Aia didn't want red or dark lips and her husband, Ted, didn't want much gloss when it's time to kiss the bride. In fact, I promised Ted I'd hand him tissue on that very day and be on standby.

So here's me prepping Aia.

I'm still a traditional girl when it comes to makeup. I don't have a gun yet, but I make sure that I blend my makeup so it looks like perfect skin. The look is somewhat bronzey with a nude lip in a bronze shade. I used brown waterproof liner and mascara for Aia since she said she tends to get overly emotional.
After makeup, this is a shot of Aia. Her eyebrows are perfectly shaped so all I had to do was define them. The headpiece and earrings were a surprise gift from her mom. During the trial makeup, we suggested to use a gold metal headband so that the headpiece doesn't pop. Unfortunately, most of the metal headbands we found were silver. However, her mom and brother found one at a department store and surprised her during her special day.

The new headband looked absolutely beautiful. The hairstylist, Tintin styled her hair in an updo since it would be an outdoor reception and she didn't want her hair down due to the humidity. It was very neat but it was according to Aia's preference: not very tight. Just loose and handcombed. While walking, Aia looked like a golden Greek goddess with her dress.
Bride, Maid of Honor, and their dream team. I had a bit more leeway with entourage makeup since they wear more colors. For our lovely maid of honor, Nathalie, we were inspired by Kim Kardashian with her almond eyes and morena skin tone. Big, loose curls was what Tintin gave but since it was a wedding, she made it into a half-updo so it was still neat. Her eyes were made smokier with a bit of cat-eye accentuated with falsies.

So here are my May brides. I really had fun working with them! To my lovely Grecian Goddess friends, Congratulations again and may you have a great life ahead!