Bridal Work: Zarah

I really like doing bridals because I love seeing the glow on a woman's face as she goes by the most important day of her life. For me, it's not because the colors are simple or it's the most lucrative MuA niche. I really like the accomplishment and the challenge of making someone look her most beautiful and how fulfilling it is to meet your bridal client again and she gives you a hug and says, "Thank you!!!"

My first bride for the year was Zarah. She was recommended to me by my wedding coordinator, Wonderful Occasions. She had her trial at the same time of her prenup, so back then I gave her simple hair. Zarah is actually a doctor, and she's specializing in pediatrics, which means she would be dealing a lot with children and adorable babies! Awwwwww!!!!! Our trial makeup was actually fun and her fiancé Mar was so funny there. He wasn't apprehensive with the makeup and even was so game with airbrush makeup. During Zarah's d-day preps, she told me Mar remembers the "brush na may hangin-hangin."

Anyway, back to Zarah. As usual, before trial makeup, I do consultation first, like asking wedding details, restrictions, and color and theme motifs and if the bride has some inspirations. Zarah gave me leeway with my makeup. She has a very traditional pristine white wedding dress, with nothing black or anything dark on it, as tradition says. I wanted to make her look like the classic bride, with clean makeup and clear glowy skin.

Here's a picture of Zarah before any makeup was done during her trial makeup in her apartment in Quezon City.

Prior to having anything on the face, Zarah mentioned that her skin's acidic, meaning her foundation shade would have to be adjusted a half-step lighter than her skin color so everything's all blended in. Another concern of Zarah is her undereye circles, caused by medical rounds and all-nighters studying those heavy med books and notes.

Since this was the day of her prenup, I just blow-dried her hair and flipped out the framing corners a bit for some shape since a formal updo on casual outfits would look O.P. in La Mesa Ecopark.

On her wedding day though, it's always better to go with an updo that defies gravity and humidity. Here's when smokey eyes are still okay for wedding, provided they are subtle. Zarah's wearing false eyelashes here, and since she told me that she gets too emotional, waterproof everything is the way to go.

A little back story and tip. For eyeshadow, I really go for a good eye base since I want them to hold. My holy grail of all bases are MAC paint pots, which dry to a cement-like finish and are good especially if you have oily lids or have a lid shape that's prone to creasing like mine. During my trial makeup, I used Fresco Rose paint pot on Zarah. When I packed the night before, I thought I packed Fresco Rose but I put Painterly instead! Ironically, jt turned out to be a better alternative because Painterly was practically skintone so it brightened up her lid area too. and the beige and taupe eyeshadows stayed true to their colors.

Detail on the eyes:

the view from the back, with a few decorative pins.

Nagfeeling-photographer lang with shadow-shadow silhouette effects. These are all pictures from my camera as Zarah's wedding was just yesterday.

Wacks and the designers now attach the veil. Now the rule of thumb, The veil shouldn't fall off during the ceremony so Wacks insured it by securing it with bobby pins.

Another shot by the hotel lobby before the ceremony.

And here she is as she walks down the aisle. I used airbrush makeup on her since the reception following would be by the poolside of the Renaissance Tower. Since it's an outdoor location, the venue's temperature and humidity isn't controlled and her makeup would be exposed to the elements, so going airbrush was the right decision. I even joked to her that since I used waterproof makeup, she could even go for a swim and her makeup would still be intact.

After a long day, it was eating time at the nearby mall, Robinson's galleria where I had my share of Goodles pasta, which I miss terribly as they're only available there.

Congratulations to Mar and Zarah and thanks to Wonderful Occasions for the referral!