The Morena Bride

I love doing makeup on morenas, or girls blessed with bronzey skin. I love accenting their color instead of masking it with light-colored foundation and making it glow with my play on earth colors and bronzers. Whenever someone asks me to make her skin look lighter like the Koreanovela actors, I tell her how beautiful her original color is. "There are some people who would pay thousands in tanning booths, tanning salons, or beach trips just to get your color." I myself spend some of my waking days getting that honey-colored glow.

I think morena brides are beautiful. There's something very beautiful about tanned skin against a pristine white (or warm ivory) dress. And just for summer, it looks fabulous! For this summer, I was able to do makeup for two morena beauties and I can show you how wonderful my chosen palette looks on their honey-colored skin. These are all photos taken from my camera, so it's not as artsy as wedding photographers do.

NICOLE

I met Nicole through Jenny, one of the first people I worked with in a PR shoot for a restaurant. Nicole's wedding would be coming up in a week and they needed a makeup artist. I was available for the May 7 wedding and when Nicole got to my house, she was an inspiration to work on. I told her she looks like a morena version of Kim Chiu. She has always a fascination for antique and anything Filipiniana inspired hence choosing a Filipiana theme complete with the ceremony, invitations, and reception said in Tagalog.

I chose earth colors to match her skintone and then a mixture of gold and pink with a neutral undertone so the browns aren't so dull. Morenas can wear pink too, as long as it matches the entire color scheme. Of course, since this is a wedding, I chose a more natural pink.

During the preps, Nicole was calm and was even joking around with her entourage. She showed me her gown, which was very simple in a warm ivory color.

I told you, she really looks like Kim Chiu.

Joking around with her entourage, bossom buddies from her high school and sisters. They're the cutest group ever!

Check out their church, a total blast from the past, like we were whisked away in time.

Right after the ceremony, rain started to pour, like the couple was being blessed or something. By that time, the couple were already in the bridal car on the way to Plaza Rizal.

JOAN

Joan is an overseas bride who is also a picture of calmness. She was fun to talk to and a makeup lover too. We have the same favorite makeup brand as she showed me her stash of makeup. We get along quite fine with being adventurous with color. But since it was a wedding, we had to make it conservative with the color scheme but still enhance her features.

Joan has such pretty eyes and since she's gifted with naturally long and thick lashes, we opted to skip falsies and just enhance her lashes with mascara. For her eyes, I used a mix of golds and browns, but blended them in such a way that they look like almost one color with a good transition instead of a whole rainbow of different colors.

For her lip color, Joan herself chose a peachy brown lip color that's not too dull. It's got the my-lips-but-better vibe which was one with her natural bronzy look scheme but it's got a pop of statement. If anyone would ask, that's MAC lipstick in Cosmo, one of MAC's bestsellers.

Romantic updos seem to be the in thing this summer, so Joan opted for a handcombed loose and romantic updo peppered with decorative pins.

The trick to really rocking wedding looks: enhance, not change. Enhance the features and bring them out. I really like bridal looks that I could look back 50 years from now and the look would be classic and timeless. For those blessed with skin color like Joan and Nicole, bring on the glow and be the beautiful bride you already are.

Hair for both brides: Maricel Basaysay

Makeup technique: Airbrush