Trial Makeup With Aia

Last week, I had another trial makeup session. I came to Aia's house right after my shoot, since my shoot was just minutes away from her place. She wasn't there yet since I arrived thirty minutes early but I was entertained by her daughter and niece. After chatting with the children, she arrived.

I know Aia from college since we went to the same school and had the same course (but obviously didn't follow the usual path of our course). She was two batches higher than me and since our course is pretty small, people from different batches know each other. I also followed Aia's blog since she writes pretty well (her journal consist of her musings and thoughts). I somehow lost track of her blog but she later stumbled upon me on - whaddya know? - Jill's Facebook account. It's a small world since she knew Jill way back in high school and saw my trial makeup on Jill. She later booked me to do makeup for her wedding. :)

When she arrived, she showed me her motif and how her gown looks like. The gown was Greek-inspired, in a warm ecru color with intricate beading on the sash. Her motif was gold and bronze, so the colors are very warm. When I asked about her skin condition, she just said that her skin was dry, and she swears by Cetaphil for her ultimate skin care.

We then proceded to makeup. I checked the foundation mix on her to see how it matches and compliments her skin tone. After that, she cleansed her face (with Cetaphil of course) and I sprayed Fix+ on her to tone her face since she mentioned her skin is dry and regular toner might aggravate her dryness. I then used a hydrating moisturizer and eye cream on her face and let it sink in before makeup.

So here's Aia before makeup. As you can see, she's very pretty to begin with, even without makeup. She has a wide, welcoming smile, a lovely pair of eyes, plus her color is absolutely beautiful.

I brushed foundation on her face with my weapon of choice - a 187 brush since that gives the best coverage with an airbrushed effect. I concealed dark circles and redness with concealer and set everything with powder. I made sure not to use powder or material with strong SPF because that could cause a white cast on the face. After contouring her face, I tapped a peachy-pink blush on her cheeks just to give an overall view.

I immediately fell in love with her eyebrows as they were perfect. No shaping was done. All I had to do was define them with my waterproof eyebrow makeup in a light brown shade to soften her expression. Eyes were kept soft and smoky earth-toned with a bit of sparkle on the lids. I got inspired from an editorial I did the past week where I used bronze, golds, and browns to make a subtle, soft, and warm smoky eye. For eye makeup, Aia initially told me that she gets emotional easily so I would be needing waterproof makeup. My best friends then were - MAC Paint Pot as a base, Shu Uemura painting liner in dark brown (as black could be too harsh for a bride, and I want the eye makeup soft instead of strong), and Maybelline Cat Eyes mascara. I made sure that her concealer too was water-resistant.

I asked Aia if she was okay with falsies. I told her we could try it out first, then see how it looks. If she gets comfortable with them, then we would go on with falsies on her wedding. If not, we could have them removed. We tried her look first without falsies and with. The falsies really opened up her eyes (I used a pair with a very natural finish). It took a while before she got used to them. Eventually, she did (more on my word on bridal makeup in future posts).

Eye makeup detail

For her lips, I opted first for a pale pink-beige lip, but it was too pale at first. So I darkened it with a bit of bronze-brown lipstick. It was quite dark when I applied it so I softened it by adding a hint of frosty beige color on her center lip and blended in my favorite gloss for brides: Viva Glam V.

I reapplied blush and highlighted her cheeks with shimmery bronzer using a fan brush. A final spritz of Fix+ sets the makeup and ties everything in, so it doesn't look to cakey.

For her hair, Aia wanted some sort of a loose, low, and messy updo. Her inspiration was Korina Sanchez's hair when she got married. The bun wasn't really the sleek, tightly-pulled, no-hair-on-the-face look but it had some hand-combed texture. She also showed a gold garter headband that she bought. Wacks experimented first without the hairband and then with the headband.

After makeup, this is how she looks like.

Wacks used little products first on the hair during the trial makeup so as not to damage the hair (the wisps would be gone on the day itself). Of course, during the actual day it would be tons of hairspray, mousse, and wax (Mental note: equip bride with 2 sachets of conditioner to remove the gunk after and soften the hair). This is just to give her an idea on how her hair would be shaped. Since the reception would be in a garden, humidity would be our enemy so updo would be a good option.

The cutest and most adorable part was when her 2-year-old went to her and said, "Cute mama!" I especially like the natural glowy look on brides, but this time, I added bronze on her since I wanted to match it with the motif and enhance her tanned skin. :)