It's your special day and you deserve to look your best. All eyes will be on you and you'll have more pictures taken today than any day in your life. You need to look and feel your best. Image the confidence that you will show when you walk down the isle with the look like you just stepped out of a professional photo shoot for the cover of Bride's magazine!

Along with the beautiful gown, flowers, and cake, you want everything to look perfect. Your makeup is an important part of your overall look, however, it should enhance you, not make you feel like you're wearing a mask! Since you'll be photographed and/or videotaped, the camera lights are a specific concern. These lights tend to make the skin look paler and shinier than it really is, so makeup helps compensate for this.

Professional makeup is the newest trend in weddings. Think about it, you spend thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of dollars on your wedding day. You buy the perfect dress, have all of the right colors, ensure everything matches, in essence you work yourself to death to ensure perfection. And what is your plan so that you look great? Well, in years gone by you would have probably put on the same old makeup that you use on a daily basis, and therefore you'd look like any average day.

"Today's smart woman realizes that she deserves to invest part of her wedding budget in herself"

In the past five years use of a professional makeup artist for weddings is up 23%. Granted, most of this is on the east and west coasts, but the trend is now sweeping through the midwest. Suddenly women are realizing how valuable professional makeup services can be.

It's fun. In addition to making you, the bride, look like a million bucks, I'll make your bridesmaids look and feel their best too. Let's be honest, they may not love their dresses quite as much as you hoped, but when you have a professional makeup artist apply their makeup and give them personal tips on how to enhance their beauty on a daily basis, they will love you forever.

Here are some basic tried and true wedding day tips:

• Use creme based foundation that is as close to your own skin tone as possible. Test by applying a bit to the jaw area, then look outside in natural sunlight to see if the color blends in. Foundation coverage ranges from sheer to heavy; buy according to how even- toned your bare skin is.
  
• Undereye concealer covers undereye circles, blemishes, etc. It should be a shade lighter than your foundation.
  
• Powder- this is important! Set your foundation with a loose translucent powder. Then, have an oil-free pressed powder compact with you for touching up a shiny nose, forehead, etc.
  
• Eyes- you can't go wrong with soft earth-tone eyeshadows. Use a light, off-white shade to highlight the browbone, and perhaps a taupe or peach on the lid. Blend well! Stay away from frosted eyeshadows as they don't always photograph well. Use a black, waterproof mascara on the top lashes, and a waterproof pencil to line the top lid. Try navy, charcoal, or dark brown for lining. If needed, fill in the brows with pencil or powder in a shade that is lighter than the hair (it blends in easier). Be careful not to over-do the brows.
  
• Blush lightly with a powder or cream blush blended into the apple of the cheeks. Just smile, you can't miss them!
  
• Lipstick should not be too dark or bright, but should be in the same color family as the blush, whether rosy or peachy. Stay away from drab browns, they're too dulling when you're wearing white. For lip color that lasts, try a lip pencil in a matching shade, fill in the lips, then apply lipstick over it. You can also find "indelible" lipsticks that
  stay on and on-- just make sure you really like the color before applying it! Finish with a drop of lip gloss in the center of the bottom lip for added fullness and shine.

Your lipstick and pressed powder are the two items you'll want to have with you for the day. Remember to occasionally check for shine on the skin or faded lipstick, especially when you know that photos are about
to be taken. If you hire me, this is something you won't have to worry about because I'll be right behind you to apply and quick fixes that are necessary to look perfect through the whole wedding.

I want to help you look and feel your best. The mementos of the day, your photos, will reflect the beautiful, radiant bride you've always dreamed of being.If you feel uncertain over how to apply your makeup, or just want to be pampered on your special day, please give me a call.