Get the most out of your makeup trial

Exfoliate you skin before hand and make sure it’s well hydrated
If you plan to tan for your big day, either have it done for the trial too, or let your makeup artist know. We write it all down, including the makeup shade we used, so if we need to account for a possible change, it’s better to know)
Wear the same or similar colour to your wedding dress, the colour you’re wearing can change the whole look.
If your hair will be up on the day, wear it up for your trial, or down if you play to have your hair down.
Use this time to work out the timing of the day – where does the bride need to be at what times, how much time to do allow per person to have their makeup done? Remember, you’re not using your wedding time as the ‘be ready by’ time; you should use the photographers arrival as your guide. You’ll need everyone’s hair and makeup done and possibly everyone dressed by the time the photographer arrives.
Lip colour – remember that you will need to do touch ups on your wedding day. So, if you have your own lip colour, let the makeup artist know to use it in your trial. If they use a lip colour that you like, make sure you get the details so you can purchase it before the day. Some makeup artists will also sell the lipstick they use on you.     
Discuss the other members of your bridal party – what colour will they be wearing, what’s their hair and eye colour, what sort of makeup do they usually wear, is there anything the makeup artist should be advised of e.g. allergies

Cost & payment

Generally makeup artists will charge you per person that requires a makeup application, and sometimes more for the bride (due to time, effort and product).

Makeup artists vary considerably but you’ll probably get what you pay for. Use the ‘choosing a makeup artist’ guide

When you book through an agency, it will generally be slightly more expensive, but can be a good secure option too.

When you book, you’ll likely need to pay a deposit to secure the booking. The balance is usually required 7 days prior to the wedding date.

You will be required to pay for the bridal trial. Some artists give you a discount if you book the wedding date. Bridal trials are sometimes the longest ever makeup jobs, you may want to try a few different looks, edits certain looks, and take photos.

You may also be charged for travel, location (e.g. some charge for coming to hotels), parking, surcharge for very early morning (e.g. 4am), or products left behind (like lipstick)

Flower girls are free in most cases, depending on their age, back with the artist.

Choosing your makeup artist

Start with people you know who have gotten married and go on recommendations. It’s the safest way to know that they’re reliable & professional and you have something to refer to in reference to their work.

If they have a website, look at their work – but be careful, Photoshop is an amazing program, ask about the photos!

Qualifications – you may be surprised, some of the best makeup artists are completely self taught, so although this might seem impressive, experience is probably more helpful in determining a good makeup artist.

Experience with weddings – they’re very different to other makeup applications, so make sure they have bridal and bridal party makeup experience.

What hygiene precautions do they take? E.g. disposable mascara and lip wands, petri dishes for liquids etc.

What brands of makeup do they use? Are they high end professional brands or mostly cheaper brands?

Some makeup artists also do hair, but be careful with your timings though as having someone get their hair done while another is getting their makeup done is very helpful. If you have to wait for the one person to do both on every person it will take a long time.

Common Questions

Why does it cost more to get my makeup done for my wedding rather than just a ‘night out’?

Put simply – it takes ore effort, product and time to do a bridal makeup than ‘night out’. There’s more effort required to ensure you look fab for your photos and the makeup lasts 12 hours plus. 

Do I need to have a bridal trial?

Yes, yes and yes. Just like you try on your wedding dress before you decide to buy it, you need to try your look on! It gives you the opportunity to see if the look you (or your makeup artist) had in mind actually works, and how it lasts throughout the day. Plus you can then by sure that you have the right makeup artist for you.

Should I have my hair done before or after my makeup?

It’s better to have your hair done before your makeup – that way you don’t end up with hairspray, water, hair gel and sweat (from the dryer) all over your makeup!

What order should I get my bridal party ready in?

The bride should never be last! Just in case, it’s always best to have the bride ready earlier just in case there are any timing hiccups. You’d rather have the bridesmaid’s makeup or hair rushed than the brides! Plus, if the photographer arrives a little early then it’s easy and you get to watch and enjoy your closest friends and family get ready without worrying about the time!

This gorgeous girlie pink makeup sponge is not just a make up application sponge; it’s a miracle worker!

You simply apply some of your foundation (ANY kind!) and bounce over your face pressing it on the skin. It gives you this flawless, airbrushed and blended finish… it’s simply beautiful.

You can even use it to apply your concealer, and the shape is great to get into the grooves of your face. And, best of all, it works perfectly with mineral and powder based foundations too!

I prefer it much more than the plain old make up wedge… and the Beauty Blender Starter Kits come with a cleanser so you can keep your sponge squeaky clean and bacteria free!

Heaps of makeup artists and celebs are onto it now too, so get yours quick!

You can buy the Beauty Blender Starter Kit at The Makeup Muse Shop now...

I hear this so often, you would be amazed! The thing is, like anything, practice and starting with the basics is the key.

Hopefully this will be easy enough to follow to get you to have a go and feel a little bit more confident when applying your makeup. Once you’re comfortable with this, start experimenting with more colours and makeup products like highlighters and cheek tints to grow your skills and build your confidence with makeup!

Skin
If your skin is dehydrated, or too oily no amount of makeup will fix it, and if anything, makeup will actually accentuate any skin problems you may have. You need to fix these problems first. I’m not a beauty expert, but in my experience, here’s what I’ve found works:

• QV Face cleanser & Cetaphil Dry Skin Moisturiser used at night will get rid of those dry patches on your skin. Cheap, easy and works.
• If you have oily skin or acne prone skin, Proactiv is a good one… if it’s good for Jessica Simpson, then its good for us! Just beware if you also have sensitive skin... then perhaps stick to the Cetaphil range.
• Go and get a proper skin consultation and buy one product that will help alleviate any skin concerns you have.

Concealer

• To brighten the area under your eyes, you need a concealer. If you have bluey-grey circles under your eyes, use a pinky or peachy coloured concealer, as this will correct and neutralize the bluey tinge. Using your ring finger, start with the inner corner of the eye (closest to the nose) and pat out towards the outer corner and downwards slightly, and then blend.
• After you’ve applied your foundation, apply any spot concealer you need to cover up any imperfections. Do this after the foundation as sometimes you realise you don’t need it once the foundation is on. Once again, blend out so you can’t see the line where it starts or ends.

Foundation

• First of all, to choose the right colour foundation, apply a small amount on your jaw line and wait a minute or so. If the colour disappears into your skin, then it’s the right colour, if not, move along and try another.
• If you’re not all that confident with makeup, you can always start with a tinted moisturiser rather than a heavy coverage foundation. As you get more comfortable with makeup, perhaps get foundation with a little more coverage.
• Generally, not always, you get what you pay for. If you have to choose one makeup item to splurge on, make it your foundation. When you get the right foundation colour, that lasts the day/night, gives you the right amount of coverage, and works with your skin type – buy it, no matter how much it costs! If you get your foundation right, you’re about 90% of the way to becoming a makeup goddess!
• Apply foundation to the middle of your face (forehead, nose and chin) and then blend out towards your hairline and down over your jaw. Make sure you blend the foundation completely into your skin so that you can’t see where it ends. You don’t want to look like you’re wearing a mask! This is the number 1 Makeup CRIME; please do not become an offender!!!
• Set liquid foundations with a light dusting of powder – swirl a big powder brush into the powder, tap off the excess and then swirl over your face. This really works to keep your foundation in place.
• Check the first ingredient of your moisturiser and the first ingredient of your foundation – if one is water and one is oil, your foundation will never look right, and will disappear by the time you arrive at work (Remember Year 7 science? Oil and water don’t mix!)! Get a moisturiser and a foundation that are both either water or oil based – or, to solve this problem use a primer!
• I’m often asked about mineral foundation - to read more about the mineral makeup hype click here.

Primer

• If you haven’t yet used a primer – start now! Primer fills in little pores and fine lines on your skin, gives your skin an even base and gives the foundation something to adhere to. Your foundation will look better, last longer and your skin will look more even and flawless.
• Not all primers are created equal - Smashbox Photo Finish Primer is by far the best one I’ve used, and is well worth the investment. Do a Google search and read reviews.
• Primer is applied before your foundation on clean dry skin – wait about 5 mins before applying foundation over the top.

Eyes

• This seems to be where women get stuck, especially when trying to recreate weird and wonderful fashion looks!
• For basic gorgeous eyes, choose an eye shadow colour that suits you and that you’re comfortable wearing. Neutrals are a good option like taupe, gold, soft pinks, greys and the million different shades of brown. To read more about what colours suit what eye colours click here. Regardless of the colour, a shimmery eye shadow (not sparkling and glittery) looks best on the eye; it catches the light and makes it look like your eye is sparkling. Apply with a small flat eye shadow brush to the eyelid, just slightly past the crease (where the socket ends). If you have a blending brush, sweep over the line where the eye shadow ends - otherwise just use your finger to blend out the line.
• Now, apply eyeliner to the top lash line as close to the lashes as possible. To apply eyeliner, draw short dashes from the inner corner of the eye (closest to the nose) to the outer corner of the eye. It’s better to do small dashes rather than trying to draw one consistent line all the way across - even makeup artists can’t get a straight line doing it that way!
• This part is really important! Using a small stiff angled eye liner brush, go over the liner to smudge it out, so that the line is softer and you can’t see any crooked parts or mistakes. If you don’t have a brush, try using a cotton bud.
• Curl your lashes using an eyelash curler (Shu Uemura has the best one – seriously, don’t waste your money on any other!). If you’ve never used an eyelash curler, buy one and practice, they look scarier than they are. Get as close in to the lash line as possible without pinching yourself and hold for about 10 seconds. Curling your lashes makes your eyes appear bigger and more open.
• Apply a few coats of good quality mascara to your lashes starting at the lash line, wiggling back and forth – focus on applying mascara to the bottom of the lashes rather than the tips.
• Feeling bold? Use a bright coloured eye liner to make your eyes pop! Blue eyes, try a Copper colour, for Green or Brown eyes try a deep violet or a moss green.
• For a night out on the town, use a dark eye shadow in place of the neutral one. Then apply the eyeliner twice and apply to the bottom lash line in the same way. You can also go over the liner with the eye shadow using a cotton bud or eyeliner brush. This will give you that smoky eye look without the smoky eye technique!

Cheeks

• For basic makeup, blush is optional. It is really effective though in giving you a healthy glow, but can go terribly wrong when applied in the wrong spot.
• Apply blush to the apples of your cheeks only. To find them, smile, they’re the fleshy parts of your cheeks that stick out.
• Before you apply the blush, tap off any excess powder – then apply in very light circular motions blending out so they don’t look like two big circles on your face.

Lips

• Apply a lipstick or a lip-gloss that has a good strong colour, particularly if your eyes are pretty neutral.
• To make lipstick last longer, line your lips with lip liner, then fill in the entire lip before applying the lipstick or lip-gloss over the top.

For more makeup brand and product recommendations, check out Muse Picks.

One of the most important elements of a flawless face is to make it just that – flawless! To do this, you need to correct uneven skin tones and conceal imperfections to achieve that even toned, porcelain skin look.

You also conceal and correct differently on the eye area compared to the rest of your face.

The eye area:
Most of us have a greyish blue colour under our eyes which is often referred to as dark circles. Just putting a concealer over the top of them will cover them a little, but the blue-ish colour will still be visible, and, depending on the colour of the concealer, you may even make it more noticeable!

To counteract the blue tones, you need a warm coloured corrector, e.g. a pink or peach tone – simply dab this over the area under the eye, starting with the inner corner of your eye (closest to the nose) and then gently blending out and downwards. Make sure you are really gentle as this part of the eye is quite delicate. You can use either a concealer brush or your ring finger. Its not often that I say this, but your finger is actually a better option around the eye area, as your hands warm up the product making it softer and gentler to apply.

Once you’ve corrected the bluish tone, you may want to still apply some concealer to brighten up the area under the eye. Concealer should be the same colour as your foundation or maybe a shade or two lighter. I prefer it to be lighter as it does brighten under the eye and gives you a more awake look.

Apply the concealer in the same way as the corrector. Using your ring finger again, apply some concealer lightly across the top of your eye lid too, all the way to the corner of the eye and out. This just helps to even the skin tone and give you a good base for your eye shadow to stick to.

Cheats trick - you can always use a peach/pink concealer instead of using a concealer and a corrector if you want to save time & cash.

The rest of your face:
Always apply your foundation before you conceal or correct any other part of your face. Lets face it, the less makeup you wear the better, and most of the time, a lot of those little imperfections will disappear with the foundation anyway, so its better to wait until your foundation is on to assess if you even need to conceal or correct anything in the first place.

If you have any redness, like from scarring, a pimple or just in your skin tone, you can use a green corrector to cover it. Use only a little bit and only where you absolutely need it - the green does take some practice, so try it out first. If you notice any other little imperfections on the skin, just dab a very small amount of concealer, in the same colour as your foundation onto it, and then blend out so you cant see where it’s been applied.

Set with powder if needed.

As hard as it may be to face, as women mature they need to, at some point, change their makeup routine. This is sometimes a challenge at first, but you wouldn’t wear the same clothes as you did in the 80’s, so why wear your makeup the same way?
I always use my own mum as inspiration when consulting a mature woman on their makeup, I know everyone is different, so the below is just a guide.

Some makeup tips you can share with your mum…

1. Your makeup doesn’t need to match your outfit, shoes or handbag. Of course it shouldn’t clash with it, but generally the makeup your wearing wont draw the attention an item of clothing or an accessory would – so there’s no need to match everything!

2. You need to wear bolder colours to make your features stand out. Most mature women I know think that they need to fade into the background after a certain age. The truth is however; they really need the help of colour to brighten up their face as their skin tone has faded. Try navy or dark moss green eye liner with a neutral shadow, definitely don’t skip the blush, and you absolutely need a great statement lip colour, as your lip colour fades into your skin over time. And no, brown lipstick is not an option! Dark reds and plums are a good choice, or even a deep bronze. So are peachy colours or pink. Make sure it’s a hydrating lipstick and I would steer clear of the gloss ranges.

3. More liquid, less powder. As your skin ages, you lose moisture, and cakey foundations or powders just sit in the creases and make any fine lines stand out. Cream based foundations, and even cream blushes are a good option to make sure your skin looks more youthful and hydrated.

4. Shimmer and glitter are a bit of a no, no – it just accentuates any lines you may have and sits in the creases of the skin.

5. Get your eyebrows shaped professionally and use an eyebrow product to accentuate them – like a pencil, gel, coloured wax, or brow mascara. Your eyebrows are like a picture frame to your face. They are extremely important to giving you a fresh and finished look.