How To DIY Your Wedding Makeup ~ Tips & Advice

Last week a girlfriend of mine had asked my advice about wedding makeup – whether she should get it done, or whether she should do her own wedding makeup. I was happy to share my advice [let’s face it, most bloggers are people that love sharing their own thoughts/opinions/advice] and thought that sharing it here might also be beneficial to other brides that might be considering DIYing their wedding makeup.

Tips & Advice on Doing Your Own Wedding Makeup

First, the disclaimer – I realize DIYing your wedding makeup is NOT for everyone, and I have nothing against anyone that decides putting their face in the hands of professionals for their wedding day.

Second, the reasoning – For me, personally, I never really wear a full face of makeup. I am pretty much a strictly powder, bronzer, and eye makeup kind of gal. To be honest, I have no idea how to even properly apply makeup – much less which type of foundation to buy.  My skin is far from perfect – but I just like the more natural look of skin. If this is what I look like daily – then that is pretty much how I wanted to look in my wedding pictures (just a bit more dolled up!). I wanted to look at my pictures and still look like me – not like some glammed up girl that I really am not.

Additionally, there was the money part of getting my makeup done – I just couldn’t justify the price for one day. I thought that I would rather spend the money on buying some nicer makeup & tools for myself that I could not only use that day, but use other times when I wanted to get “glammed up” for an event or party.

Third, the how – I knew I wanted the vintage look to match my 1950s dress. I wanted thicker black eyeliner on top and bright pink lips. I also wanted to ensure that my makeup would SOMEWHAT stay on for the day [though I still failed at this – but I blame the insane amount of dancing & sweating that ensued].

My makeup by the end of my wedding – no more fuschia lips, hair a mess … and never happier

I printed some pictures and headed to a MAC location to have the girls there “do me up!”.

I bought the eye and lip products that the MAC girls used one me, but I passed on all the foundation they used on me – it was way too “cakey” in my opinion. I felt like I had a mask on!

The eye makeup I bought:

– Black Fluidline Eyeliner [this stuff has become my absolute FAVORITE black eyeline to use when doing heavier lines/cat-eyes]

– Bare Paint Pot [they told me this stuff helps your eye shadow stay on … they did not lie]

– Mineralize Eye Shadow [in a nude palette .. the link here is a duo, but mine is a trio]

I opted to buy mascara from Clinique – because my mom swore by their “lash doubling” mascara. I agree – it looks like you have false lashes BUT it’s not waterproof. Since I knew I would be a weeping mess on parts of my wedding day, I bought a waterproof mascara to put on over top of the non-waterproof lash doubling kind. Problem solved – no raccoon eyes that day!

The lipstick I bought:

Again from MAC I bought my fuschia lip stick [and love it/wear it often to this day] and a lip-primer that the MAC ladies told me would help my lipstick stay on for longwear. They were right – but even lip-primer couldn’t help

– Fuschia Lip Stick

– Lip Primer

The tools I bought:

I wanted to buy the right tools to ensure the makeup I just spent a small fortune on, looked right when I applied it myself. I bought the brush they recommended for applying the fluid eyeliner (small angle brush) and an eye shadow brush. I also bought some sponges to properly apply the foundation I did end up buying.

The foundation story:

While waiting for the Clinique counter to open to buy my mascara, I got suckered into the makeup stand next to it. This actually turned into a good thing, as I ended up LOVING the foundation that they put on me! The stand was actually more of a skin-care stand, but they happened to carry some makeup too. I bought some skin care products to boost my natural glow [Philosophy Oxygen Peel] and their hybrid foundation – this stuff is AWESOME.

What to do next after you buy all your wedding makeup:

PRACTICE!

Seriously – practice is the best thing you can do if you are DIYing your wedding makeup. I would lock myself in the bathroom once or twice a week leading up to the wedding, to make sure I could achieve the look I wanted myself and to make sure it didn’t take me 2 hours to do it!

Practicing is the BEST advice I can give anyone that is going to DIY their wedding makeup.

Brides to be – are you going to DIY your wedding makeup? Why or why not? Past brides – did I miss anything? Or do you have any other advice to add in the DIY wedding makeup debate?