Need help with wedding makeup!

Hi Bellas,

So last night, I was doing more sorority stuff as usual. I have a sorority sister who is getting married April 5th. I’ve seen her one or two times in the last few weeks and she usually picks my brain about wedding makeup. Of course, I’m happy to share with her what tips I’ve learned through all my research From what I’ve learned, I’ve shared with her the basics such as what foundation is best for photography and other tidbits like where to place shimmery eyeshadows so that light doesn’t reflect too much.

Well, last night she came to me again and said that her makeup artist was in her words “a hot mess”. I asked her what she meant and she told me that the makeup artist never showed up on time for her engagement pictures. In fact, the artist didn’t contact her until that night, way after all the pictures were taken. Clearly, that was very unreliable and not a good trait in a makeup artist. Apparently the girl is someone who used to work at MAC and she actually did the makeup of another sorority sister last year. The wedding last year was also a destination wedding in Puerto Rico, so I’m surprised the makeup artist couldn’t even show up to a local wedding event. Well, I wasn’t sure what my sorority sister, let’s call her “Suzie” was quite getting at. I told her, “Oh if you want, I can be your backup in case she doesn’t show up”. But Suzie told me, “Oh, I’m not using her, she’s a hot mess.” She told me that she was going to do her makeup herself, but her friends and family dissuaded her from doing so, so she wants me to do her makeup as well as the makeup for her mother and sister. She told me my makeup always looks fabulous and she knows that I can make her look fab as well.

Honestly, I was kind of taken aback. Wedding makeup is a big deal! I’ve pretty much only done makeup on my friends for going out and events like New Years. I do want to get into doing makeup for events like weddings and such, but this is like a huge step ahead of baby step program. So many factors go into makeup…including: making sure it’s tear proof, making sure it looks good in photographs, making sure it lasts all day, yada yada yada. Once I calmed down I realized a few things.
-This is a great opportunity for me
-I can add this to my resume
-As long as I practice and prepare I can do a good job
-I know that my makeup application will at least be better than having the bride do her makeup herself—not that I’m trying to sound egotistical, but Suzie herself admitted that she only wears lipgloss and mascara. I think I should be able to help her with a little more than that.

So I’ve got to come up with a business plan: this includes a lot of research, preparation and practice. If any of you know of any good sources for wedding makeup, please let me know. The wedding is 3 weeks away and the clock is ticking! I’ll probably start with youtube (some ppl have really great wedding makeup tutorials, like Askmemakeup) as well as specktra.net. I need to learn what kind of makeup to use (luckily Suzie and I will be going to Nordstrom to make sure to buy her correct foundation and concealer and colors, using a gift card from her bridal shower)…fortunately I have some basic foundation and blush palettes (from www.camerareadycosmetics.com) I bought for future use when I actually do people’s makeup. I also need to figure out, approximately how much time I need to spend on the bride and the mother of the bride and sister. Whew! I know I can do it…I just got to get over the nerves.

Help a sister out!