Bridal Makeup: Christa H.

I was lucky enough to get to work with this beautiful Bride-To-Be in creating her wedding day makeup look!

Christa said she wanted something soft, but that reflected the colors in her upcoming December wedding palette, that features burgundy, black and grey.
We ended up playing around with a combination of eggplant and mauves to bring out the color of her bright blue eyes, while tying in with the burgundy family.

She looked like a top model when we finished, and this look photographs beautifully!

Here is what we used:

Hourglass | Veil Mineral Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 15 | $18
MAKE UP FOR EVER | HD Invisible Cover Foundation in 110 Pink Porcelain | $42
Anastasia Beverly Hills | Contour Kit | $40
Hourglass | Ambient Lighting Palette | $58
Laura Mercier | Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic | $42
M•A•C | Iridescent Powder in Silver Dusk | $26
Anastasia Beverly Hills | DIPBROW™ Pomade in Chocolate | $18
Urban Decay | NAKED3 Eyeshadow Palette | $54
Yves Saint Laurent | EYELINER EFFET FAUX CILS in 05 Cherry Black | $30
Buxom | BUXOM® Amplified™ Lash Mascara | $22
NARS | Lip Gloss in Striptease | $26
NARS | Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder | $35
Urban Decay | All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray | $14

A few things about this look…

We decided that using a different shade on the brows would probably be a bit more ideal for her auburn hair, so we would opt in favor of Anastasia Beverly Hills Perfect Brow Pencil in Auburn ($23), which is great, especially if you aren’t confident using a gel product, and messing with angled brushes.

Also, we used quite a few highlighting products for this look, but not all of them were necessary to arrive at the above results. The must-have products for highlighting/contour to accomplish this look would be as simple as just picking up the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit or Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette.

I used the frosty Pearl color from the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic just on the inner corners of the eye, and her cupid’s bow, but the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit has a highlighting shade called Sand that can accomplish that task just fine, or if you were to go the route of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, use Incandescent Light, which is the pale shimmery shade in the middle.

Step-By-Step

Using a fluffy foundation brush (clean fingers work, too!), I applied the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer all over Christa’s face, including the eyelids, making sure to blend and buff, especially concentrating around areas that are prone to creasing (smile lines, corners of eyes, etc.).

Next, using a foundation brush (a damp beautyblender® is also a flawless way to do this step) I dotted the MUFE HD Invisible Cover Foundation all over her skin, and then blended out using circular buffing motions, to eliminate streaks and lines.

I am big on contouring – especially with makeup that is going to be photographed. As we know, flash flattens out your features, so to prevent the bridal face looking one-dimensional, I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit (Fawn) with a small, fluffy foundation brush, and etched out the features we wanted to emphasize – sides of nose, beneath cheekbones, along forehead. With the same palette, I also applied a bit of the shade Banana beneath the eyes, to brighten and set the foundation from creasing, and then swept Sand across the high points on the cheekbones, bridge of nose, brow bone, and cupid’s bow.

Foolproof Guide To Contouring & Highlighting :

Image courtesy of Anastasia Beverly Hills.

After that, I played around with adding a bit more shimmer, using M•A•C Iridescent Powder in Silver Dusk and the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette (Incandescent Light) over the areas I had already highlighted, and did a quick sweep with a powder brush that had been swirled through all three of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette colors across her forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin.

I wanted to do a very simple blush to keep this look fresh and radiant, so I opted to use a swirl of the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic with a very light hand, just on the apples of her cheeks, and blended out towards her ears.

Moving on to the eyes…

Since I had already swept primer across her eyelids when I was prepping the rest of her face, I didn’t worry about a separate eyeshadow primer, and went straight into my Urban Decay NAKED3 Palette, selecting the shadow Darkheart, and using a small angled brush, used it to line along the upper lash line. I feathered that out with a bit of Mugshot and then applied Nooner into the crease, and along the outer ‘v’ of the eye, using soft circular motions to blend thoroughly.

To make Christa’s eyes really stand out, I took a small eyeliner brush and went over the Darkheart with my favorite liner, Yves Saint Laurent Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils in 05 Cherry Black. No flick, no cat eye. Christa has big beautiful eyes that didn’t want for any alteration of their natural shape. We decided to soften up that line a bit, so I went over that again, using a combination of Darkside and Darkheart using the same angled brush I had first applied Darkheart with.

Using a very light hand, I brushed a very small amount of Dust onto the center of her lids, just to add a bit of shine and dimension.

 

I swept a bit of Nooner beneath the lower lash line, and then pressed a bit of Darkside into the lash line to tie it all together. I went back in with my YSL Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils and lined both the upper and lower waterline, and a little on the lash line of the outer ⅓ portion of her eyes.

Christa is going to be wearing eyelash extensions on her wedding day, but for the illustration purposes of this look, I applied a generous coat of BUXOM® Amplified™ Lash Mascara, which we then brushed the clumps out of with a spoolie brush, for a feathered effect.

To top off the eyes, I used the Pearl shade from the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic on the inner corners of her eyes, along her brow bone. What was left on the brush, I dabbed on her cupid’s bow.

Christa wanted very simple lips to keep the emphasis on the eyes; NARS Lip Gloss in Striptease is the perfect compliment to this look. We finished off this entire look with a quick spritz of Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray to keep everything in place, fuss-free!

Christa was a pleasure to work with, and I couldn’t have had more fun creating this look for her!

Please share your thoughts in the comments! ♥

xo
Ashley