Make Up

I had the pleasure, and honour, of attending my best friend from schools’ Wedding recently. We grew up together, and from playschool age we have had a tight bond that nothing and no one can break. We have drifted in and out of each others lives over the years but we always get back to one another some how, it really is a true friendship (nearly made myself cry then!)

Charlotte announced last year that James had popped the question, and that it would be a rather short engagement! Knowing I am an aspiring Make Up Artist it sort of went without saying that I would at least give her a trial… considering the last time I did her make up, was when we were 11 years old and we’d just spent all our pocket money on the Rimmel counter in the local Chemist, there was no guarantee that my skills had improved!

Nervously I applied her make up, taking mental notes of what I was using, and how well it applied. I know her face inside out (sounds a bit grim that actually – but when you know someone 25 years you tend to know their gorgeous bits). Time whizzed by and after 3 hours there she was all made up, lashes extended, posing for my camera looking stunning. Slight problem with that though. Three hours is a bloody long time! Well it flies when you’re having fun – we nattered and chattered and laughed like hyeana’s just like we always do, but 3 hours? Seriously?

I believe Make Up is a tool in which to enhance natural beauty. I believe it should have a natural effect and be used to enhance big eyes, or luscious lips, or sculpt amazing bone structure. I am not a huge fan of using bright colours, mainly because colours tend to look so horrid on me I guess it’s all down to confidence, so I admit to playing it safe and using neutral, earthy colours on my eyes and using colour on my cheeks, or lips. This theory applies to Bridal make up, I think most brides want to look natural – not too ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ whilst they’re saying I do. This was definitely the case with our Charlotte. Lucky for her she is a natural beauty (she will be blushing when she reads this) and she’s a natural blonde, and she has the luscious lips and the bone structure – basically she made my job very easy!

She wanted to look natural, but glowing, and flawless (of course).

So she invested in some Bare Minerals make up. I must say this stuff rivals that of Mac Face and Body foundation (I’m like a walking advert for the stuff – I l-o-v-e it). It’s coverage is smooth, and creamy, and it blends well. I started by prepping her skin with Smashbox photo finish primer – a must have ladies it leaves skin smooth and flawless and your foundation will stick to it for hours. We used a smaller brush to apply the bare minerals as a concealer around her eyes, nose, and as a primer on the eye lid for eyeshadow, then using a large round brush I swished it on in circles gradually building a sufficient layer.

I used Mac Blushbaby to shade and contour her cheek bones, and temples, then Mac Well Dressed on the apples of her cheeks for a pop of shimmery pink colour. I then highlighted her cheek bones just underneath the eye area, sweeping upwards towards her temples with a shimmery gold eyeshadow – any gold eyeshadow will do! It reflects the light giving you a really gorgeous structure.

We used earthy charcoal colours on her eyes, highlighting the socket, then using an angled brush with a deep aubergine powder to line the upper lash line. Lined the inner upper eyelid with black eyeliner, lower inner lid with white eye liner to really make her eyes sparkle. I used a powder on her eyebrows just to give them some depth and definition for the photographs. Charlotte had lash extensions on so we only needed to use a tiny amount of mascara. I lined her cupids bow with a natural lip pencil, applied some Vaseline Rose Lip Therapy and she was good to go!

Voila! My gorgeous Charlotte on her Wedding day. It was a pleasure doing her make up and even more of a pleasure watching my oldest friend say her vows to the lovely Jim, I can’t deny a small part of me felt really proud watching her walk down the aisle – love you to bits Charlotte xx

 Jenny xx