Wedding Series: Makeup

Next up-- the makeup! 

My fabulous photographer Rustin Michael took some great getting ready shots of me that I'll share below. For my own makeup, I used Dinair's airbrush foundation, blush and highlighter. I wish I could use airbrush foundation everyday, but I'm too lazy to clean out the gun every morning (you can't leave product in the airbrush gun because it will damage the whole machine- talk about high maintenance). Airbrush makeup is fantastic for brides because it stays on, and floats right about your skin, as opposed to sinking into your pores, giving you a smooth glow. There is a small amount of alcohol in the foundation, which helps to dry down very quickly and stay ON like nobody's business. 

Here I'm applying a small amount of MAC's Reflects Pearl glitter on the inner corners of my eyes, because let's face, everyone knew I would rock glitter on my wedding day.

Here is the finished product, complete with a combination of MAC and Urban Decay eyeshadows and Ardell lashes. I kept the lips neutral so poor Dylan wouldn't be smeared with bright lipstick all day. I'll have a video tutorial of this look as soon as the weather cools down and my studio isn't a hot box!

Here's the Mother of the Bride, in all her glory. I definitely get my makeup skills from my mom. She has always been skilled with the makeup brush. I remember watching her do her makeup as a kid in the 80's, I just couldn't wait to grow up and do winged out blue eye liner and hot pink angled blush like she did. Mom did her own makeup that day, I helped her a little with the eyeshadow and lash application.

Yep, that's the ring boy in the corner

Here is my bridesmaid Angelica representing all the girls' makeup. Allyson Stagg of The Las Vegas Style Sirens (and of being my best friend) did my girls' makeup. Knowing my love for dramatic eye makeup, she created this jaw-dropping teal and champagne smoky eye topped with MAC's Reflects Teal glitter and whipped them up for each girl within three hours. I couldn't believe how sexy and bold my bridesmaids looked! As if you guys don't know already, I'm not really a fan of the "natural look." I LIVE for jewel tones and sex-pot makeup, and that's exactly what Allyson delivered. All of my girls looked like Playboy models, and I'm pretty sure their boyfriends/husbands didn't mind at all. ;)

Cappy and his Godmother

I wish I had photos of all the girls, we are still in the process of editing. I'll go back and update this blog once the photos are ready :)

Wedding Series: Bridal Nails

Hi beauty lovers, 

We are finally back from getting married and going on our honeymoon :) 

Now that I've got the house in order and our lives have gone back to normal, I want to share all my beauty experiences as a bride with you. 

The first part of my wedding series will be on the nails. Here are mine below. I got these done professionally at Bellacures in Hollywood by the lovely Rebecca:

I came up with the idea and did it on my own about 8 months ago, but I knew I wanted a professional to execute it for my big day. I got the idea for the ring finger on Pinterest. It was in silver, but I wanted it done in gold so it would look like my rose gold engagement and wedding rings :)

This look was created with gel nail polish, and man did that stuff stay on! It lasted through the wedding, the entire honeymoon (including snorkel and swimming excursions) with a single chip or crack. I finally removed them the other day (17 days later!) simply because my nails were growing out. 

HOW TO REMOVE GEL POLISH AT HOME: I soaked cotton balls in acetone and wrapped each one against my nail, then wrapped each finger up with aluminum foil and waited 10 minutes. I was able to easily scrape the polish off without much damage to my naturals.

I asked all of my lovely bridesmaids to do some form of nail art and they delivered. All the girls chose to incorporate my wedding colors, purple and teal, into their fun nail art designs! It was just so moving (to me) to see all these fun nail art designs on all my loved ones, because they all know how much I love crazy nail looks.

...And my mother SHOCKED me by getting a peach and silver glitter reverse-French nail design for her digits. I was SO excited to see this! Go Mom!

My Natural Beauty Bride

I'm here with my first bride of 2012, Mrs. Lisa Gonzalez. Lisa and her husband Dan tied the knot on April 14th and man, did Lisa looks stunning! Lisa has great skin and big beautiful hazel eyes so I was pretty excited to work with her- a makeup artist's dream! 

I love working with brides because each and every one has such different taste, and it gives me a chance to do all kinds of fun makeup. Lisa is pretty low maintenance on the daily with her makeup, and she wanted her natural beauty to shine on the big day. 

I did a light dusting of airbrush foundation and used soft shades of peach for her cheeks and lips. I kept the eye shadows to a minimum on the eyes and brought out those hazel ojos with a sweep of black eyeliner, mascara and some very natural false eye lashes. Even if you have long lashes, falsies really bring out your eyes, especially in photos. I recommend them for every bride! 

Here's Flower Girl Sam helping Lisa with her earrings. So cute!

What an angel

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Dan Gonzalez!