Weddings are expensive, and there are lots of choices to be made about where you will spend your budget. When it comes to your makeup, unless you already are a product junkie, it may be more expensive to try and do it yourself – buying all the right products can really add up.
Nevertheless, if you have many events for your wedding or you are having a destination wedding, you may need do your own makeup for some occasions. I wish I knew these tips when doing my makeup for the smaller ceremonies.
Makeup artist Radha Subramani shares some pointers on how to create flawless skin with a few brush strokes – and have your makeup stay on all day and night. You can contact Radha via her website, or find her on facebook.
Thanks to the BFIW for allowing me to guest write.
First off, here is a photo of me before putting any makeup on. Don’t be scared!
Right, so I look flat and a bit shiny. Let’s go through seven simple tricks to turn you from a mugshot into high fashion.
1. Invest in a full coverage foundation and a good primer. Primers fill in all those little lines on your face, and help foundation go on more smoothly so you can use less of it. It’s the first step in achieving a great finish for a special event.
Next, a good full coverage foundation will not look cakey or heavy, but will last all night. A couple of good primers include the Smashbox Cosmetics primer and my favourite foundation, Makeup Forever’s HD Foundation.
2. Stay away from foundation with SPF for special occasions. While SPF is truly important for everyday wear, the active ingredient in sunscreen, titanium dioxide, reacts with flash photography, making you look white and ghostly in your photos even if you didn’t look that way in real life. Ghastly!
3. Use translucent powder to set your foundation, and in between any other cream products, such as between foundation and concealer. This helps keep all those products in place longer on your skin.
4. Use an eye primer or a cream eye shadow as base for eye makeup. These magic products will help your eye shadows stay on longer, and cream eye shadows can add a wonderful depth to your eye makeup. MAC’s Bare Study is a great base for South Asian skin tones because it has warm undertones.
5. When it comes to eye colours, shades of gold and copper are *almost* universally flattering for South Asian skin tones. Because of the bright colored outfits and the gold jewelry, golds and coppers fair very well. Favourite shades of mine for creating a classic South Asian bridal look include MAC’s Goldmine, Amber Lights and Cranberry (what I used in the photograph below). If you want to get more dramatic, use a flat black eyeshadow (like’s MAC’s Carbon) in the crease and corner of your eye.
Of course, if you wearing an outfit that is more subtle in nature (and in cooler tones), go for a smokey look with charcoals and grays.
6. Use false eyelashes for any wedding event where you’ll be photographed often and want that dramatic look. Practice wearing them on a few times before your events to get used to working with the eyelash glue, and to be able to place them properly on your eyes.
7. When you think you know what look you want to create, do a trial run. Check your makeup in different lights. Most importantly, get a friend to take photos when you are done so that you know what you see in the mirror translates into the photographs.
Tip: If you are hesitant about using false lashes, do your makeup first, and take some photos. Then apply the lashes and take more photos, and see what you think.
Here is me after putting on some makeup and wearing jewelry. Not bad, huh!
Be sure to check out my other features here on The BFIW, especially my tips on Old Bollywood makeup and the photo shoot, along with an article what you should ask every makeup artist during your trial.