A makeup artist can work wonders on beautiful skin, but the issue is most of us have problem skin at some time in our lives. Whether it's dry flaky skin, oily skin, large pores or all the above.
My role as a makeup artist is to not only nail the bridal makeup look you're after on your wedding day, I'm also here to help educate you on your skin so that we can try to prep your skin to be the best canvas possible on your wedding day.
Skin care is the first thing I talk about at my bridal trials with all my brides and is a part of the process I really enjoy - teaching and helping my clients achieve the best skin care results not only for their wedding day but also teaching them a life time regime.
If you've had a bridal makeup trial with me, I would have already given you some general advice of how to improve you skin for your wedding day, but what is also important is how to looking after your skin the week before your wedding!
So what should you do the week before your wedding? Well, let us begin...
1. Hydrate inside and out
We are made up of 80% water, our body needs water to survive and our skin flourishes with hydration. This principle applied to people with oily and dry skin. The week before your wedding I advise all my brides to drink plenty of water. Don't go over the top but drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day will keep the skin hydrated and plump.
It's also important to keep your skin hydrated on the outside, this means moistursing day and night and using a rich nourishing moisturiser at night. The more hydrated your skin is on the day of your wedding, the better your foundation will sit on your skin.
For brides with oily skin, keeping your skin hydrated on the outside is still important. I have come across so many clients who have oily skin but also dry patches in some places. My advice is to hydrate the dry parts of your face with a heavier moisturiser at night and use an oil free lighter moisturiser where your skin doesn't need the extra hydration.
Photo credit: The Evoke Company
2. Keep your face from getting sun burnt
You might think it a good idea to get some extra sun rays on your skin before the wedding but be careful not to get your face burnt the week before the wedding, or even the day before the wedding. Once redness starts to show from sunburn, your skin has already been affected by the sun and will have already started to flake up even though you might not see it.
The reason I know this is because once I put foundation over the smallest burnt redness, I will start to see the foundation grab onto the flakiness of the burnt skin which becomes very obvious, and unfortunately there is not much I can do to fix the flakiness.
3. Exfoliate the night before your wedding
If you're over thirty, you should be exfoliating 3 times a week as this helps your skin's cell turn over to slough away the dead skin cells, leaving your skin brighter and more even. If you don't exfoliate then I recommend starting as soon as possible in the lead up to the wedding! If you're under thirty then you'll only really need to exfoliate twice a week.
The reason for exfoliating the night before your wedding is to slough away any dead skin cells which the foundation may grab onto, and to brighten your complexion on the day.
Photo Credit: James Day Photography
4. Hydrate your skin first thing in the morning
When you first wake up on your wedding day, drink a big glass of water, give your face a wash and apply a deep nourishing moisturiser. This will sink in as the day goes by and by the time you're due to start your makeup, your face will be nice and hydrated ready for me to apply a gorgeous base.
That's it, I know it seems like a lot of step but really the key is keeping your skin hydrated inside and out, keeping out of the sun and exfoliating the night before.
See you on your wedding day!
Lu Lu Makeup Artist xox
Photo Credits: The Evoke Company + James Day Photography
Makeup by Me: Lu Lu Makeup Artist