Wedding day trials: Hair & Makeup

I thought I'd share some pics from my past trial sessions.  The hair and makeup stylist I hired started in the movie industry and got to the point where she didn't like traveling so much and so she focuses mostly on weddings now.  Your hair/makeup trial is included in her price if you decide to book with her once it's done (if not, you have to pay like $75 for it).  I really loved her as a person and as a stylist.  She listened to me and has done great work.  I liked what she came up with based on the few photos I showed her:

  

But after seeing it on me, I wasn't feeling it pulled back so much.  So I asked her to put it 'down around my face' more:

Ok, I don't know who that person is in that photo but it really isn't me!

So after mulling it over, I also decided I didn't like the 50's beehive 'bump' going on at the top of my head.  And the 'white' shadow she used in the corner of my eyes to 'open them up' just wasn't cutting it for the more romantic and soft dramatic look I wanted. 

For my engagement session in July, I went to the MAC counter at a Nordstrom's and took a picture in to show the girl.  I have to say I have never loved the makeup someone did on my face more:

One thing I noticed is that I will definitely have to invest in some oil absorbing cloths as those of us who suffer from oily patches must have these to carry around to dab at our faces on wedding day during photos.  This is a task that my lovely Matron of Honor will help me out with :)  You can get these cloths in any drugstore or makeup aisle.

So I went ahead and paid my stylist to do a second trial run just before Christmas.  I showed her the pics we had from the first trial many months before and compared them to my engagement pic makeup.  She said even she wasn't feeling the 'shininess' on my face or the bright white look in the corner of my eyes and thought my e-pic makeup was better.  This was our new result (excuse my truly stupid half smile):

The lipstick I had on in the e-pic session makeup just above is the same lipstick she used on me in the new makeup trial.  Look at the difference!  I had purchased some Covergirl lasting wear lipsticks/lipglosses and she took the two I love and worked them together and now I love that color on my lips! I am also in love with the more dramatic and just slightly darker look of my eyes. Though I told her I may want to do just a little less blush on wedding day.  And you have to remember I will also be tan on wedding day like in the pics above whereas in December when we did this, I was definitely *not* tan!

So I showed her some new pics and inspiration for the hair as well and we came up with this:

 

For the hair, I loved it as well but was still getting just a little bit of a 'bump' from her...mostly because she was using it to cover up the clip on extensions I had in :) So I e-mailed her that on wedding day, I definitely don't want any teasing done on top of my head :)

You'll have to excuse the two different shades you see in my hair...I had my hair colored and will be getting a touch up before the wedding. When I do, my hair stylist is going to color my clip on extensions as well so they'll match and blend right in. :) 

Here's a great shot of hair and makeup all done with my new and final look:

Side note:  Can you please just look at the stupid crows feet around my eyes in this pic above?  Now go back and look at the pics from back in July...notice the difference?  It's called BOTOX!  I am a huge anti-plastic surgery fiend...I think it's silly to alter your looks, body or appearance in any way that you can't do on your own with diet and exercise.  However, I just thought I'd try out a little botox back during the e-pic session and hair trials and I loved it!  So come wedding day, I will definitely use a little botox one more time to be sure those nasty little wrinkles and crow's feet don't become a part of my eternal photos!  Just something us late 30 something brides should be able to treat ourselves to without any guilt.  :) 

Last tip for wedding day makeup: FALSE EYELASHES!  I would normally never deal with them (I never even wear mascara), but your makeup artist should definitely know how to put these on and they are like $3 at the drugstore.  If you get the darker ones, you don't even need to apply any mascara at all which is huge if you are like me and know that you will end up crying at some point on wedding day.  :)  But after wearing them in the two above trial runs, I found that she has some ridiculously stay put mascara that we can use and I am on the fence about whether or not to use the falsies.  I think I will just go for the more natural eyelashes first and see if I think I need falsies on wedding day.

So, what do you think?  Any suggestions?