Radiant Makeup? Starts at Home

Photograph Courtesy of Jen Matthews-Bright at Brightography
Being a professional makeup artist, it is my job to make you look incredible on your wedding day. With my Ethos of creating natural enhancing makeup, which shouldn’t mask your face and with my passion and knowledge of the skin, my aim for every single client is to make them feel truly confident when walking down the aisle.

Often at trials I give lots of recommendations that you can do at home.  To get the best out of your skin and to ensure your makeup looks incredible - you must start with your skin. After all, your skin is the canvas, it is the base to which my products sit on.

Here are my tips to what you should be doing weekly if not daily in the run up to your wedding:

CLEANSE
It is my number one skincare routine that you simply MUST do! Think of all the dirt you pick up on your route to work each day, and how often you touch your face, and that’s before you've even applied any makeup.

Makeup wipes are simply a NO! Bin them now, as they only circulate dirt and grime around your face. To really cleanse the skin and go deeper than just removing your makeup.

One of my all time favourites is Arbonne Advanced Smoothing Facial Cleanser it’s brilliant for all skin types, and I have been using it for years. It penetrates deep into your pores, removing all traces of dirt and gently exfoliates at the same time. Afterwards my skin feels sweaky clean and fresh.

Brides, who have used this since I have recommended it to them, have noticed their skin clearing up and their pores not so large, also a reduction in oily breakouts as well. To top that off no more dead skin cells will be visible on the top of the skin, meaning your makeup will glide on better and with more ease, making it smoother and more radiant.

EVENING MOISTURISING
Yes you can moisturise in the morning as well, but at night is when the magic happens.  During the night your skin regenerates whilst you are sleeping. We actually shed a layer of skin every night so a good night moisturiser will help to nourish the skin with the vitamins and skin plumping ingredients it needs. Who doesn’t want to wake up looking a little less puffy and tired as your moisturiser has worked over night to replenish what it may have lost during the day. Depending on your skin type, there are some brilliant night creams out there. Here are some of my favourites:

REN  Revitalising Night cream
OSKIA Bed time Beauty boost
ARBONNE Advanced Night Repair Cream
Bodhi & Birch Desert Rose Facial Oil

EXFOILIATING
It is extremely important to exfoliate your skin at least 2-3 times a week to eliminate dead skin cells from the surface of your skin, to reveal more radiant smoother skin. Be careful if you have particularly sensitive skin as some exfoliators can irritate the skin, but there are some really great ones on the market like :

Balm Balm Hibiscus Face Mask
Eco By Sonya Pink Himalayan Salt Scrub
Mungo Murphy's Seaweed Company Nourishing Seaweed Mask
Turbliss Bioactive Peat Mask

DRINK WATER
Yes, I know it sounds simple… but so many of us are guilty for not drinking enough water. They say we should aim for at least 2 litres a day, that is a minmum of 8 glasses!

Water is vital for good skin health, so instead of your lunchtime Diet Coke opt for water instead, maybe jazz it up with some cut up lemons or limes and some ice for good measure…

FOR ADDED EXTRA CARE – ADD FACIALS TO YOUR ROUTINE
Facials can be a brilliant way to really enhance your skin for your wedding day. Not essential, but they are relaxing and it can really benefit how your skin looks and feels. I would suggest having a course of maybe 4- 5 over a few months so you can really see the benefits.

But, please don’t have facials too close to the wedding day, as sometimes breakouts occur as the toxins are released from the skin, so I would have your last one at least two weeks before your wedding day.

If you follow these guidelines on looking after your skin, I guarantee that you will see results and your makeup will go on like a dream and look the best it can for you all-important photographs.

Hope this helps,
Emma x