Bridal Beauty Tips from Grand Slam Glam

Every bride wants to look her best when the big day finally arrives, so we’re teaming up with local beauty experts to get the inside scoop on all things bridal beauty. We recently sat down with the DFW hair and makeup artists of Grand Slam Glam to get their expert advice and bridal beauty tips. Check out their helpful advice below and stay tuned to the blog as we share more bridal beauty tips from local experts!

Q. What are the advantages of doing a make-up trial run before the big day?
A. Let’s face it, there is enough to worry about on your wedding day (or as the GSG Glam Guru‘s like to call it, your “big game day”) and the last thing you want to be stressing over is if you are going to be happy with your hair and makeup! Trying to share your vision of how you want to look and answer numerous questions on the day of your bridal portraits or wedding can cause anxiety and keep you from enjoying your day. It is a rare occasion for a bride to sit down in my chair for hair and makeup on her wedding day and tell me everything has gone 100% perfect and as planned. Most wedding days are full of curve-alls. Doing a trial ensures that your hair and makeup are not one of those wedding day “curveballs”

Think of a bridal hair and makeup trial as hitting the batting cages to perfect your swing. If you want to guarantee a look that will knock it out of the park on your wedding day, spending a few hours in the batting cage is totally worth it! A bridal trial is a session where you will meet with one of our glam gurus to run-through your wedding day hair and makeup look or looks. A bridal trial is important because it allows us get to know you and truly understand your vision for your big day. At this 2-3 hour session, we can try out different looks and go from a natural golden eye palette to a sultry smokey look a la Kim K or beach waves into a romantic sideswept up-do. During your trial, you and your Glam Guru will work together to create an “out of the park” perfect look and thus insure that you will be a stress free bride-to-be!

Q. What advice do you have for a bride trying to find the right look for her day?
A. When trying to determine the perfect look for your big game day, here are some things to consider:

What season is your wedding in? Summer? Winter? Spring? (How does your hair do in the rain/heat?)
Do you want your hair down? Half up? A romantic up-do? Are you into braids?
What way do you normally wear your hair?
How does your groom-to-be think you look the best?
When do you feel the most beautiful?
What is your normal makeup routine? (We always ask our brides to show us photos of how they look on a normal day.)

The best thing to do when determining the right look for you is to do your homework! Many brides find pinspiration, fall head over heels for a tossled up-do in the newest edition of the Brides of North Texas magazine or have a favorite celebrity’s makeup that they want to replicate. Get some idea of what you want and your glam guru can take it from there!

Q. What beauty product should every bride have with her at all times?
A. What bride doesn’t want that radiant glow on her special day? The Glam Gurus believe that the key to a healthy, effortless glow is to make sure that your skin is healthy! With the seasons changing, your summer tan fading and allergies going wild, it is so important to have a skin care regimen set in place for yourself. A good cleansing wash and a reliable makeup remover are vital. Now we love our makeup, but the worst thing you can do for your skin is to sleep in it over night and let the makeup settle into your pores. (Blemishes… no thank you. Not on your wedding day.) But if that does happen, having a spot treatment and toning solution on hand is a good idea. MOISTURIZE and REFRESH your skin daily! If you moisturize at night, try using something without SPF and go easy on over-fragranced lotions. Our biggest Glam Guru secrets to skin care: organic coconut oil at night and rosewater mist in the morning.

Q. What beauty trends do you predict for the fall?
A. We are predicting a lot of orange, brown, purple and gold tones dominating this season, and oh, are we excited about it!

Eyes: As the weather gets colder, the shades for fall tend to get warmer. We anticipate standout shades like Inglot Cosmetic’s Matte Eyeshadow 335, MAC Matte Eyeshadow ‘Cheer Me On’ and a little metallic pop of Flame Thrower by Makeup Geek to be an staple statement eye this upcoming season.

Brows: Brows will still be “on fleek” this season, without a doubt. One minor change we anticipate in our HOLY BROW rituals is a slight shift to a more natural whispy fill in of the brow vs. a very straight and clean kept brow in the summer. A new product pallet we are #GLAMSESSED with is the Senna Brow Book.

Cheeks: With warmer pops of color on the eyes and lips, we will be using muted pinks and mauve tones on the cheeks. But don’t forget that dewy highlight. We currently can’t get enough of OFRA highlighter shimmers in shades ‘You Dew You’ and ‘You Glow Girl’. Talk about getting your glow on.

Lips: Last fall we saw a huge trend in maroon lips, but this year we are excited to see purple and brown shades like Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in ‘Posh Spice’ and ‘Celebrity Skin’.

Q. Speaking of, what is your favorite lip color?
A. Hand’s down, Stila’s Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Patina is our ALL TIME favorite lip color. It looks great on everyone and lasts all night long!

Q. Do you recommend false eyelashes?
A. We always recommend that our clients wear false eyelashes because they look ahh-mazing (especially in pictures), and you can bat your eyes at your handsome hubby-to-be! We include false lashes in our makeup application service, and they are yours to keep and reuse as you wish! The old adage doesn’t apply to everything, but it certainly applies to lashes… go big or go home!

Q. How can a bride keep her makeup looking fresh and flawless throughout her big day?
A. Your makeup’s durability is dependent upon priming, products, application and finishing spray.

First and foremost, you have to prime your skin in order to guarantee a flawless look that lasts all day long. Moisturizer is of course a must, but primer is what really prepares your skin for your makeup application and provides the makeup a surface that it can hold on to all day long.

We like to start with a spritz of Smashbox’s Photo Finish Primer Water which is full of revitalizing electrolytes and helps to wake the skin up (which is ideal for those early morning weddings!). Then depending on the clients’ skin, we follow up with a primer with silicone-based polymer like Tarte’s clean slate 12-Hr Perfecting Primer. This primer is packed with antioxidant rich nutrients and vitamins (such as avocado oil and rosemary extract) and the dimethicone helps to diffuse the appearance of large pores, imperfections and those stubborn fine lines. For those of us with extra oily skin, Make Up Forever’s Step 1 Skin Equalizer Mattifying Primer is like your own personal “no shine” Instagram filter. Don’t forget to prime your eyelids as well! Eyelid primer like Urban Decay’s Eye Shadow Primer Potion help prevent fading and makes your eyeshadow more durable and long lasting.

The products you use are also key to keeping your face looking flawless all day and all night. Focus on using creaseless concealers and foundations. Also, it is SO important to set your foundation and concealer with powder. We recommend tapping the powder into your skin (as opposed to sweeping it across your face) to really make sure it sets into your face. Throughout the day as you sweat, be sure to blot instead of wiping. Wiping will remove the product entirely. I recommend carrying around some translucent powder so that you can retouch your face throughout the day (I like Makeup Forever’s HD Pressed Powder).

Last but not least is finishing spray! We always spray our brides and bridesmaids after we apply their lipstick with Urban Decay’s All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray. The spray is kind of amazing (FUN FACT: This finishing spray features a new patented Temperature Control Technology that lowers the temperature of your makeup to prevent it from melting, cracking or fading even in the harshest of conditions… how cool is that?!)

Q. Any other helpful beauty tips for brides-to-be?
A. We say this often but it really rings true… Beauty should be a source of confidence, not anxiety. The best beauty secret I can offer is just to let your true beauty shine through by being comfortable in your own skin. Beauty truly does start on the inside and radiate outward!