How I Did My Own Wedding Makeup

I always kind of knew I wanted to do my own makeup on my wedding day, despite being a little nervous about it. I just have never loved how I look when someone else has done my makeup. I knew I wanted to feel like myself and for my makeup to really look like me to feel completely confident on my wedding day. With that decision came a lot of research and trial and error over the year and a half that we were engaged. With our wedding being outside, I wanted to make sure that my makeup was sweat-proof, long-lasting, and didn’t look cakey in natural light.

If you’re interested in doing your own makeup on your wedding day (or just want to brush up on your makeup skills), I highly recommend it! You will feel so much better knowing that you look like YOU not only on the day of, but also in the pictures that will hang in your home forever. If you do decide to do your own makeup, I recommend subscribing to Makeup x Kelli Anne’s platform. She has a bunch of tutorials that help you really get your technique down for longwear makeup. Specifically, she has one for longwear makeup and another for bridal makeup. I kind of combined techniques from both and also adding things in that I knew I personally liked.

Below is a list of all of the products I used. I can honestly say that this combination helped lock my makeup into place and lasted all day long… even to the point where people were commenting that it still looked good on the dance floor! That was at about hour 10 of wearing the makeup, so I’d call that a win. Even if you’re not getting married, these are great products for everyday (I of course don’t wear all of these products daily) and also for any event you need your makeup to last for hours upon hours.

Skin Prep: Starting with a base of skincare is so important! If you do this, there’s really no need to wear a primer. Just make sure you let it completely dry down before you start on your makeup. I use them in the order listed.

• Naturium Quadruple Hyaluronic Acid Serum

• Sunday Riley CEO Vitamin C Brightening Serum

• La Roche-Posay Double Repair Face Moisturizer

• L’Oreal Lumi Glotion - I mixed this in with my moisturizer to give my face a little color and glow

• Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream - Work this into your fine lines on your forehead, around your eyes, around your mouth. Anywhere that needs extra moisture so the product doesn’t sink into your fine lines.

• Summer Fridays Light Aura Vitamin C + Peptide Eye Cream

• Charlotte Tilburry Airbrush Flawless Filter Setting Spray - Once you’ve done all of your skin prep, spray your face with setting spray and let it completely dry before you start on your makeup. This is key to making your makeup last longer!

Cream Products: I start with a base of all cream products, and then set all of those cream products with a powder.

• ELF Halo Glow Liquid Filter - This is a great base to give that “glow from within” look.

• L’Oreal True Match Foundation - I like this BETTER than Armani Luminous Silk! Also, doesn’t create any flashback for brides.

• Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer - Provides a ton of coverage.

• Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo in She’s Sculpted (cream side) - I use this as a contour for my cheekbones and jawline.

• Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand in Fair/Medium - Then, use this to add warmth to your face - just under where you’d place blush, your forehead, take it down your neck, etc.

• Patrick Ta Major Headlines Double-Take Crème & Powder Blush Duo (cream side) - This is extremely pigmented. A little goes a long way!

Powder Products: After you’ve put all of your cream products on, you need to set everything with it’s corresponding powder.

• Fenty Invisimatte Instant Setting and Blotting Powder - This is what I set my undereyes with and also brought it with me in my bag in case I wanted to touch up (I didn’t end up using it since everything really stayed put!)

• Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Pressed Powder - I dusted this all over my face to completely set the foundation. I also layered a little bit of this over the Invisimatte under my eyes for a little extra staying power

• Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder - I used this to bake under my eyes and under my contour line. This sounds like a ton of powder to use but they are all really high quality and very very fine powders to where you will not look cakey! Also, using a translucent powder (as opposed to using one with color) will help you avoid adding any color to your face that doesn’t exactly match your shade of foundation. You’ll have a much wider range in foundation than you will a setting powder!

• Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo in She’s Sculpted - Set the cream contour with the powder from this duo

• NARS Laguna Bronzer - This will help bring life back to your face after using a foundation to even everything out and warm everything up.

• Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette - I used this to add a little bit of highlight to my face without using anything too glittery. I knew I would likely be sweating and would have a natural glow from that, so I wanted to make sure I avoided too much sparkle on my face.

• Patrick Ta Major Headlines Double-Take Crème & Powder Blush Duo - I used a tiny bit of this on the part of my cheekbones that meet my temple. Then I went in with Nars Orgasm on the apples of my cheeks for a pinkier look. You can do this technique with whatever colors work for your skintone and it achieves a really customized makeup look. Be careful, this product is also very pigmented.

• NARS Blush in Orgasm

• Naked Your Way Mini Eyeshadow Palette in Sin - I used a combination of these shadows and also used a little bit of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette to blend everything together.

Other

• NYX Micro Brow Pencil Vegan Eyebrow Pencil - I used a tiny bit of a brow pencil because my brows get a little washed out in pictures. I don’t do this on the daily but wanted to make sure I had eyebrows in my wedding photos :)

• Anastasia Brow Freeze Gel - This will LOCK your brows into place without feeling sticky. It dries down and lasts all day.

• Patrick Ta Major Dimension Precision Gel Eyeliner in Rich Brown - I used this to tightline my upper lash line. Brown gives a softer, more natural look than black.

• Covergirl LashBlast Volume Mascara - I hate the way I look with false lashes, so I used GrandeLash for about 6 months before the wedding. This really lengthened and thickened my lashes to the point where I didn’t need false lashed. I just started with a few coats of non-waterproof LashBlast until I achieved the mascara look that I wanted. After that, I went in with a waterproof version of the same mascara to lock it in. It was definitely cry-proof!

• Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pillowtalk

• Caliray Socal Superbloom Lip + Cheek Tint Soft Stain Blush in Wildflower

Setting Spray - Once your done, it’s time to set!

• ONE/SIZE by Patrick Starrr On 'Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray - I went to TOWN with this stuff. It really locks everything down but it’s super super mattifying.

• Charlotte Tilburry Airbrush Flawless Filter Setting Spray - Since the One/Size setting spray is so mattifying, I did a second layer of setting spray using this one to give a little life back to my face