As your big day approaches you know that all eyes will be on you. You’ve finally found your dream gown, but even the most stunning dress needs a strong supporting cast to make it all come together perfectly for your special day. Whether you want natural and glowy skin for a bohemian aesthetic or a lashed-up and dramatic finish, having the right kit is key to helping you successfully achieve your bridal beauty goals. Discover our Beauty Director’s favourite products – these are beauty kit essentials that will ensure you avoid potential wedding pitfalls.
Skin
For brides with dry or dull skin, using an illuminating serum like Keys Soulcare illuminating serum is the beauty fix that will both brighten and smooth your skin whilst also imparting a subtle, natural even glow. The sheer golden tint means it’s a versatile option that you can wear on its own for a natural finish or add illumination under makeup to create a lightweight “blushing bride” finish.
Minimising enlarged pores and reducing shine is a must if you’re to contend with the entire wedding party’s megapixel enabled smartphones that will capture even the smallest of detail. Using a finisher like the nanoblur skin finisher will help you achieve pixel perfect skin by softening the appearance of lines, uneven texture and tone, as well as mattify and smooth your skin’s appearance. The best bit? It’s a versatile product that can be used on top of liquid make up or underneath powder make up.
To ensure that you’re a bright eyed bride as the night wears on, R.e.m beauty full night sleep cooling blurring under eye balm will keep dark circles at bay and protect your under eye area. Pre wedding jitters may keep you up the night before, just pop the balm in the fridge overnight to instantly refresh the under eye area and melt away any puffiness.
Lip
Go for a matte, intensely pigmented, long wearing lipstick such as Christian Louboutin beauty’s Velvet Matte Lip Colour that will survive the Champagne drinking, kissing your groom and eating cake whilst also ensuring that you don’t look washed out in photos. If you prefer to go for a lipstick in a more satin or cream formula, conditioning your lips with an intensely nourishing lip balm like the cult classic By Terry Baume de Rose lip balm will help to prep and soften your lips before applying your lipstick. For more volume and definition, draw using a highly pigment pencil like the 19/99 precision colour pencil along the natural lip line and then blend the colour onto the lipstick. To add a light layer of gloss use the clear Sann nourish and tint lip serum for a soft multidimensional look
Eyes
Tears of joy are an inevitability for most brides on the wedding day and whilst wearing waterproof, budge proof mascara will ensure you avoid having racoon eyes you can take things the extra mile with the Lashstar heated lash curler to create a more beautifully lifted curl as well as to sweep up any unruly lash hair for a truly dramatic finish. This will seriously amp up your look, but it is your wedding after all and more is definitely more.
Hair
Wet weather and humidity can be the arch nemesis to your wedding day, especially if you’re after a sleek look. Aggressive styling will wreak havoc with your tresses and to avoid stressing your hair on your big day invest in a leave- in hair primer like the Percy and reed wonder balm which can be used for myriad purposes: as prep for styling, to smooth strands, to add shine and most importantly to protect against high humidity. The light weight, gel based formula, which is suitable for all hair types is an absolute must have for brides, particularly those who have textured or afro hair type that are more prone to moisture and humidity induced frizz.
Tan
You’re probably harbouring fantasies of yourself gliding down the aisle with a just-flown-in- from Bali glow but also dreading the thought of brown streaks and a muppet-orange tan ruining your big day. You need a low maintenance, fuss free self tan option, cue Vita liberata heavenly tanning elixir an untinted formula that has very low likelihood of transferring to clothes. It doubles up as a moisturiser and continues to develop over 72 hours, guaranteed to carry you well into your honeymoon (where you’ll hopefully achieve a sun induced tan) as it can last up to an impressive 10 days from application.
Fragrance
Longevity and memorability is the name of the game when it comes to choosing your wedding fragrance. It is best to opt for an eau de parfum as it’s longer lasting than eau de toilette. For a wedding abroad, you might hanker after something that’s evocative of enchanting summer days and fresh sea breeze. Diptyque Doson with its bouquet of Tuberose, Orange Blossom, Jasmine might just be the winning finishing touch to your bridal beauty kit.
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