This week wedding make-up has taken over my life.
Seriously, if I’ve not been in a shop having make-up applied, then I’ve been at home watching beauty tutorials on the internet. And if I’ve not been watching beauty tutorials on the internet, I’ve been seeking out review after review of ‘the best’ wedding day foundation or the longest-lasting coral lipstick. And if I’ve not been devouring reviews, I’ve been stalking Lisa Eldridge, or plucking my eyebrows in to ‘the perfect shape’, or having wild, anxiety-ridden make-up dreams, or trying not to touch the MASSIVE spot that has appeared on my chin since becoming so face obsessed.
It all started with the Lisa Eldridge videos.
A colleague told me about her video tutorials and I’ve since watched hundreds of the damn things. I say this contemptuously but only because they’re so addictive. Lisa Eldridge is a make-up goddess. She’s also beautiful, warm, knowledgeable and has a Cindy Crawford-esque mole which I find myself staring at enviously as she applies concealer to her spots. Excuse me, ‘blemishes’.
However, Lisa Eldridge alone isn’t going to get me looking like a make-up goddess on my wedding day. She’s given me lots of product knowledge and application tips (sweep those brushes back and forth to blend in, ladies, not just one way!) but she can’t tell me which products will work best specifically for my skin. For this I needed to go for a proper make-up trial…
…which is how I found myself at the Bobbi Brown counter in House of Fraser on Friday morning, make-up free and demanding that someone make me look half decent before I even contemplate doing any shopping.
Bare-faced and, erm, wearing the same top I wore in my last make-up post…
It was a fabulous make-up lesson, I have to say. The Bobbi Brown ethos is that beauty begins with good skin so I had all kinds of creams applied before we actually started on the make-up. Then, having shown her a couple of images, a nice lady called Gurpreet created ‘a look’ for me, talking me though every step of the way in terms of what product she was using and why.
Brief: I want to look like her and I’m wearing that on my head… please.
The result was impressive, and although I hated the foundation (it felt way too heavy and was too ‘visible’ on my skin) I was sold with a few of the products she used. An hour and £90 later I left with a moisturiser-come-primer that felt amazingly soft on my skin, a super long-lasting and award-winning gel eyeliner, a cream shadow stick that keeps your eye make-up in place all day (and it really did- 12 hours later and it hadn’t budged), and a pretty sparkle eyeshadow in a shade called ‘Ballet’ (my one regret- it’s VERY subtle for £20 but I, as you should know by now, am an unfortunate sucker for sparkle).
Only for your wedding day can you spend silly money, right…?
The Bobbi Brown look. Ignore the hair.
However, a primer is nigh on useless without a foundation to hold on to, so a couple of days later and back to Bluewater I went, this time sitting myself down at the Chanel counter as I’d read so much about their VitaLumiere foundation, and apologising profusely for the ma-hoosive spot on the chin. This trial wasn’t as thorough as Bobbi Brown, but I preferred the foundation and the lighter look overall (despite the worst mascara application I have ever experienced- cloggy spiders legs, anyone?).
The Chanel look. Slightly better hair.
What do you think? Is my instinct right or is the heavier look better?? (And sincere apologies for the consistently smug smile; believe it or not it’s my ‘neutral face’.)
The foundation hunt continues though. I don’t know if it’s just because we’ve had the Longest Winter Ever, but my skin has felt unusually dry recently and I want a foundation that not only feels but looks dewy and creamy on the skin. Natural, dewy and creamy. And long-lasting. The VitaLumiere Aqua by Chanel was nice… but up close my skin still looked a bit powdery and dry. Any recommendations??
I’d like to share my whole Wedding Day Make-up Kit with you once it’s been purchased, perhaps with a self-application test run… but I think that’s enough of my face for now. Some of you may be eating.
In other news, Paul had a very successful stag night on Saturday (involving a mankini- enough said), and it’s my turn to party on down this weekend. Once we’ve got the bootcamp aspect out of the day that is. Gulp. Do you reckon it’s possible to lose half a stone in one session?! I’ll let you know next week.
Sama xxx
