On this day, five years ago, I married my best friend. We’ve now been together for over 15 years and I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.
Now, if you put two and two together, you would have noticed that my wedding took place just as the COVID-19 Lockdowns were coming into effect. As a result, I did my own hair and makeup for my wedding at home. And while I loved the look that I did then, I did find myself wondering what changes I would have made were I doing the same makeup today. So, for a fun little thought experiment, I wanted to show you how I would do my wedding makeup now. With the skills that I’ve learned and the products I now have access to, how different would it be? Let’s get into it!
STEP 1 – SKIN PREP
If I were to be doing my wedding makeup now, I would take the time to properly prep my skin. I definitely would have gotten a facial a few weeks out and I would have been strict with my morning routine the day of (you can read that here). I also probably would do a sheet mask either the night before or that morning. The BIODANCE BIO-COLLAGEN REAL DEEP MASK – $34.50 for a pack of 4 have been the ones that I’ve been using. They are so deeply nourishing and give the skin almost a glass effect.
STEP 2 – BASE
For my original wedding day makeup, I went quite full coverage and matte. These days, I prefer a more glowy, blurred look to the skin. For primer, I picked the HOLME BEAUTY BASE PRIMER in BANG. This works as a two in one as I’m not only boosting my hydration, I’m adding a luminosity to my skin. My foundation pick will surprise no one. The HUDA BEAUTY EASY BLUR FOUNDATION had to be my pick. It’s still my current favourite foundation and I love the finish it gives.
I knew I had some dark spots that I wanted corrected, so I hit those with my HUDA BEAUTY FAUXFILTER COLOUR CORRECTOR in PEACH. And then further concealed with the TOWER 28 SWIPE CONCEALER in 2.0 BU. After doing my cream cheek products, I set my base with the HUDA BEAUTY EASY BAKE LOOSE POWDER and sprayed my beloved CHARLOTTE TILBURY AIRBRUSH FLAWLESS SETTING SPRAY to lock it all in.
STEP 3 – EYES
These days, I have my brow routine pretty much on lock. I would fill them in with the RARE BEAUTY BROW HARMONY PRECISION PENCIL in COOL BROWN. And then set them with the RARE BEAUTY BROW HARMONY FLEXIBLE LIFTING GEL. This duo will have my brows looking good all day long.
But here is the most important part, the eyes themselves. And I had a ton of choices to pick from as far as which palette to go with. But in the end, I went with the MAKEUP BY MARIO MASTER MATTES NEUTRAL EYESHADOW PALETTE to build the framework of the eyes. I used the Tower 28 concealer to prime my base and then set that with the shade MN1. I lightly buffed MN3 and MN4 into my crease. To deepen, I used shade MN6 in the inner corner and under the lash line.
Because it’s me and I love a little sparkle, I used the URBAN DECAY 24/7 MOONDUST EYESHADOW in SPACE COWBOY lightly all over the lid. To smoke things out a little more, I popped some of the MAKEUP FOREVER ARTIST COLOR PENCIL in ENDLESS CACAO in the outer third of my lower lashline. To highlight the inner corner, I popped in some of the RARE BEAUTY ALL OF THE ABOVE WEIGHTLESS EYESHADOW STICK in WELL-BEING. Finally, I coated my eyelashes in the TOWER 28 MAKE WAVES MASCARA in DRIFT.
STEP 4 – CHEEKS
I went very light on with the cheek products the first time around. So I definitely made up for that here. I lightly contoured my face with the WESTMAN ATELIER FACE TRACE CONTOUR STICK in BISCUIT. I then tapped on some of the TOWER 28 BEACH PLEASE BLUSH BALM in MAGIC HOUR on the apples of my cheeks.
After I set everything down, I bronzed my face with the HAUS LABS POWER SCULPT VELVET BRONZER in LIGHT 4 (which was discontinued but is now back!). And because I couldn’t resist, I hit the high points of my cheeks with a little bit of the TRIXIE COSMETICS BLUSH in TOTAL BETTY.
STEP 5 – LIPS
I knew I wanted a pretty glossy lip this time. So, I went with a combo that I have been adoring at the moment. I prepped my lips with the MAC PREP + PRIME LIP to ensure that my lips were smooth and ready to go. I lined them with the MAYBELLINE LIFTER LINER in LINE LEADER to get some shape and definition. I then used the FENTY BEAUTY GLOSS BOMB STICK in FENTY GLOW as my lipstick. Finally, I dotted on a little bit of the TOWER 28 SHINE ON LIP JELLY in ICED PISTACHIO to add some more gloss and shimmer to the lip.
STEP 6 – FINAL TOUCHES
On my wedding day, I wore Replica’s Springtime In A Park as my fragrance. A perfume that had significance at the time, but I’m yet to repurchase as it isn’t really my taste anymore. If I were to do my wedding prep all over again, I definitely would pick KAYALI THE WEDDING SILK SANTAL as my fragrance for the day. Is it a predictable choice? Probably. But it is very me. Fruity, vanilla, a little sandalwood, light florals. Mona really did make the perfect wedding day fragrance.
And those are the steps that I took! Here is the finished look.
And that’s a wrap on my updated wedding makeup. If you would like to go for a walk down memory lane wth me, my original wedding day post can be found here (and no, sadly I never did do the updated celebration. But I did go on my honeymoon last year). Because this post is going up early, there will be no Friday post. So, I’ll see you all next week.
Cheers and love
Emily xo