How To Work With Your Makeup Artist To Create Your Dream Wedding Look

Working with your makeup artist on your wedding day is a team effort, which means both of you need to come to the table with ideas about what you want and envision for your wedding-day look. A makeup pro's job is to understand and recognize what best suits certain facial features, facial shapes and skin tone of their client’s face. With this in mind, it can sometimes be difficult for us to execute what we think works best, as it might not be the look you see for yourself. This is where communication is key between client and artist! It’s integral for creating a look you want and one your artist knows will look amazing on you.

The first step towards getting on the same page is finding inspiration you love and bringing all those pics with you to your makeup trial. As you go through these with your makeup artist, you can both discuss what you love and why it may or may not work to best highlight your features. I have had the experience many times as an artist of a client showing me a look they love which is not at all a fit with their skin tone, best features or even their style vibe. Things like lip colour, eye shadows and liner types are easy to accommodate, but when you get into skin base, contour, blush or brows, this is where things get tricky!

Work with your artist to find a look perfect for you—a pro will look at your face in a different way than you do. They will see a beautiful blank canvas and be excited to create something gorgeous on it. Typically, your look should be inspired by your everyday you, but amplified and glammed up! An important thing for you both to discuss when it comes to creating the perfect wedding look is what you don’t like. Tell you artist what to steer clear of—that encompasses anything from eye shadow textures to liner placement, skin finish, foundation type, and so on. This will help your artist understand what you love, what you are looking for with your wedding makeup and ensure you both work together seamlessly to create a beautiful, bridalized you!

Nikki Strachan has been working at a professional makeup artist for over 14 years and is currently the key makeup artist for Your Morning, The Social and an instructor at Toronto’s George Brown College with a focus on bridal makeup. She has beautified numerous celebrities and brides and loves to bring a trend-focused eye to all her clients’ beauty looks.