Picking The Right Makeup Artist For Your Wedding
Pop quiz, hotshot: name every type of wedding professional that you can think of.
Time’s up. You probably said things like DJ, caterer, florist, maybe venue coordinator.
Did you say makeup artist? If not, I’m not surprised. For some reason, that’s something that gets overlooked on the big day, with many brides choosing to do it themselves or have their beloved aunt do it.
But that’s foolhardy. Not to impugn your makeup skills, but this is the biggest day of your life and the one where it is most important to look beautiful. Your face is the capital of your beauty. Why not have a professional do you up right?
As professionals go, they don’t get better than Michelle Miralles Davis of Sparkle Makeup Artistry. Based in Virginia, she’s done weddings all over North America, including the United States, Mexico, and her native Guatemala. She’s in demand because she’s the best.
She recently sat down with me, Eric Herod, of Wedding Pros TV to give us the skinny on how to pick a makeup artist for your wedding. Here are a few excerpts.
1 || Find A Makeup Artist Passionate About What They Do.
Miralles Davis is so passionate about her craft that when I asked her what she would be doing professionally if she wasn’t a makeup artist, she had no answer.
And WHY does she do it? It’s not just because she loves makeup. It’s because her “favorite part is when I hand my client the mirror and I just see their reaction, that’s why I do it. That’s the magic.”
That level of passion, and wanting to make a real difference to their clients, is what you want.
2 || Find A Makeup Artist Who Is Thorough In Getting To Understand You And Your Skin.
“I will send them a pretty lengthy form for them to fill beforehand,” says Miralles Davis. “They will fill out their skin type, how stressed they are, how much water they’re drinking, if they’re exercising, if they’re concerned with anything skincare related.”
If your potential makeup artist is NOT asking you these questions, run the other way. The specific beauty of Miralles Davis’s approach, however, is in that word “beforehand.” Since she gets to the bottom of her clients before they get in her chair, the process itself is straightforward and as stress-free as can be.
3 || Find A Makeup Artist That Fits Your Style.
You may think that makeup artists all have the same skillset and styles, but that’s a misconception; each makeup artist has their own unique, signature talents, so it’s important to find the one that best suits your makeup tastes.
As Miralles Davis puts it, “If you compare Picasso with Van Gogh, there are no similarities there. So you need to look at their portfolios very closely. Look at the pictures. See if it’s a style that you like.”
4 || Find A Makeup Artist That Understands The Importance of Cleanliness.
Cleanliness is not just next to Godliness. It’s also next to Not Breaking Out In Hives On Your Big Day
“Ask (potential makeup artists) how comfortable are they with skin care,” says Miralles Davis.
“If you have allergies, you don’t want something causing an allergy to you or your bridesmaids on the day of your wedding. Sanitation is a huge one that I see people tend to forget. How do you sanitize your makeup? How do make sure I’m not going to get pinkeye if the person before me had it?”
5 || Find A Makeup Artist Who Understands How Your Life Habits Impact Your Skin.
If you can’t find that, don’t worry. Miralles Davis has some questions you can ask yourself to get you on a path to better skin. Hint: eat healthily, sleep well, drink lots of water, and avoid stress when possible.
“What are you doing, for the past year to six months? What are you eating? What are you drinking? How much are you drinking? How well are you sleeping? Is work causing you a lot of stress?
All these things are going to start to show on your skin without makeup, and the better your skin looks without makeup, the better it will look with makeup.”
Want more tips on how to make your wedding something the guests will talk about for years, sign up for your FREE copy of 3 Things You’re DJ won’t tell you about how to take your wedding from average to Legendary!
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