Best Wedding Makeup Ever: LORAC

I was reading a post over at My Style-Ish Destination Wedding about wedding make-up, and it reminded me that I still haven't reviewed my wedding make-up for you guys. I'm here to share my suggestion for the best wedding make-up ever (or best beach wedding make-up or best special occasion make-up) to give you that special glow on your special day.

So here's my personal experience with what I consider the best wedding makeup...from the top:
You know me, let's start from the beginning. Personally, I've practically grown up on Bobbi Brown, and I've really loved MAC for a long time, but I wanted to see what my other options were available for my wedding make-up, so I went to Sephora for a consultation. I actually went with a girlfriend to try out Bare Escentuals because I wanted to get something for both every day (to even out my skin tone) and for my wedding day (to make me look fabulous) and I'd been hearing such great things about BE that when the make-up artist, Z, asked what we were there for, we said, "A BE consultation."  

Why you should not use BE on your wedding day (or any day involving lots of photos):
After a quick face wash and yada yada, Z started applying the BE make-up. I must admit, it was quite relaxing (if you've ever had a BE make-over, you know what I'm talking about - all that brush-swirling), and the make-up was going on really well. I was starting to fall in love...at least I was until Z asked if I was getting the make-up for anything special. I explained I was looking for wedding make up for my destination beach wedding in May and she told me quite seriously that BE was not the way to go for wedding make up. In fact, she said BE was great make-up, but not good for photos. Apparently, there's something in the minerals that causes a reflection with the flash from cameras making you look washed out in your photos...or like there's a strange halo/glow around your face. Are there any make-up experts out there who can confirm this? Just curious. Either way, her explanation was enough for me to decide to put BE on the back burner...possibly for a future purchase.

Why you should use LORAC on your wedding day (or any day involving lots of photos):
Anywho, Z went on to explain that the best make-up for a special occasion is a brand, LORAC, which was designed especially for red carpet use. According to Z, the make-up was created to give you a gorgeous red-carpet worthy glow making you look radiant in photos. She recommended (and I ended up buying and using on my wedding day) for my combination skin (yea, not ALL the products were by LORAC) the following:


Stila - Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 - $32
This was the base coat.  I just got a sample of this to take to the wedding. I'm picky on moisturizers and prefer to test drive them for a bit to make sure they don't break me out. Not to mention, as you will see, this make-up isn't cheap! I couldn't get it all at one time anyways. I'll go back for this if the test drive goes well.


LORAC - Breakthrough Performance Foundation - $38
Great foundation with anti-aging formula and SPF 14 - how clever?!


LORAC - Oil-Free Wet/Dry Powder Makeup - $35
A little extra coverage - comes with its own sponge, too!


LORAC - Blush/Bronzer Duo - $28.50 (I used "Hot Flash")
Apply bronzer in a '3' pattern - dust a big brush through the bronzer side of the duo, tap off the excess, and draw a '3' over one side of your face by running the brush from just outside the middle of your forehead (slightly closer to your hairline) down the outside of your eye, onto your cheek, and back across your cheek, towards the top of your jaw and following down the top of your jawline. If you look in the mirror while you do this, it looks like you're drawing a '3' on one side of your face...get it? Run the brush gently back and forth repeating the same '3' lines to highlight your face. Repeat with other side of face. A makeup consultant could probably give you a better description, but at least you have mine as a baseline.

Once I had my face on, Z did my eyes up with some really great, semi-natural looking make-up that was really simple, but really chic, too!


Urban Decay - Eyeshadow Primer Potion - $16
Apply a dab of this to your lid and spread all over lid with your finger tip.  This primer acts as a base for your eye makeup.  I highly recommend this for anyone who wears eye makeup ever. This stuff is great...genius, even! Go get some...now...seriously. It's strong enough to help your eye makeup stay smudge-free all day...all wedding-day even!


LORAC - Croc Palette - $35
I highly recommend this palette, too. The 4 eyeshadows in here are beautiful and really make your eyes P-O-P without looking too done-up. The chic metallics in this set look really cool for the beach (or a beach wedding) or even for every day. At least, I wore this on my wedding day...and I wear it almost every day to work now...I love it! The palette has all the colors you need: a base, a highlight, and a darker color for those who like a darker color in their crease.


MAKE UP FOR EVER - Aqua Eyes - $16
Great & simple eye liner here. Goes on smoothly - easy to sharpen (tip doesn't break easily).


Shu Uemura - Eyelash Curler - $19


The Smokey Eye Kit ($71 Value) - $42
All the brushes you need to get your eyes looking perfect for your special day. A wide brush for your base color, a medium brush for your lid and highlighting, and a round brush for getting your crease looking beautifully-blended.


Anastasia - Brow Wiz - $18
Simple-little brow filler. It's the little things sometimes...


Anastasia - Brow Fix - $19
A great wax you can draw on your brows to help keep their in order


Clinique - Colour Surge Lipstick - $14
I normally don't like lipstick, but it does tend to stick longer than a gloss would, so I put this in "Extreme Pink" under some almost-clear gloss.

Wow - as someone who typically doesn't wear a lot of make-up on an every day basis, I kinda can't believe I wore all these products on my wedding day, but they were all perfect and helped make my special day all the more special.

NOTE: all images by sephora.com

Rehearsal Dinner Dress - a la Bahamas

So, the coolest thing happened when I finally picked out my rehearsal dinner dress...I'll start from the beginning to tell you all about it...

I went shopping with one of my bridesmaids to find the perfect rehearsal dinner dress, and we looked EVERYWHERE! It was sooo much harder to find the right one than I expected it to be. Perhaps I was just being extra picky...I dunno, but it just was. Anywho, I fiiiinally found a dress I loved at Neiman's - a white and yellow ombre dress with a big tie behind the neck. It was stunning and of course, it was like $350. Yikes! I wanted a nice dress since it was for such a special occasion but not $350-nice! Knowing there were only two of these dresses left, I regretfully put the dress back on the rack and waved goodbye, hoping I would forget about it.

I ended up going to Banana Republic a few weeks later and found a beautiful eggplant-colored, one shoulder, satin-y dress with a simple waist-tie that I thought just may be the perfect rehearsal dinner dress. The dress looked great on and was super comfortable and lightweight - exactly what I was looking for for my tropical event. Still, I couldn't stop thinking about the yellow ombre dress. I put the BR dress on hold and decided to think about it. On my way home, I decided to swing by Neiman's to try the yellow ombre dress on one more time to see if I really loved it that much more than the BR one.

When I got to Neiman's I went upstairs to find the rack where I had originally found the yellow ombre dress and as my heart sank, I realized it wasn't there. *sad face* I quickly asked the salesgirl if she remembered the dress and much to my hopes & fears, she told me it was on sale. I followed her as she went to the sale rack to see if it was still there and it was! But, wait...is it my size, I wondered, as nervous butterflies twittered around in my stomach. You'll never believe, but it was! Better yet, it was roughly 30% off - a much better fit for my budget. I knew it was meant to be.

Here she is:


See how the colors stand out so nicely:


This yellow & white ombre dress is by Alice & Olivia. I can't find the dress online, but you may have better luck w/ an in-store search. Since our rehearsal dinner was a beach bonfire, I paired my dress with simple metallic flip flops by J Crew.  Ahh...beautiful beach bliss.

Wedding Dress Shopping

Well, I did it, friends! I got my wedding dress this past weekend! Woohoo...that's a big relief for me...but, now I have other details to worry about...like whether to have a beach or church wedding.

Anywho, here's a sneak peek:

This isn't the actual dress I got...just one I tried on. I can't post a picture of the actual dress b/c my SO reads my blogs every once in awhile, and I want it to be a surprise.

Anywho, for any engaged ladies out there...this may sound obvious, but for the wedding-clueless like me, be sure you get your dress at least 6 months before your wedding. I didn't hear that one until recently and well under 6 months away from my wedding in May.

The only thing I was disappointed with in my shopping was that there weren't more non-sleeveless options. I really wanted to get something that wasn't sleeveless, but it seems like hardly anyone makes non-sleeveless options anymore. What's up with that? You hear me wedding people? Make some more non-sleeveless dresses...give us some more options...pretty please? :)

Shopping For Rehearsal Dinner Dresses

There's something about weddings that makes you want to just throw all forms of budget out the window. Especially when you are browing the Neiman Marcus resort catalog, start thinking about Rehearsal Dinner dress shopping, and stumble upon such fabulousness as this:

Catherine Malandrino Sambala Dress


Yoana Baraschi Silk Petal-Collar Dress


David Meister Twisted-Waist Jersey Dress

I could always work the "beach-theme" and do a casual-chic dress code and sport this hauteness:

Diane von Furstenberg Jersey Patio Dress

Did I mention I'm having a destination wedding in the Bahamas, making these resort dresses even more perfect? Need I say more or shall I let my Neiman's card do the talking? lol. Juuuuust kidding. I'm trying to pay off credit cards, not run them up. There iiissss always my bonus, though. Hmmm...what to buy? What do you think ladies? What should I get for my rehearsal dinner dress? Should I splurge here? Maybe I should save my splurge money for some nice shoes instead? Although, a dress will be much more wearable...I'll probably be rocking flip flops for shoes.

NOTE: Images/items neimanmarcus.com

Awesome Aqua Dress

Wow, I think I'm in love with this awesome aqua dress:

Macys.com - London Times Ruched-Waist Halter Dress - $139.00

I love how pretty and flowy this dress is and how the ruched band around the waist breaks up the vertical fluidity just a tad, adding personality to the dress without the addition of another color...not to mention I just love turquoise, in general. This dress would make a great daytime or nighttime date dress - just switch out your accessories for the time of day. This dress would also work well as a wedding dress (for a guest, not the bride, of course) - especially for a fun summer wedding.

Add some dangly earrings and call it a day! Pair with silver strappy shoes to create an overall posh look.