How to do bridal makeup – A step by step guide

You said Yes

He’s over the moon

You can’t contain your happiness…

The one thing you’ve got to do now is plan this wedding together!

And when you start working on planning a wedding you realize that everything adds up to that one day. The one day that needs to be your dream come true. 

That one day is the first thing that a couple shares as their very own, with neither having bigger ownership is the wedding day. And while a lot goes into the planning of the day, the added burden of turning out to be the best version of you lays heavy on the bride and the groom.

 The bride taking the larger part of this burden (sic).So starts the bride’s search for her perfect look, her perfect dress and her perfect make up- whether she chooses HD Make up or Air Brush Make Up amongst others.

A large onus of responsibility falls in the hands of the Makeup artist that a bride chooses for her wedding day. As a make up artist, ensuring that the bridal make up is the one thing that the bride does not need to worry about is your responsibility. Happy brides are the prettiest is what every Make Up artist believes and follows. 

After making the bride comfortable, the multiple hours long make up process starts. The whole process can be divided into 15-20 steps that are as follows:

Step 1:

Creating a Relaxing Environment on a stressful day

The first thing is to give the bride a comfortable place where she can sit and relax without worrying about straining her neck and back.

Step 2:

Skin Prep- Cleaning

As you start the Bridal Make up, first clean the skin with utmost care using Cleansing milk on a cotton ball. Ensure a gentle hand but firm cleaning to get rid of any deposits.

Product used- Face Wash / Cleansing Milk

Step 3:

Skin Prep-Toning

Determine the Skin type of the bride, according to it being Oily, Dry, combination or Normal.

For brides who have oily skin use a toner 

For brides who have ultra dry skin use a sheet mask

Product used- Toner/ Sheet Mask

Step 4:

Step four largely depends on the choice of the Makeup artists whether they want to begin with the eyes or the skin base, here the steps are defined with Eyes first.

EYES -Eye brows

According to the anatomy of the eye for basic make up purpose- the eye is divided into 6 parts, the upper and lower lash lines, the inner corner of the eye lid and the outer corner of the eye lid and the crease and the eye brows.

Eye brow filling- After cleaning any stray eyebrow hair with a thread or an eye brow plucker, the Makeup artist moves on to fill the eye brows according to the shape and the shade of the bride’s brows enduring to enhance the eye brows enough that they look resplendent without making them look made up.

Product used- Eye brow pencil, eye brow palette and Eye brow filler.

Step 5-

EYES-Eye Shadow

Eye Shadow- This step is where the bridal Make up look starts taking shape. The eyes are prepped with a base and if need be a little bit of cream foundation is used to smoothen the eye canvas.  Next eye shadows are applied based on the makeup look chosen- eye makeup looks can be of various types- from cut crease eye make up to Bengali or muslim bride eye makeup.  The eye shadow goes on the eye lid.

Product used- Palette of Shimmery and matte pigments 

Step 6-

EYES- Liner, Mascara, Kajal

The Eye Liner and mascara is applied to give drama and attention to the eye, the liner goes on the upper lash line depending on the look chosen it may be thick, thin, tailed, etc. The mascara goes on both the upper and lower lash line to enhance the lashes. The kajal goes in the waterline adding to the drama of the eye and defining it further.

Product Used- Gel Liner, Volume defining Mascara, Water Proof Kajal 

Step 7-

SKIN- Priming

Now the Makeup artist moves to Skin by applying the primer, a thin layer of primer is blended into the face, neck and hands to apply makeup upon. Primer gives a better stay to the makeup.

Product used- Primer

Step 8-

SKIN- Colour Correcting

The makeup artis uses a colour corrector depending on the pigmentation on the face of the bride. The basic shades are Orange, peach and green.

Product used- Colour Corrector

Step 9-

SKIN- Concealing

Concealer is used to neutralize the effect of the colour corrector and according to the skin tone of the bride. This helps in hiding and scars and spots.

Product used- Concealer

Step 10-

Skin- Base

The skin base is completed by applying the Foundation according to the skin tone. The Makeup artist has to be very careful that the foundation chosen does justice to the bride and sets up a natural glow to her face. 

Product used- Foundation palette or cream foundation

Step 11-

Skin- Highlighting and Enhancing

The first highlight is used under the eye and on T area namely the forehead, the nose bridge and the chin which is a tone lighter than the skin of the bride.

Product used- Highlighter

Step 12-

Skin- Baking

The next step is to do baking of the under eye are by using a yellow tinted loose powder called banana powder. This helps in hiding the under eye dark circles or puffiness and eye bags.

Product used- Banana Powder

Step 13-

Skin-Contouring

The final few steps in bridal make up begin with face contouring, the contouring is done to enhance the flattering features and give a silhouette of sharpness to the features that are blunt or puffy. 

Product used- Contour palette

Step 14-

Skin- Shimmer Highlights

The highlighter used at this step is the last step to give a fresh and dewy look to the bride. For fair brides a silver highlighter is used and for whitish and dusky tones- copper / gold powder is applied.

Step 15-

Lips-Lip liner and Lipstick

Lipstick application is the one step that everyone expects and knows will give the finished look to the bride. The makeup artist designs the lips and uses the lipstick to fill in according to the trend and dress of the bride.

Product used- Lipstick, Lip liner, lip palette

Step 16- 

Finish- Compact/ Loose Powder

After lipstick application, the makeup artist dusts the face of the bride with compact or loose powder so that the makeup is set and stays glued to the face

Product used- Compact powder, loose powder

Step 17-

Finish -Setting Spray

The last step in finishing the bridal look is to use the setting spray so that the makeup lasts through the course of the function and incidences of crying should the bride get emotional.

Step 18-

Draping, Photo shoot and Good bye

After the Makeup is done, the makeup artist helps drape the bride’s attire and may also help in setting and getting her photo shoot done. Once that is sorted it is a good bye to a lifelong memory from the bride of having had a brilliant experience with a wonderful makeup artist.