WEDDING SERIES: BRIDAL BEAUTY

In honor of our first wedding anniversary this month, I decided to start a mini wedding series. In my first post, I'll be discussing my hair and makeup look for the big day. I'm a big believer in picking your battles in wedding planning, and this was an aspect that was super important to me. Once our wedding day rolled around, I felt at ease knowing I was in the best of hands (literally).

I feel incredibly lucky that my makeup artist was the legendary Nam Vo (you might recognize her as the lead artist for Shiseido, Net-A-Porter and Birchbox—clearly she's way too cool for bridal makeup, but somehow I convinced her to make an exception). For the wedding day, Nam used Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation and contoured with the Kat Von D Contour Palette. To highlight, she applied theBalm Mary-Loumanizer to my cheeks and brow bones. We decided on a soft, golden smokey eye starring Jouer Long-Wear Mousse Eyeshadow in Galaxy, adding a darker brown shadow at the crease and lining my bottom lid, along with some serious lashes.

For my lips, we settled on my go-to soft pink lip liner and lipstick: Mac Soar and Syrup, topped with gloss for some extra vavoom. To tie together the warm eye palette and pink lips, Nam applied a pink blush with gold undertones—I'm not positive on this one, but it was similar to Becca Mineral Blush in Flowerchild. A dusting of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette finished the look followed by a spritz of Tata Harper's Hydrating Floral Essence, which helped to calm my nerves as well (namaste). I was thrilled with the finished look and my makeup didn't budge, even through the afterparty that concluded at 3 AM.

As for my hair inspiration, who else would do besides the OG hair goddess, Blake Lively? Specifically, I looked to her sideswept, Old Hollywood look from the Savages premiere (it's worth a Google). I thought it matched the formality of my venue and dress, while still having a bit of edge--not too "bridal". Since my strand count is decidedly puny in comparison to Blake's, I visited Flatiron salon RPZL for clip-in extensions several months before the wedding. My amazing stylist, Dori, matched, blended and styled me perfectly and I instantly knew I wanted her by my side for the big day.

For my color, I went to the one and only Mark Heiner, owner of Slate Salon—he's the go-to color genius for iconic blondes such as Candice Swanepoel and Sarah Jessica Parker. Since Mark had been my colorist previously, I had the added bonus that he was already familiar with my (exasperatingly fragile, baby fine) hair. Several days prior to our wedding day, Mark painted a full head of buttery blonde highlights, which blended seamlessly with my natural color while adding lots of brightness. The color had that extra pizzazz I wanted for my wedding day, but wasn't markedly lighter than the highlights I get the rest of the year. The result: me, only better! What else could a blushing bride want?