10-tips-bridal-hair-make-up-trial
Happy Wedding Wednesday! This morning I had a wedding dress fitting. I cannot believe we are 24 days away. LIKE WHAT!? Putting my dress on today with my accessories on really made it hit me. AHH! Rather than dresses, today we are chatting hair and make up! I had my trial back in May and have had a lot of time to reflect on what I learned along with what tips I read that actually helped.

On my wedding day two hair and make up artists will be getting myself, my girls and my mother-in-law ready for the big day! So I suppose the first thing to discuss is whether you even want to book a trial. Although I felt wasteful wasteful spending that much money on something I washed off and took a part soon after, but the peace of mine is 100% worth it to me. Not only did I meet my stylist, I got to iron out things before my wedding day. I can’t imagine the stress I would have the morning of if I didn’t have this trial session! I learned a lot from my trial in regards to make up – what products I want to use from my daily routine, what products I needed to hunt down, what styles didn’t work for me [ex: smokey eye] and how their products supplied worked with my skin. Same goes for hair – my stylist now knows my volume preferences, I figured out where my hair would fall so my hairdresser could place highlights and cut accordingly and I also got to see that my hairstyle would pair well with my earrings [this may sound weird, but with my earrings style, I feel like certain hair do’s may look odd].

Long story short, I highly suggest it for a piece of mind, but to also know that you’ll feel 100% like yourself, confident and STRESS FREE day of. With that, here are ten tips for your bridal hair and make up trial:

ONE // Draw inspiration from woman with similar characteristics as you.
One tip I read before while prepping for my appointment made me laugh, but also really resonated with me! One stylist said her biggest tip was to focus on finding inspiration from girls that have similar characteristics as you. For example, if you have olive skin and bring in a photo of a girl with very fair skin, you may actually just love her characteristics [i.e. her fair skin tone], rather than the actual make up. The same amy go for hairstyles. When you bring in a photo of a thin blonde hairstyle, you may just love her thin, blonde hair rather than the style you’re showing your stylist. It also may not be realistic if you have thick, textured hair. So with that, finding girls that had similar characteristics as me [very thick and long hair, brown hair with subtle highlight, medium skin, thick eyebrows, long lashes] helped me narrow in on not focusing on the girl in the photo’s beauty, but more so the work of the stylist. If I brought in a short blonde hair style with beautifully big green eyes, I may have been wrapped up in her unique characteristics and ultimately disappointed because I can’t achieve her looks since we don’t have similar traits!
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TWO // Bring photos of both hair and make up examples. 
Anytime in my life I have been unhappy with a salon visit, it’s been due to going off the stylist’s memory or me verbally walking through my wants rather than showing a picture. Some people are visual learners too! By bringing photos, with the first tip on this post noted, you’ll both be on the same page when you kick off your trial.

THREE // Be Prepped.
Make sure your skin is fully moisturized and that your hair is dry from yesterday’s washing without any products in it. Basically show up just as you would your wedding morning. Also avoid deep conditioning your hair the week before since this can make curls not hold. Making sure that your skin and hair are in prime condition for your session is important and will affect your end result!

FOUR // Do the trial in advance.
I personally wouldn’t wait until the week or even month before my wedding to do my trial. While I experienced many positives, like getting to know my stylist, having my trial four months in advance of my big day allowed me to have ample time to find product replacements.
For example, the lip product from my trial just didn’t feel like me. I hardly ever wear lipstick and I love lipgloss, but I didn’t want any old gloss. I wanted something that I could test a month in advance to make sure it was the right texture, color and didn’t get all over my teeth. I was able to do research and test products to find the perfect lippie.
Doing this in advance also allows you to sit on both the hairstyle and make up looks for a bit. Maybe it’s because I’m a girly girl, but having months of time to weigh out every make up products and test the routine out myself made me feel at ease.
Another reason to not wait until a month or week before is that your skin needs to have time to set with their products. If your stylist uses al MAC products and you don’t normally wear this brand, you could very easily experience a break out mid day! By having your trial in advance, you have time to heal with any adverse reactions and decide on a product replacement.
10-tips-bridal-hair-make-up-trial
FIVE // Don’t be afraid to replace products.
Like I noted above, you may have signature products that just feel like you. Or you may be a beauty guru and have products that you use everyday and love. While some everyday products can’t be used [ex: foundation with sunscreen causes a flash on your face], many you use already may work! I have a routine down that I love for my base [moisturizer, primer, foundation, concealer], so I’m actually choosing to apply this myself with my own products. Through my trial I loved my stylists work, I just realized that I apply my base every single day and know the products [that are camera approved] very well. So I am not only replacing the lip gloss, but I’ll be bringing and applying my own base as well. Do what feels most like you!

SIX // Don’t be afraid to nicely speak up.
I’m a very transparent, upfront person on just about everything in life, including when I’m at the salon. I know a lot of people don’t speak due to not wanting to hurt feelings or feel like they may cause confrontation. I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with nicely asking for some tweaks and being upfront with what you like.
For example, after my hair was complete, I asked for more volume. My stylist was super responsive and adjusted the hairstyle and even noted in my file to tease way more day-of [I belong in Texas #BigHairPlease].
Another example is that my eyeshadow was way much on me, which was actually my fault because I brought in a smokey eye thinking that’s what brides wear, right?! Yeah, not me. Not me at all. I never wear eye shadow, especially smokey eyes. Most eye shadows make me look way too overdone, so I politely noted that I’d rather have a natural base color and to remove dark smokey eye. She totally understood! Everything in life is about how you phrase things and your tone. If you’re nice, but direct she will appreciate it because you’ll be happy and in turn, she’ll be happy!

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SEVEN // Schedule the trial appointment for the morning.

Schedules get busy, especially if you’re planning your trial during peak wedding season, but don’t take a late day appointment. Try to work out a a morning appointment so that you can see how your make up wears and how your hair lasts throughout the day. At first my appointment was booked for 4PM and then I thought about how it’d be pitch black by the time we were done and then I’d go to bed. I then switched to an 11AM instead which was perfect!

EIGHT // Bring accessories.
For my trial I didn’t have my veil, but mine is pretty low maintenance so I’m confident we can quickly scoot that in my hair day-of with no problems. If you have a veil that may be more unique, try to bring it along with any hair accessories and jewelry. I did bring my earrings which was really helpful!
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NINE // Take photos and note the products.
Once your hair and make up are both complete, make sure that you and your stylist take photos. Since I did my trial four months before my wedding and there is no way either of us would remember what we liked and needed to tweak, we took a bunch of photos. This has allowed me to refer back to these pictures and see exactly where my hairstyles needed to place certain highlights and how to trim my face-framing angles too.

TEN // Talk timeline. 
If you’re getting married in peak wedding season, your stylist may take awhile to respond to back and forth emails. Your trial is a great time to chat timeline in person! I have eight of us getting ready, so we talked through when both stylists will arrive at my bridal suite and when we should be wrapped up.

I hope this post was helpful to all you bride-to-be’s! If you’ve already had your bridal hair and make up trial, I’d love to hear any of your tips below as well. Below you will find a lot of the products I’m wearing on our big day that I’ve been testing the last few weeks. I’m going to do a post about them all in depth soon as a beauty update because they’re SO GOOD. Xo Mindy

SHOP BEAUTY PRODUCTS
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in ‘Desert Beige’ I Marc Jacobs Eye Shadow Palette in ‘Glambition’ c/o I Becca Shimmering Skin Perfecter I Tarte Shape Tape in ‘Light Neutral’ I Tarte Bronze and Glow Brush I Tarte Amazon Clay 12 Hour Blush in ‘Paaarty’ I Tom Ford Lip Gloss in ‘Sahara Pink’ [here, here]

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Servello & Co. Interiors

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Hi there

I'm a Maine native residing in the Boston 'burbs sharing my love of interiors through decorating my husband and I's first home.

Through this experience, I discovered I have a knack for curating spaces that feel warm, cohesive and inviting. That passion turned into friends and family asking for interiors help and now we are here! 

Home should be a place you love to be. I'm here to help you achieve that!