The fabulous Jen Opkea is back!  You may remember her from the Brow 101 article she wrote for us a while back.  This time Jen shares her tips for achieving your best wedding look.

The “I Dos” of Wedding Make-Up

So, you want to look like the most beautiful version of yourself when heading down the wedding aisle, right? Here are some tips on what to do from the neck up to prep for your big day.

Build a Portfolio. Start collecting magazine pages of make-up looks that appeal to you.   This will help you identify your style and give your artist a vision of how you want to look on your wedding day.

Keep it Timeless. Your wedding day is not the occasion for you to rock a make-up trend. You would hate to look back at your photos and wonder: “what was I thinking?” Nothing about your hair or make-up should be distracting.

Go for balance. If you like a smoky eye, make sure it’s superbly blended and off-set with pretty cheeks and a softer pink or peach lip. If a bold lip is your thing, minimize the eyes with soft shadow and cake eye liner at the roots of the upper lashes.  Balance is critical since you do not want any feature to “disappear” in a photo. If using bronzer, go for sun-kissed, not dirty. Hit the high points of the face (forehead, cheekbones, bridge of nose, chin) more intensely for a more naturally tanned look. Remember to apply color to the neck since it is typically an area that is lighter than your face and your chest. Lastly, avoid any pigments that are too sparkly or shimmery. You will end up looking like a disco-ball in pictures. Instead, go for “glow”-cream cheek color layered with powder blush creates a beautiful flush for the cheeks. Sweep some colorless illuminating powder along the cheekbone and down the bridge of the nose and-voila!-you have that “look” of glow you see on every celeb in the magazines.

Don’t forget the brows! Eyebrows are a significant and most-oft overlooked area of the face. Go to a professional brow specialist (see my article on “Brows 101”) sooner than later to make sure that your eyebrows are in top form for your wedding. I prefer tweezing to waxing any day of the week but if you must get waxed, DO NOT do it the week of your wedding. The last thing you need is scabbed lids on your big in the event of a mishap.

Love the skin you’re in. Go to an esthetician who will assess your skin condition and prescribe the necessary products to improve your skin texture and skin health. Be diligent about following your daily skincare regime and consider getting a peel (clinical facial) a month prior to your wedding for an added boost. The sooner you get started on skincare maintenance, the better. The last thing you ever want to do is try something radically new-procedure or product- too soon to the wedding. You do not want to be suffering or having any sort of adverse reaction on your big day.

Plan Ahead. Start shopping for hair and make-up artists well in advance (6 months) since good ones book up fairly quickly depending on the time of year. Make sure that you book a trial with each one as an “audition” and be certain to articulate what you want to look and feel like on your wedding day (bring your photos). A professional stylist should be able to execute the look you want and, if necessary, make any modifications so as to best accentuate your features.  Wear the make-up for a day to see how you feel and take a picture to get a “loose” idea of how the make-up will photograph (keep in mind, there is a big difference between amateur and professional photographs). Most importantly, trust your gut. If you feel that, after the trial, the make-up or hair-style is wearing you it’s time to try someone else. Remember, this day is about you and how YOU want to look and feel not your stylist.

SMILE! A beautiful smile is your best accessory and will instantly make you feel like a million bucks!

Jen Opkea is the Lead Makeup Artist at Sarra Beauty Studio (840 Summer Street, Boston, 617.269.8999) where she offers make-up lessons, make-up applications and precision brow shaping by appointment.  She has perfected her craft while working with the top industry professionals including Laura Mercier, Trish McEvoy, Jillian Dempsey and Jeannine Lobell.  For on-location jobs such as weddings and photo shoots please email: jennopeka@gmail.com with your inquires.

The name Strawberry Road is an amalgam.  It’s a blending of Abbey Road and Strawberry Fields.  Pretty simple, but it means a lot to us.  We don’t know the etymology of how a storied racehorse from Australia got the same name, but we were thrilled at the potential of the cross-branding of our work with the successes of this equine wunderkind!

When the first google alert for ‘Strawberry Road’ revealed the existence of this fabulous horse, we immediately booked a flight (Qantas of course) for Australia to meet with the horse’s owner.

We jetted out to LAX to pick up our Qantas connection.  We got on the luxurious 747 and strapped in for the umpteen hour flight over the pacific.  Somewhere between Hawaii and Australia, our plane crashed into an island.  There was a whole cast of characters on the plane with us and a bunch already on the island:

Ben

This dude was crazy on nerd power.  Jennie and I could tell he spent many-a-day jammed in a locker in grade school.  He was shooting people, telling everybody what to do (although we suspect he really didn’t know much of anything).  He was like a hall monitor drunk on power.  Strangely, he claimed to have been on the island long before we crashed… and he wasn’t even tan.

Then there was this guy Dan:

Daniel Faraday

He was a nice enough guy but really flighty.  Every time I saw him I’d say, ‘Loved ya in Saving Private Ryan!’  He’d flip out and get in my face yelling, ‘I don’t even know what that is, I’m from the past!’ or some nonsense.  Whatever dude.

Everybody was constantly trying to get off the island.  It was like Gilligan’s Island with guns.  Jennie and I found a nice little Motel 6 type place about a quarter mile down the beach.  Her room was ocean side near the ice machine while mine was poolside but a little bigger.  The trade off was fine by me as this allowed me to sleep in and she could enjoy the sunrise.

Every morning this guy Hurley would drive down in a VW micro bus and raid the continental breakfast.

Hurley

Heck of a nice guy and just sweet as can be.  He occasionally gave us rides if we needed and in return we would give him an assortment of hostess products.

Every once in awhile Jennie and I would venture up the beach to see all the folks from the crash and the ‘others.’  Nice enough group to hang out with but after awhile the drama would get to be too much and we’d head back to the private beach at the hotel.

Speaking of drama, there were also these two:

Jack and Kate

It’s like high school with these two!  Fighting and kissing, on again, off again, we just washed our hands of them by the end of third day or so.

So with Lord of the Flies still playing out on the other side of the island, Jennie and I were please to receive free tickets from Quantas and a flight that left at a reasonable hour.  I think had the other folks on the island known it was this easy to leave they would have.  However seeing as they all seem to be a bunch of raging co-dependents they’re probably happier there.

Upon landing in Australia Jennie and I made our trek over to the farm of the magnificent Strawberry Road.  When we arrived at the stable a delightful young woman took us on a tour of the premises while she gently explained to us that Strawberry Road the horse, had passed away some years ago.  Jennie and I looked at each other and after the moment of shock had worn off, we realized that something had happened to the time space continuum.  Our opportunity for cross branding had passed.  At the same time, in the same whispered tone, we both uttered, “the island…”