Loverly and My Makeup Issues - Retro Glamour Wedding Day Dress and Makeup Idea

 

 

I have something a bit different for all of you today. I was recently approached by Loverly and asked to do a collaboration with them on my makeup ideas for one of the wedding dresses that they have featured on their website. Loverly is a website dedicated to all things bridal and wedding related. It's basically a bride's playground! On Loverly's site, you can answer a few quick questions to help narrow down the type of dress that you are looking for and they provide huge selection of dresses to look through once you have narrowed things down.

 

For those of you who are getting married or are dreaming of your big day, I have put together my makeup picks for this dress. What I have in mind is for someone who is not afraid of makeup or looking glamorous! Personally, I love retro, classic, bold makeup and I don't think you have to look sweet and demure on your wedding day unless you want to! I didn't on my big day. For those of you who normally wear makeup and aren't afraid of it, I doubt you want to go with a neutral wash of colour when you walk down the aisle.

 

Loverly has thousands of wedding dresses you can look through! I saw this particular dress on their website and decided I wanted to dream up what I would wear for makeup if I walked down the aisle in this dress. This dress is by Maggie Sottero and the style is Malaya. I love the shine of this dress and the embellished Swarovski crystal belt. It's an A line ivory satin dress that reminds me of old, romantic Hollywood movies. The dress inspired me to pair it with a retro 1940's makeup look. The gorgeous Swarovski belt, scoop neckline and pockets are so old Hollywood, so chic!

 

In this day and age, not everyone chooses a straight up white dress as was popular in the last couple of decades and not everyone looks best in white. An ivory dress gives you elegance and still the look of bride without being stark white if that isn't your thing. In fact, it was quite the norm not that long ago that few brides wore a snow white dress or suit on their big day. In my mind, I can totally see a redhead rocking this dress and the makeup look that I have put together. That being said, a blond or brunette could easily pull off this look too. As a brunette myself, I know this look would work on me no problem.

 

I choose this dress because it is classy and very sophisticated. The satin is so timeless and beautiful. I wanted to choose a dress that wasn't overly embellished nor princess-like so that I could have fun with the makeup. This is a statement dress. It's elegant, bold, but not fussy or overdone. This dress is not for the faint of heart. A confident woman who knows what she likes will be drawn to this dress.

 

On to the makeup!

 

Although I like classic, bold retro makeup, this is your wedding day and you want to get some good pictures. So put away your disco ball glitter items and break out your tried and true timeless gems.

 

 

FACE

 

 

 

For the face, regardless of what wedding dress you choose, you need a few basics. I cannot stress enough how much I like the Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation. It stays in place all day and looks good in photos. I think a primer would also be a good idea and my primer of choice would be the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer in Radiance. It gives you a nice little glow all over and helps lock on your foundation. If you choose to do a contour or bronzer, don't go crazy, go with a matte one. A little can go a long way to help shape and contour your face. I like the Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder in Golden Light 1 for light to medium skin tones.

 

For this dress, and as a solid go to combo in general for weddings, I would choose Makeup Geek's blush in Bliss along with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light for a highlight. Neither are too shimmery (so they are camera ready) but you will get a nice healthy glow with them.

 

 

EYES

 

For the eyes (my favourite part) I would keep it neutral, but not boring. Start with a good eye shadow primer like NARS Smudge Proof Eye Shadow Base and apply MAC's Painterly Paint Pot on top of it. I would apply MAC's Naked Lunch to the lids, then MAC's Soba in the crease for some glamour and MAC's Espresso in the outer corner and lightly smudged under the lower lash line. I would use MAC's Folie inside of the Espresso and make an outer "v" shape. To complete the eye look, I would use Mylar for the brow highlight and blend out the crease with MAC's Soft Brown. You can't go wrong with MAC eye shadows for your wedding day.

I would then line the waterline with a flesh coloured pencil to help make the eyes look bigger. Most women are not blessed with huge eyes, like myself, so every trick in the book should be used to enhance your features on your big day! I suggest Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal in Nude. This look would be best topped off with some black gel liner on the upper lash line with a little wing. My choice would be Clinique's Brush-On Cream Liner in True Black. It lasts all day, is easy to apply and looks like a million bucks. Don't forget the waterproof or smudge-proof mascara and of course, false lashes. I like Ardell's Demi Lovies or something fluttery, but nothing over the top, they should look somewhat realistic.

LIPS

 

If you are going to do a retro glamour look, you need bold lips. One of my favourite red lipsticks is an old Elizabeth Arden one called Lush Red. They don't make it anymore sadly. The closest thing would be Elizabeth Arden's Power Red, Red to Wear or Red Door Red depending on your orange red or blue red leanings. I have always loved Elizabeth Arden's lipstick formulas as they don't tend to bleed, stay put, are very comfortable and last a really long time. I would use MAC's Cherry lip pencil with your red lipstick and fill in your lips with it before you apply the lipstick. Finally, depending on your preference, I would consider adding a touch of a neutral or nude lip gloss just to tone down the brightness of the red for photographs. You still want the lips to look matte so just a touch!

Nude, boring wedding day lips be damned!

 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! It was a bit out of the norm for me, but it sure was a lot of fun! Check out Loverly at www.lover.ly for lots of wedding inspiration!