May 28 2019
This month's guest blogger is the wonderful Clare McKinney of Clare McKinney Make-Up and Beauty - an award winning salon based in Lisburn, Co. Down. We chatted to Clare about her advice for brides in the run-up to their big day, prepping their skin, and what to expect on the morning of the wedding!
'We love building a relationship with the bride and her family in the run up to the big day, doing makeup trials and any other beauty treatments in the salon, then seeing everyone all transformed on the morning of the wedding. Houses with a great buzz and excitement on the morning are always so much fun and never feel like work to us!!! We always recommend a trial for the bride before the wedding so that we can run through ideas, get to know each other and discuss all the timings for the morning, so there is no stress on the day. Each makeup takes approx 45mins to an hour to do, with extra time left at the end for lip touch ups before everyone gets into their dresses, the morning of the wedding always flies in and all of a sudden everyone is wondering where all that time we had has disappeared to!
Some brides leave booking a makeup artist until last minute, but we recommend booking asap when you know the date of your wedding, we have some brides booking in a year or so in advance and it's never nice to have to turn someone away when our diary is already full for their day. In the salon we all love gorgeous dewy highlighted skin, a nice soft smokey eye to add some definition and a glossy lip whether it's a pop of colour or a more natural nude, makeup that makes the bride feel like herself but more enhanced and glowing from within. We find makeup trends come and go but bridal makeup is always a staple perfected look, with a bit of the brides personality and individuality coming through with tailored looks. Obviously it is important that the bridal party's makeup stays put all day long, so layering the makeup, starting with creams and liquids and then set it all with powders keeps it in place the entire day. The only thing you need to worry about then is having a top up of lipstick in your bag and a powder compact just in case you need to pat down your t-zone, give these to your maid of honour as one of her jobs for the day.
Skincare on the lead up to the wedding is very important, a good skincare routine at home should consist of cleansing, treating the skin during the day with a serum and protecting your skin with an SPF (everyday!!) Then at night remove makeup, cleanse the skin and treating with a serum and night cream. Alongside a good skin care routine we recommend facials every 4-6 weeks. We have had amazing results with our most popular brand in the salon, 'Image' with their facials and peel treatments and with our newest anti ageing treatment Yonka meso needling, fab for brides and mother-of-the-brides. We offer a full range of treatments in the salon to completely pamper brides and their bridal parties and we look forward to seeing more of you in the lead up to your wedding!!'
A huge thank you to Clare McKinney, Clare McKinney Make-Up & Beauty for this month's guest blog!
Clare is one of the fabulous wedding suppliers involved with our recently launched supplier offers partnership - exclusive to Larchfield Estate couples
Find out more about Clare McKinney Make-Up & Beauty
*Images provided by Clare McKinney
