We had such an amazing experience with SAY Makeup Artist! Elly was wonderful to work with from beginning to end. She was always kind, accommodating, and quick to respond to any questions throughout the wedding planning process.

On the wedding day, she brought such a positive and calming energy, making everyone feel comfortable and confident. Her hair and makeup work was absolutely beautiful, and all the girls looked stunning!

After having a disappointing experience with another makeup artist, finding Elly was truly a blessing. She made the entire process easy, enjoyable, and completely stress-free.

We couldn’t have been happier with our experience. We only wish we had found her sooner! Highly recommend SAY Makeup Artist!

Elly is a very popular makeup artist in the Korean and Asian community, and I felt so lucky to be able to book her for my wedding.

There were six other people in my wedding party, and Elly and her team did an amazing job coordinating everyone’s hair and makeup and keeping everything running smoothly.

Elly was incredibly kind, thoughtful, and attentive to the things that were important to me and the style I wanted. She carefully guided me through makeup color choices based on the overall feel of my wedding, the venue, and even the season. Seeing how much thought and care she put into every detail really showed me how much she values her work and her clients.

Most importantly, she made me feel truly beautiful and confident on my wedding day. I still felt like myself, just the very best version of myself. I’m so grateful to Elly for making me feel so special on such an important day!

I’m Chinese American, and originally, my wedding party was going to be very small—just me, my husband, and our two mothers. We did end up adding a few more people later, but my biggest concern from the beginning was actually our moms.


I had already seen Elly’s work at a friend’s wedding, so I had absolutely no doubt about her talent. Our mothers, however, were not going to be easy clients!

My mom has never liked the feeling of having anything on her face. She rarely wears makeup at all—in fact, she even did her own makeup for her own wedding. My mother-in-law is the complete opposite. She has loved makeup and dressing up since she was young and is the kind of woman who will wear a beautiful red lipstick and a full face of makeup even while relaxing at home.

With two women who had such completely different personalities and expectations, I was honestly worried about how everything would go for both our tea ceremony and wedding day. During my bridal trial, I shared my concerns with Elly. I even felt bad in advance because both moms can be very particular, and I didn’t want Elly to feel uncomfortable or hurt by anything they might say. More than anything, I didn’t want this to become something I had to stress about on my wedding day.

Elly listened to everything and immediately put me at ease. She told me that if there was a day when I could bring our mothers to her studio, they were welcome to stop by and meet her. She could talk with them personally about the makeup they normally use, what they like and dislike, and what kind of look would make them comfortable. If meeting in person wasn’t convenient, she said we could simply communicate by email instead.

That alone told me so much about the kind of artist she is.

My mother-in-law chose to visit Elly in person. After meeting her, she came home genuinely excited about the wedding day. And on the actual wedding day, Elly made her look absolutely beautiful. My mother-in-law said it was the best hair and makeup she had ever had in her life and joked that her only regret was not meeting Elly when she was younger!

Then there was my mom—the woman who barely wanted anything put on her face and didn’t even like having her eyebrows shaped. After Elly did her makeup for our tea ceremony, somehow, for the first time in her life, my mom even agreed to wear false lashes! I honestly could not believe it.

What I really want people to know is this: Elly is already known for understanding what younger women in their 20s and 30s want and for creating beautiful, modern looks. But what impressed me just as much was how exceptionally well she understands mature women.

She understood their concerns, respected their individual comfort levels, and knew how to enhance their beauty without making either of them feel like someone else.

At a son or daughter’s wedding, mothers may not technically be the “bride,” but Elly made our mothers feel like they were special too. Even with a language barrier, she found a way to understand both of them and gave each woman her absolute best. Watching them feel beautiful and confident made me even more certain that choosing Elly was one of the best decisions I made for my wedding.

And then came my grandmother.

She is over 90 years old and had firmly refused makeup, saying, “Why would an old lady need makeup?” But after seeing how transformed and happy both of our mothers looked at the tea ceremony, she voluntarily asked Elly to do her makeup for the wedding day!

Afterward, my grandmother was absolutely delighted and said she felt like the elegant matriarch of a family in a K-drama.

That probably says everything you need to know.

If you have the opportunity to experience Elly’s artistry for yourself—or to have her take care of the women you love on such an important day—I wholeheartedly recommend her.

You won’t regret it.

Since I live out of state, finding a makeup artist was honestly one of the hardest parts of planning my wedding. My now-husband was born and raised in Virginia, so most of the other preparations went pretty smoothly, but finding the right artist was much harder than I expected.

I specifically wanted natural Korean-style makeup, but many of the artists I found either felt more Americanized than the look I wanted, or their portfolio photos seemed so heavily edited that it was difficult to know what the makeup actually looked like in person.

Since I wasn’t able to do a trial, I started searching on Instagram and came across Elly’s work. I reached out simply because I loved the photos and videos she posted, and I’m so glad I did. On my wedding day, she gave me exactly the natural, soft, subtle look I had been hoping for. I was so happy with how everything turned out!

I was also really impressed that she could do both my makeup and hair herself. Thank you so much, Elly, for making me feel beautiful and for helping make my wedding day such a wonderful experience.

My wedding-day schedule was unusually long. I needed to be at the venue for rehearsal at 11:00 AM, take photos at 2:00 PM, and attend the ceremony at 4:00 PM. Since the venue was in a very remote location with no bridal suite—and the nearest hotel was about an hour away—I had to complete all of my hair and makeup services at the SAY MAKEUP ARTIST studio by 10:00 AM. This meant my hair and makeup needed to last until at least 8:00 PM.

I was concerned about how well my makeup would hold up, but I was even more worried about my hair. I have long hair and really wanted to wear it down with waves. Several friends who had already gotten married tried to discourage me, warning that it would probably look messy by the reception. However, I feel uncomfortable and unlike myself with my hair completely up, so I shared my concerns with Elly.

Although Elly also wished we had more time available on the wedding day, she suggested testing the style during my trial to see how well it would last. She scheduled my trial early in the morning, similar to my wedding-day timeline, and encouraged me to go about a busy day so I could properly test the durability of both the hair and makeup.

By following her advice and sharing my feedback afterward, we were able to prepare the perfect look for my wedding day. My hair and makeup still looked almost exactly as they had that morning, even late into the evening. What surprised me even more was that I went to sleep without washing my hair after the reception, and the curls and overall shape were still intact when I woke up the next morning! I immediately asked Elly which products she had used so I could purchase them myself.

When I requested a product list, Elly not only shared the products but also sent me detailed notes explaining exactly how she had styled my hair. Even now, several months after my wedding, I can email her with a question—such as which foundation I should use during the summer—and she still responds with the same care and attention to detail as if I were still one of her current brides.

Elly’s service did not end when my wedding was over. Her professionalism, thoughtful preparation, and continued kindness made me feel genuinely cared for throughout the entire experience. I’m so glad I chose her!

I first met Elly about 5 years ago at my Korean-American best friend’s wedding.

There were three bridesmaids and we were a pretty diverse group — I’m Indian American, and the other two bridesmaids were White and Black American. My friend was the Korean bride.

The other girls had been bridesmaids before, but this was my first time. It was also literally my first time ever having my hair and makeup professionally done, so I was excited but also secretly VERY nervous.

I remember thinking… she specializes in Korean/Asian makeup, but is she going to know what to do with me?

It honestly wasn’t about race. I was traumatized by a prom makeup experience I had at Sephora as a teenager 😂 and I really didn’t want to experience that kind of disappointment again. But obviously I wasn’t going to tell my best friend, who was already dealing with a million wedding things, “Hey, I’m scared your makeup artist is going to make me look terrible.”

So I just showed up on the wedding morning and hoped for the best.

My friend had told us that we could bring makeup products we normally used, just in case. Apparently I misunderstood what she meant because I showed up with an old foundation that I don’t even know how long I had owned LOL. I showed it to Elly and basically said, “I don’t know if you can use this, but maybe this helps?”

She laughed and explained that she had told the bride we were welcome to bring any favorite products if there was something specific we really wanted her to use — not because she needed us to bring our own foundation.

She had already brought shades and products for all of us.

Then we started talking about my concern and I learned something I never would have guessed.

Before focusing on Korean bridal makeup, Elly had worked in LA doing makeup for things like film and commercial shoots, so she had actually worked with many different skin tones and ethnicities. She told me that when she first started her career, she worked on more non-Asian faces than Asian faces.

The funniest part was when she said that Korean-style makeup had actually been one of the harder things for her to master in the beginning. She was basically like, “I’m Korean and somehow the thing I struggled with the most became my specialty.” 😂

Well… I stopped worrying pretty quickly.

I LOVED my makeup.

And apparently I loved it a little too much because over the next several years, whenever I had opportunities to get my makeup professionally done by other artists — including Indian and White artists — I kept comparing their work to Elly’s.

I literally started showing people pictures from my friend’s wedding and saying, “Can you make my makeup look like THIS?”

Nothing ever quite hit the same.

Fast forward FIVE YEARS and suddenly it was my turn to get married.

One of the first things I wondered was, “Is Elly still doing weddings??”

I contacted my friend, found Elly again through Instagram, and reached out to ask if she could do my wedding hair and makeup.

Five years after sitting in her chair as a nervous first-time bridesmaid, I was sitting in her chair again. Except this time I was the bride.

Some of my family members were a little nervous for the same reason I had been years earlier. But after Elly finished my mom, aunt and cousin, EVERYONE understood why I had insisted on finding her again.

They loved their makeup. My mom especially was so happy, and seeing my family feel beautiful made the morning even more special for me.

And my own bridal makeup?

It was exactly why I remembered her for five years.

Elly, thank you for making me feel like the most beautiful version of myself on one of the biggest days of my life.

If you’re a bride with a multicultural bridal party and you’re wondering whether an artist who specializes in Korean/Asian beauty can work with different skin tones, I can only speak from my own experience.

But I would recommend Elly 1000%

I found her as a bridesmaid, remembered her for five years, and came back to her as a bride.

I think that pretty much says everything.

I don’t usually write long reviews, but I really wanted to write this one because I had a very unusual journey finding my wedding makeup artist.

I had previously received bridal makeup in Korea at a well-known Cheongdam-dong salon for both my wedding ceremony and wedding photography. I expected the makeup itself to be incredible, but honestly, I wasn’t as impressed with the skin finish as I expected to be. I was much more impressed by how beautiful the professionally retouched photos looked afterward.

For my wedding in the U.S., I tried again. I paid for a very expensive trial with one Korean makeup artist and also tried another Korean artist at a lower price for an outdoor photo session. After both experiences, I was disappointed enough that I seriously considered doing my own wedding makeup.

I eventually found Elly through Reddit and decided to book her for my wedding without even doing a trial.

She ended up being better than every artist I had previously tried in both Korea and the U.S.

The biggest difference was her attention to skin.

My skin was extremely dry that morning and I had small areas of flaking. With previous artists, toner pads and moisturizer were applied and I was basically told that my dryness was something I needed to manage myself.

Elly was completely different.

Even though she had already started applying my foundation, she stopped when she noticed that certain areas weren’t sitting properly. She explained that if we ignored the flakes, those areas would eventually lift and become more noticeable as the day went on.

Instead of covering the problem with more foundation, she wanted to fix the skin first.

She adjusted the order of my makeup, worked on my eye makeup while giving my skin additional time to soften and settle, carefully addressed the dry areas, and then redid the complexion makeup where necessary.

She told me it might put us approximately ten minutes behind schedule and asked whether I would be comfortable checking with my photographer and wedding coordinator because she didn’t want to send me out knowing the foundation wasn’t sitting correctly.

That moment told me everything about her.

She cared more about how I looked and how the makeup would last than simply saying, “We’re finished on time.”

I have honestly never had my skin look as beautiful as it did on my wedding day.

If your only priority is dramatic makeup that photographs well, there are probably many artists who can do that. But if you’re looking for the Korean-style complexion I wanted — natural and lightweight without looking like you’re wearing layers of foundation, while still covering imperfections — I cannot recommend Elly enough.

The amount of effort she put into making my skin beautiful is something I will always remember.

I did 2 trials from different makeup artists before coming to Elly (they all looked too heavy and somewhat off) and she was wonderful everyone told me how my makeup was so natural and pretty on my wedding day - she was always trying hard to be flexible and gave great advice as well. My groom did not want to do makeup at first but his makeup was so natural and beautiful as well. I highly recommend Elly and you will not regret. Finding a good makeup artist is so important and she did an excellent job finding the best look and hair for my wedding gown.

I found Elly years ago one day scrolling on Instagram, even before I was engaged. Looking through her work, every single bride looked stunning-- and I knew she was who I wanted to do my hair and makeup when I got married. And I was fortunate enough to be able to have my dream come true.

Elly was a dream to work with. I did a trial with her almost a year before my wedding, but we stayed in frequent communication leading up the day. Elly was highly responsive and always flexible when I asked for modifications to my hair or makeup. We ran into a scheduling issue two weeks before my wedding and she worked tirelessly with me to resolve it ASAP to make sure my wedding day ran smoothly.

Elly is truly the best makeup artist I've ever worked with, and I would highly, highly recommend you to book her for your wedding. She was kind, professional, and overall such a wonderful person. I cannot say enough kind things about her. I hope every bride can experience Elly's magic touch, and maybe you'll look as good as I did on my wedding day :)

It was a wonderful experience getting our hair and makeup done for me, bridesmaids, mother, and mother-in-law! We had a diversity in ages, cultures, hair texture, and skin types but they both had no problem executing smoothly and according to timeline! I’d also like to comment on just how organized all of the makeup supplies were!

It was also so fun getting to chat in the morning with the wedding party and definitely helped to ease a lot of my pre-wedding anxiety.

I’m always pretty shy about how make up looks on me but I seriously felt so comfortable and confident as I was getting ready - all thanks to you! I know Hair and makeup is an art that is super hard to master and each service should be catered to the person - that is exactly what was provided.