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Savvy August 2019

Feeling Depressed Over Make-up After Bridals/first Look

Amanda, on July 30, 2019 at 5:31 PM Posted in Hair and Makeup 0 13
I had my bridal photos and a "first look" video shoot with my fiance last night and I'm feeling very drepressed about how I looked. I hated my make-up.

A little backstory... I've been doing my own makeup for 11 years. Everyone always tells me that I do such a beautiful job (and not to toot my own horn, but I agree). For whatever reason, I decided that I wanted to look flawless for the wedding so I hired a "professional" makeup artist to do airbrush makeup for my engagement photos, bridals/first look, and wedding day. (The artist I picked out was off of Instagram. She has thousands of followers and photos of her work always look so pretty. Everyone says such good things about her, I didn't think anything bad would come out of it).

We did our engagement photos back in April with her, and once I got the pics back, I wasn't thrilled with how the makeup looked. I spoke to my MOH, and we compared photos of makeup I've done from previous photoshoots, and she told me that I do a better job at applying makeup and that I should just do it myself for my wedding. I agreed.

Then, for whatever reason (probably the "convenience" of not having to do it myself on such a stressful, busy day), I decided to give the same makeup artist another chance and let her do my makeup again for my bridal/first look photos which were last night. I thought it would be okay since I would tell her what I didn't like and hoped she would do things differently this time. Huge mistake. She took offense to any suggestion I had and I hated how I looked even more than the first time she did it.

I was supposed to be AT the venue for photos by 5:45pm, and at 5:40pm she had just barely finished (she ran over the scheduled time) and I was sitting in the makeup chair with tears in my eyes. I knew I had no time to redo the makeup myself or have her change anything.

I showed up to the venue late, and I was upset. Everyone told me how beautiful I looked, but in my head, I couldn't get over how I looked. My brows were way too dark for my icy blonde hair. The airbrush foundation was very patchy. She used cool toned foundation when she should have used warm. She didn't place the false lashes where I asked her to, she went overboard with highlighter, etc.

When I got home, I looked in the mirror and started crying about how I looked. I spent $600 on photography and videography, $200 for my hair colour/cut/style, $150 for the rental of the venue. All that money spent, and I hate how I looked.

As I said before, this was also a "first look" for my fiance to see me in my dress for the first time. His reaction was all caught on film. It's not like I can just "re-do" these photos and videos, because we will NEVER get that moment or reaction back.

It's still a couple of weeks before I get my pictures back, but I already know that I'm going to be upset with how I look in them. One of my bridesmaids (who went to the photoshoot with us), sent me a pic on her phone that she took, and I HATE how the makeup looks already. What do I do? (For one thing, I am for sure going to do my own makeup for the wedding in three weeks!!!).

13 Comments

Latest activity by Dee, on August 7, 2019 at 3:49 AM
  • Allie
    Master August 2019
    Allie ·
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    I'm sorry you are upset, but I don't know why you would hire a makeup artist you didn't like for a 2nd time. Also, don't put too much pressure on this first look. It's a bit non-traditional. Usually people do first looks on the day of the wedding. I would just do a first look again on wedding day. It will still be special because it's your actual wedding day.

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  • Kelly
    VIP October 2020
    Kelly ·
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    Well clearly you're going to look a lot better on the day of! That will surprise fiance pleanty.
    Also in terms of the photos you can ask your photography team about editing them a bit to reduce blotchiness, sometimes they can fix tones. It's not the same but it's worth a shot
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  • A
    Savvy August 2019
    Amanda ·
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    I really don't know why either. I still continued to follow her on social media after the engagement photos were done, and every picture she would post of makeup she did on a client looked so pretty, that I wondered if what she did on me the first time was just an "off" day or something? Plus I thought that if I spoke up and voiced what I didn't like, he would make adjustments. I was too trusting. We did our first look at a castle that I rented out. Our wedding will be at a garden/greenhouse. I was really looking forward to the castle pics and that's why I am so upset because we can't just re-do the first look on the wedding day since it won't be at the same location. My dress is a sparkly princess ballgown, and the castle fit the princessy theme perfectly. I wonder if having the photos/video put in black and white would make a difference?
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  • Allie
    Master August 2019
    Allie ·
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    That's a great idea! Try black and white or antique. I'm sure they will be very pretty regardless.

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  • Yam
    VIP September 2019
    Yam ·
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    I’m so sorry hun. He’s going to look at you with so much love in his eyes when it’s the official day, your first look wouldn’t be able to top that moment even if your makeup had been perfect. Take comfort in that, it’s going to be ok.
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  • Mandi
    Master October 2020
    Mandi ·
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    I doubt you look as bad as you think you did.
    Don't get me wrong, makeup artists do great work on Instagram. But if one of them came and did my makeup like that, I'd think I looked like a clown. I despise foundation and the way it looks on me. I'm sure no one else would think the same things I do.
    As far as what can you do. I think you're just going to have to learn from your experience and move on.
    No body cares about these things as much as you do.
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  • Ceelie
    Expert August 2019
    Ceelie ·
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    I agree with Kelly, now you have a chance to really blow your FH away with YOUR work. I'm a lot like you and have done my own makeup for years, and actually did a photoshoot with professionals and some friends a couple years ago. I hated the way they did my makeup... Any time someone has done my makeup, I've never loved it. Nobody knows your face and skin like you do, so I would definitely do your own for the wedding! As far as pictures go, you could let the photographer know you really didn't love how your makeup turned out, and would like some more taken (maybe not as many if money is an issue). And just don't use that MUA again. I'm soooo picky with makeup so I'm doing it all myself haha bridals and all! I'm sorry this happened, best of luck! You'll look beautiful on your wedding day!!

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  • VIP September 2019
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    Mine is definetly not the same situation but on July 21st I had my Boudoir photo shoot. I do my makd up and feel like I do a fairly good job. Well for this shoot I let their make up person do my make up. We were in the woods for the shoot. I quickly glanced in a compact before the shoot and thought the lipstick was too dark. I quickly blotted my lips and went on for the shoot. Here when I got in my car I saw the makeup and cried. It was horrible. I won't get these pictures for a few weeks but something I was so excited for to surprise my FH now I'm dreading. I would recommend doing your own make up and redoing the first look on your wedding day. I promise he will love you for you and that moment will be awesome again. ❤
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  • Cher Horowitz
    Master December 2019
    Cher Horowitz ·
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    I'm so sorry you had that bad experience! As PPs said, you can still do another first look on your wedding day!

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  • B
    Super July 2018
    Brittany ·
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    I totally get why you're upset. I got my makeup done for my engagement pictures and it did not turn out good. I have oily skin and all the products she used were terrible for my skin, so I was obviously oily in all of the photos and the eye makeup did not compliment my eyes at all. I wear makeup everyday so I've found the right products to keep my skin matte and the right eye makeup to make my eyes appear bigger and brighter. I didn't have time to fix the makeup so I had to show up for the photos as it was. We had a good family friend do the photos and I feel so guilty because I hated 95% of them because of how I looked. I only posted a few photos of the back of us. I honestly don't look at our engagement photos at all. They are on a flash drive in a box somewhere. Getting our wedding photos back made me feel SO much better. So I know it sucks to feel like you threw away money and a special moment, but when you get your wedding photos back and love them, you really will feel better.

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  • Talia
    Super October 2020
    Talia ·
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    Girllll we are twins!!! I was so upset with how my mua made me look for a trial then posts pics of other girls and their makeup is better than what she did. I gave her a picture and it wasn't how I expected. My fiance, sister, mom , aunt, mommom and cousins said I could do a better job which I always do too lol. I could only imagine how stressful that is. I'm glad you're not using her again. I'm just so picky with makeup!

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  • A
    Savvy August 2019
    Amanda ·
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    At least yours was for a trial, and not the actual pictures like mine was! But at least I'm not alone after reading some of these replies. My MOH said that the MUA having perfect studio lighting and a fancy camera to photograph their work makes a difference. And who knows if they use Photoshop and add special effects to make it look even better. 🙄 I'm nervous about doing my own make-up (especially since I haven't really had a practice round to see how it's going to turn out... That's what the engagement and bridal photos should have been for 😓) But, looking back at all of the photoshoots I've done the past couple years with my own make-up, I did a pretty damn good job. I just hope it works out on my wedding day! 🤞🏻 Also, it took the MUA 1hr 40mins to do my makeup, and it only takes me 30 mins to do it even better.
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  • Dee
    Dedicated June 2019
    Dee ·
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    Girl I know the feeling. Except you got to find out before the big day. I spent over 10k on wedding videos and photos , and I don’t regret paying that amount for it because their work was phenomenal ... what I do regret is not speaking up when I should have, in regards to my makeup ,and now I cringe when I look at my closeups of my wedding day or certain photos and opportunities that would have looked amazing but fell flat because of the makeup. When I did the trial, I loved it... but then the day of the wedding my MUA Went too heavy on my eyelids , the contouring and highlighting was off, and she just did not do it how I liked it during the trial. She did a phenomenal job on my bridesmaids but I wasn’t satisfied with how my makeup came out. There is even a picture of me looking in the mirror in one of my wedding photos from the reveal and you can just see the look of disappointment in my face . I looked like a raccoon.I remember having a mini panic attack before my first look with my husband thinking that he was going to hate it and they will catch everything on film because he is not one not to hold back in regards to facial expressions. Thankfully he played it off cool... but I still regret not doing my own makeup on my wedding day. Thankfully for Facetune I was able to make my makeup look more subtle before I posted the pics on social media, but you can’t get away from the tagged photos or the videos taken on that day 😩😩😩

    If you have any doubt about your makeup, then do your own. Trust me, especially if you feel you do a better job


    and whoever said nobody cares as much as you do about these things needs to Keep their thoughts to themselves . You are allowed to feel how you feel and your thoughts and emotions are valid... it’s your wedding day, you have to like how you look on your wedding. You’ll never get those moments back and pictures lasts forever.
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