Wedding WOW Factor

Whilst this was far from ideal, I did get to see all the important bits - like Amal and George Clooney arriving at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor! Amal Clooney must be the only woman in the universe who could wear a yellow dress and hat and, like a ray of vibrant sunshine, eclipse practically every other female guest. And George somehow managed not to be outshone, which in itself is some feat. There were many other stunning outfits, so if you have a dressy occasion on the horizon and especially if you are going to be a Mother of the Bride or Groom, then maybe I can help you to find a way to do justice to yourself when the spotlight falls on you.

At least you won’t be so dramatically in the spotlight as Meghan’s mother Doria for whom the whole occasion must have been somewhat overwhelming. However she looked beautiful in her soft green coat and dress and had wisely opted for an unfussy matching hat and simple pearl drop earrings which suited her perfectly.

The other ensemble that I absolutely loved was the one worn by Sophie, Countess of Wessex. If, as the Mother of the Bride or Groom, you didn’t want to wear a matching coat and dress like all the other female royals, then you could easily emulate her combination of a slightly sparkly blue-grey top and ankle length grey satin skirt with a dramatic hat positioned to the front to create balance and height. There were a great many ‘hats’ which were similar to the two that I am modelling for this blog. Both the hats and dresses in the photos below are by Gina Bacconi, a fashion line which has a lovely range of occasion and wedding outfits. I asked them to send me these two so that I could model them for you.

The consensus in our office was that the navy blue ensemble was the more successful on me. I agree that the navy ‘hat’ which was on an alice band looked better than the pale blue one with my short hair style. The navy dress is the Victoria Sequin Trim Cape Dress and it comes in 5 different colours. I particularly liked the way that the dress partially covered my arms in a very flattering way. The ‘hat’ also comes in a range of colours and the matching bag has a silver chain and sequin covered front. The pearl blue Helga Crepe and Chiffon Dress actually looked better with the navy hat and bag, but if you wanted a matching hat then both styles come in the pearl blue. The matching pearl blue clutch bag has a silver chain and silver fastening. All the Gina Bacconi dresses go up to a UK size 22 and I feel that the navy outfit would be particularly flattering on a larger ‘apple shape’ to slim the silhouette as the asymmetric cape style would disguise a larger tummy. If you have great legs (which I don’t) then both of these dresses would look very elegant. I also think that both would work well for a summer wedding. In my view no outfit is complete without the appropriate makeup. In this photo you can see that my eye makeup works beautifully with both of the outfits. 

I have used our new ‘No Shimmer Eye Shade Trios Palette’, which comes in Soft Grey, Bluebell and Midnight Blue and is perfect when you are cool toned like me. We also have a warm toned Trios Palette with Cream, Cocoa and Chocolate Eye Shades in one handy compact. My Lip Colour is Cherry Red.

Here are my top tips for perfect Mother of the Bride or Groom Makeup

1. Invest in some treatments at a beauty salon to get your skin in tip-top condition. If this isn’t possible then exfoliate your skin thoroughly a few days before the wedding and apply a replenishing mask. This will really pay dividends on the day and help to make your skin look fresh and glowing.

2. Remember that you are important too. You’ll find that you will be very busy helping the bride and bridesmaids with their preparations, so make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time to get ready yourself. I promise you that the time will whizz by, so don’t neglect your own needs.

3. Practice your makeup beforehand and once you have chosen your outfit make sure that your eye makeup and lip colour perfectly compliment what you will be wearing.

4. Use our 3 primers - Smooth Like Silk Face Prime, Eye Prime and Lip Prime to ensure that all your makeup lasts all day and into the evening without retouching anything other than your lipstick.

5. Use brushes to apply both face, eye and lip makeup so that you create a really professional finish and blend, blend, blend. For instance, after applying your Continuous Cover Foundation, take a clean fat brush (our Brush 1 is perfect) and buff over the whole face and over your jawline and down onto your neck so that your foundation is effectively invisible whilst still making your skin look flawless.

6. Use our Instant Bright Highlight as Linda shows in the video to create shape and luminescence. This will make your face look particularly good in the photos. And make sure you apply enough Real Radiance Blush to bring your face to life and also balance your Lip Colour.

7. Eye makeup is always the trickiest part when I apply my own makeup, so my suggestion would be to have several practice runs. My best tip is to use a 5X magnifying mirror and have plenty of cotton buds to ‘tidy’ any mistakes or odd specks of shadow or mascara. This will help to ensure that your eye makeup looks sharp and clean. My clean Brush 1 (see Tip 5) is also invaluable to lightly dust off any eye makeup that falls onto my cheeks.

8. Your Lipstick will last a lot longer if you apply several coats on top of Lip Prime. Apply carefully with Brush 5 and then blot with a tissue. Do this 3 or 4 times to build several layers, rather than apply heavily straight from the bullet.

We have also decided to update our ‘Mother of the Bride or Groom’ video showing you a step by step approach to a lovely polished look suitable for an event like a summer wedding or some other formal summer occasion. Our ‘model’ in the new video is an old friend of mine called Jackie whose daughter Georgie is getting married in September. As you will hear in the video, Jackie is both excited and also somewhat apprehensive about her daughter’s Big Day, but I hope you will agree that Jackie’s makeup looked beautiful when Linda had finished it.

Do leave your comments below - we love to get them and if you have any tips of your own to offer or any stories to share about your own Mother of the Bride or Groom experience (maybe wearing our makeup!) we would love to hear from you!