Now that weddings have been pushed forward to 2021 and beyond due to the pandemic, getting hold of a makeup artist can be no mean feat so it’s always worth learning a few handy hacks & tips yourself. You don’t want any bridal makeup mishaps to ruin your big day from smudged lipstick, to clumpy eyelashes or puffy eyes. Best case scenario, you wake up with an outer-worldly glow on your wedding day. Your complexion retains that dewy, freshness all day. You don’t get that dreaded uni-lash or land up looking cakey after a touch-up. Worst case scenario, all your bridal beauty nightmares play out on your big day. Truth is, no matter how well-scripted your wedding day is, the chances of your best laid plans going south are fairly high. While unpredicted makeup blunders can’t really be prevented, they can surely be remedied. Scroll ahead for my list of beauty emergencies you might potentially be up against, and simple hacks & tips on how to fix them.

Get a Brighter Smile
Your bright, contagious smile is what is going to make or break your look. Are those cups of coffee and occasional glasses of red wine the only thing getting you through the last few weeks of wedding planning? Then chances are you’ll probably have a few unwanted stains on your pearly whites right before it’s time for your wedding photos. So here is a little trick to make your pearlies shine out! For a quick fix, dip a damp tooth brush into some baking soda and then add your tooth paste. The combination of tooth paste and baking soda works together to lift stains and whiten your teeth.

Beat the Puffiness
Do you suffer from puffy eyes? The worst time this can happen is on your wedding day, so be prepared! An easy way to fix this problem is to cool your eyes. Make some green tea, cool the teabags in the fridge for twenty minutes then press them onto your eyelids. Green tea can help shrink blood vessels around your eyes, but in case you don’t have any green tea on hand, place spoons in fridge instead.

You get a pimple
Spotting a zit on the eve of your wedding is the biggest nightmare for any bride. Before you switch into panic mode or squeeze that pimple, try this quick, and far more hygienic trick that won’t damage the surrounding skin. Take an aspirin, crush it and mix it with a few drops of water to form a thick paste. Apply it on the zit and leave it on overnight. Aspirin is essentially salicylic acid, which is found in many acne-fighting products. It dries out the pimple and reduces redness and swelling too. If it does leave a mark behind, you can easily cover it up with foundation or concealer.

Eye Shadow hacks

HACK #1: Primer
One of the best ways to help prevent eye shadow fallout is to prime your lids before application USE AN EYE PRIMER If you don’t have eye primer on hand, you can use concealer instead. Apply a little bit of the to your lids, then blend it in with your finger.

HACK #2: APPLY EYE SHADOW FIRST
If you’re worried about fallout ruining your perfectly applied face makeup, one simple solution is to apply your eye shadow first so that there’s no chance of it ruining the rest of your makeup.

HACK #3: TAP OFF EXCESS SHADOW
Depending on the type of eye shadow you use, you might find that some textures are more prone to fallout than others. Just make sure to dust off any excess from your makeup brush so that you have only enough pigment for your lids.

HACK#4: USE EYE MASKS
Want to pamper yourself while helping to prevent eye shadow fallout? Place eye masks underneath your eyes and apply your eye shadow as you normally would. Any fallout will land on the masks so you’ll be able to easily toss them once you’re done with your makeup application.

HACK#5: BAKE YOUR MAKEUP
It’s time to give the makeup baking trend. Before applying eye shadow, coat your under eye area with a generous amount of concealer in an upside-down triangle shape and top it off with translucent powder. While your concealer and powder sets, apply your eye shadow. Any fallout will land on the concealer, so you can easily wipe it away without leaving any streaks behind.

HACK #6: USE A SETTING SPRAY
Last but not least, just because you clean up fallout during your makeup routine doesn’t mean that further fallout isn’t possible. To help prevent the possibility of more fallout, finish your makeup look with a spray.
Perfect Your Smoky Eye

If you want to rock a dramatic smoky eye on your wedding day, practise getting it perfect beforehand. Place eye mask /patches below your eye when you apply your makeup – it’ll catch any stray makeup and will refresh your eyes.

Nail That Eyeliner Flick
Love a dramatic cats-eye eyeliner flick? Get it perfect every time by apply a little scotch tape to the outer corner of your eye before you draw it on. When you peel the tape off you’ll have an immaculate flick.

Make eyes look bigger
This easy eye makeup hack is great for those with small eyes. Instead of black mascara, switch to brown mascara on lower lashes. This will make your eyes appear bigger than usual. Dabbing shimmer on the inner corners of the eyes catches the light, giving the appearance of wide awake eyes. You can also line the inner rims of the lower eyelids with white or neutral coloured eye pencil. This creates the illusion of whites of your eyes extending further, hence making the eyes appear larger.

Unruly eyebrows?
Spritz some hairspray on a toothbrush to tame them into place.

Work from the Inside Out
When it comes to applying foundation, start at the centre of your face and blend it out. If you go from the edges in you’ll get that tell-tale foundation line.

For Dewy Skin: Use a Damp Beauty Blender
Just soak your sponge in water and squeeze out any excess before you apply your foundation – this works so well because it gives such an airbrushed, lightweight look.

For a full-coverage finish: Use The Stippling Technique
For fuller coverage, stipple the foundation – use a light tapping motion – onto your skin.

For Extra Coverage Without the Cake: Use Concealer

For Lighter Coverage Mix a Hydrator
For a dewier, more lightweight finish, mix your foundation with a drop of moisturizer or a hydrating primer.

For Cream Foundations: Melt Them!
Blow dryer to make crème foundations more malleable, blendable, and move across the skin with ease…Honestly, this works like a dream.

For Luminous Skin: Add a Glow Enhancer
Just mix one or two drops of a liquid highlighter in with your foundation for a gorgeous, glowing finish.

For a Natural Finish: Apply With Your Hands
First, warm the product between your fingertips, then apply using outward circular motions. You can either gently pat and blend with your fingers or fine-tune with a damp makeup sponge after working in with your fingers. Don’t forget to blend with your neck.

For Touch-Ups: Don’t Add More Foundation
First, soak up any excess oil using blotting paper , then target any areas that need fixing with a little concealer and gently blend out using patting motions with a damp makeup sponge. Add a little powder on top to refresh your look, mattify, and lock everything back in place.

The Number One Rule: Don’t Forget Your Neck

Don’t forget to blend down your neck! If you don’t want to continue your foundation all the way down your neck, continue it underneath your chin and dust a bronzer or matching powder on your neck instead.

Achieve fuller, sensual lips.
Firstly, exfoliate them in the morning, before doing your make-up. You can use brown sugar and coconut oil or even olive oil for this! You should then hydrate your lips with a soothing lip balm, wait until they are dry and then massage in a few drops of peppermint, capsicum or cinnamon oil. Sleeping with a coat of beeswax on your lips the night before can also add volume to your lips.

Lock In Lipstick
Want to make sure your favourite lipstick shade does not get wiped out after you eat that first starter? Well here is what you do- Apply the lipstick. Then use a tissue over it and then dust a translucent powder over the tissue. Stop, repeat and apply lipstick once more. You just turned your regular lipstick into a super stay one.

The teeth without lipstick
Something the worst that can happen is that your red lipstick remains on your teeth. However, feel free to apply lipstick in a bright colour, and then put your index finger in your mouth, tighten your lips and pull your finger. So the excess of lipstick that could leave a trace on your teeth will stay on your finger and you can laugh all night without fear.

THE SIMPLEST AND MOST FOOL-PROOF CONTOURING HACK Ever

All you have to do is draw a number ‘3’ on your face. Now, before you freak out, let me tell you that it has nothing to do with Math’s It’s a brilliant way of mapping the shadow and highlight areas of your face aka contouring. I have laid down all the steps to help you ace contouring like a pro.

Step 1: Take your bronzer and draw a ‘3’ on both sides of your face; starting from your temples, moving on to the area under your cheekbones and ending on your jawline.

Step 2: Next take your highlighter and draw an inverted ‘3’ starting right above your brows, middle line on your cheekbones and bottom line above your jawline. This one should look like its hugging bronzer mark.

Step 3: Take your beauty blender and blend well so there are no harsh lines. And, you’re done! Easy, wasn’t it?

Blush gone
Grab lippy again and dot it onto the apples (fattest part) of your cheeks blending well for a rosy glow.

Want thicker lashes?
Simply sprinkle a tiny amount of translucent powder over your lashes in between two coats 

of mascara, which will bulk up lashes in way less time. Just be sure to apply the loose powder while the first coat of mascara is still a little bit wet so that it sticks.

Make Your Perfume Last All Day
To keep smelling good, all day long, through the r

ituals and functions, try this easy bridal beauty hack. Rub a bit of petroleum jelly on your wrist, side of you

r neck and then spritz the perfume over it The petroleum jelly creates a barrier so the fragrance will sit on the surface instead of sinking into your skin and dissolving. It will help the perfume last twice as longer than usual!

Stay Safe Everyone,
G, xoxo