Tanya had a November wedding at one of my favourite venues, Belvoir Castle, which was a great setting for her glamorous winter theme. The dress was very princessy with Swarovski Crystal accents and Tanya wanted a soft smoky look for her makeup to compliment the dress without venturing into evening makeup territory.
I started by prepping Tanya’s skin with Benefit ‘That Gal’ primer – a lovely pink primer which gives skin a little bit of glowiness under foundation. Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation in shade 30 followed and I used Makeup Forever concealer where needed. I love all Chanel foundations but Pro Lumiere is the one I tend to use most. It gives good coverage without being heavy and it’s not completely matte either, so your skin still looks like skin. I set the whole base with Mac Blot Powder in medium dark.
Going for a soft smoky look with the eyes I used Mac paintpot in ‘Painterly’ as a shadow base. I find the paintpots very good for holding shadows in place and stopping creasing. Mac Vanilla shadow was used all over the lid up to the browbone, followed by Mac Patina on the mobile lid and Mac Satin Taupe in the crease, outer corner and lower lashline. A little bit of Bobbi Brown Espresso shadow was worked into the upper lashes to give some more definition with a touch more Vanilla under the browbone to highlight. Tanya’s lashes were curled with Shu Uemura lash curlers (a staple in my kit – I would be lost without these!) and two coats of Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara in black applied. Bobbi Brown gel liner in Caviar Ink was used on the top lash line and Tanya’s brows were lightly filled in with Chanel brow powder.
Belvoir Castle in November is quite dark and the venue had been candlelit which looked amazing. To reflect this and make sure the makeup stood out, I wanted Tanya’s skin to have a soft glow. I used Mac blusher in Peachykeen on Tanya’s cheeks and went over the top of that with Mac Mineralize Skinfinish in ‘Candlelight’. A little bit of Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel bronzer (limited edition from Summer 2009) was used to contour around the temples and give a little bit of warmth to the skin.
Finally for Tanya’s lips I outlined with Chanel lip pencil in Nude. Bobbi Brown lipstick in Ballet Pink with a little bit of Chanel glossimer on top completed Tanya’s look.
Rochelle O’Brien
