How to Hire a Bridal Makeup Artist

Hiring someone to apply your wedding day makeup will help complete your look. You spent a lot of time picking out that dress and your accessories. Makeup artists are trained to not only find colors that look good on you, but to find a look that compliments the style of your dress. If your dress is romantic, for example, you may opt for a softer look. If your dress is modern or unconventional, you’ll probably want a makeup style that will fit the same description.

Many brides, especially those on a budget, make the mistake of hiring an amateur makeup artist or use the services of a friend for their bridal beauty needs, but to achieve the stunning results you desire it goes without question that you should stretch your budget and hire an experienced and talented makeup artist do the job. Only a professionally trained makeup artist will have the experience and expertise to beautify you, sculpting and transforming facial features, concealing flaws, giving you styling, dieting and well-being advice (beauty does start from within!) and using hir or her charm and charisma to calm your nerves on your big day.

How to Look For the Right Makeup Artist for your Wedding

1. Use your connections. Asking the person who cuts your hair if he or she does wedding hairstyles is a good idea because you are already comfortable with their work. Even if he or she does not perform this service, they should be able to make a recommendation.

2. Check with your wedding planner. Because he or she is constantly in contact with other brides and wedding vendors, your consultant should have several suggestions of hair and makeup artists to try.

3. Visit bridal shows and wedding expos. Wedding vendors of all kinds attend these events to book new clients. Meeting with stylists at an expo gives you the opportunity to learn their personalities without committing to an appointment. As a bonus, the vendor may offer a discount to anyone who attends the show.

4. Ask for referrals from your local beauty school. Although you would never want to trust your wedding day look to a novice, the school may provide contact information for recent graduates who excelled at wedding hair and makeup.

5. Go to the mall. Over the course of a few weekends, get makeovers from the different beauty counters. If you are pleased with the results provided in the middle of a department store, find out if the stylist is available to do your makeup on your wedding day. One benefit of this tactic is having the full selection of the makeup counter to try different looks.

6. Get references. Anyone doing hair or makeup professionally should have a list of clients ready to sing their praises. Unless your stylist is new to the business, the failure to provide references is a major red flag.

7. Most make up artists will have comprehensive websites where you can view their work and find out more about the services they have to offer and what their clients have to say about them.

Makeup artists can initially be assessed on the following criteria:

• Experience and qualifications are the most important factor to consider while selecting the right person. He or she must have expertise in their field and show evidence of professional training.

• Look carefully at the photographic output of their work. A good makeup artist should be thoroughly familiar with how the camera "reads and translates" different colors and the photograph should look as stunning as the makeup application.

• Do not let your decision making be swayed by photographs taken on bridal magazine shoots. These will have been re-touched to perfection using advanced graphic design packages and are often far from a true reflection of the makeup artists actual skills. Moreover the models, clothes, accessories and stunning looks all come together to create an impressive tapestry that sometimes masks fairly mediocre makeup skills. Photographs of "Real Brides" with before and after shots should form the basis of your assessment.

• The make-up artist has to be an expert in highlighting and shading techniques to bring out your best features and minimize flaws. Corrective make-up art is a prerequisite because you need to look perfect on the most important day of your life.

• Look for recent testimonials from actual brides on the website. It's all very well choosing a makeup artist who is very skilled, but this should be backed up by excellent customer service, she should turn up on the day and have a pleasing personality; remember you will be spending your last and most probably most stressful hours of single life with her!

• Make sure that the make-up artist is up to date with latest colors and looks as well as your particular cultural traditions and the requisite look for your wedding.

• If prices are indicated on the makeup artists; website or brochure make sure these match your budget to ensure you do not waste the make up artist's time.