It's important to have a hair/makeup trial before your wedding day. The trial gives you the opportunity to meet your makeup artist, and to test out new products to ensure that you don't have any skin reactions or sensitivities to them.
Trials will take a little bit of extra time because you will potentially trial a couple of different looks. Bridal trials normally take between 2 - 4 hours depending on if you're having just hair or makeup or both.
Your makeup artist will ask you all about your skincare routine, how much makeup you wear day to day, your makeup likes and dislikes. The artist should listen closely to your vision and make adjustments to suit your skin tone, features and colouring.
During your trial you should be discussing your wedding colours, flowers, dress, and theme for your day.
I always ask to see ALL the details of the day and I love to see the brides Pintrest boards, the more details the better! It enables your makeup artist to put all the pieces together and this will help them create the perfect hair and makeup that the bride envisions.
How to prepare
Wash your hair the evening before the trial. It really does make a difference to the texture of the hair when it has some natural oils in it (and it's not squeaky clean) which helps curls to hold and pins to stay put! Day old hair is best.
Bring everything that you want to have in your hair along to the trial e.g. veil, tiara, clips etc. A beautiful hairstyle can suddenly look very different with a veil over the top or it may be difficult to fit into your ideal look. The most important thing is that you leave the trial knowing exactly how you are going to look on the day.
What to wear
Try to wear a white top so you can see how your makeup will look against a similar shade to your dress, wearing other colours will distort how you view the makeup and you may end up not liking it as much you normally would. If you can wear a white top with a similar neckline to your wedding dress than even better!
Speak up
Don’t be afraid to speak up if you do not like something. This is not the time to be shy!
It really helps the artist to bring to life your dream look if you are completely honest and that’s exactly what trials are for. Once you've pinpointed the parts that you like and also don't like as much then these can be amended in the trial to get it right.
When to have a trial
Have your trial in the morning so that you can wear it for the whole day and get used to it. Remember to take lots of photos in different lights and most import of all, sit back and relax and enjoy being pampered!
