It's your day; no wonder you want to look stunning. And with a little effort, you can. Everything on your wish list, from Gisele Bündchen-style hair to an even complexion, can be achieved with fine-tuned regiments begun weeks before you walk down the aisle or with a bit of wizardry at the final hour. Either way, you'll carry your exquisite look straight through the night (if not well into your honeymoon). Thanks to Tequila, who working for www.dressesshop.com - the USA high quality dresses shop, got lots experiences about this position. Here the pros offer both strategies for addressing every bride's top concerns.
Trouble spot: Short or sparse eyelashes.
Long-haul fix: Extensions transform plain-Jane eyelashes into screen siren standouts without a smidgen of mascara – a huge benefit for potentially teary brides.
The one-to-three-hour procedure demands a delicate touch: an expert aesthetician attaches synthetic lashes one by one to your upper lashes with a safe, longlasting adhesive. Your real eyelashes have a sixty-to-ninety-day life span, and the false ones are shed along with them. So schedule a session with your aesthetician for about three days before your wedding. Since you'll be lying on a massage table with your eyes closed the entire time, you will probably find it a welcome break. Prolonged use of extension lashes can damage your natural ones. While you'll be tempted to go in for a touch-up two to three weeks later, unless you actually are a screen siren it's best to let the lashes fall off or have them removed by a professional.
Shortcut: "On brides, I always add black individual temporary false lashes, whether eight or just two," says Lancome makeup artist Sandy Linter. The extra fullness makes light-colored eyes pop and intensifies brown or hazel irises, she explains. Despite their name, the individual lashes actually come in small, subtle clusters known as flares, but unlike tricky full-strip falsies, they can be trusted to stay put. Linter glues the flares on last so that they don't interfere with her application of eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara. Then, to camouflage the faux lashes, she blends them in with a second round of the mascara, specifically a lightweight formula.
Trouble spot: Limp hair.
Long-haul fix: Hair extensions don't just cater to Hollywood's trendy fixation with long locks. They're a bride's best strategy for dodging a bad hair day. In a Great Lengths application, a stylist begins by adhering about six bundles of human hair, which start at eight inches in length, to your own strands. If you want to turn your bob into a mass of curls (as Katie Holmes did earlier this year), you may need up to 300 extension attachments, which, once applied, are but to blend naturally into your own hairstyle. You can go for a fuller look without adding length, but after the bundles are attached, clients usually can't resist adding at least a few inches, says Marc Mena, senior stylist at New York's Warren-Tricomi salon. The protein polymer bonds, which look like the plastic nubs at the ends of shoelaces, are strategically placed to conceal attachment sites, so you can wear your hair up, too.
Shortcut: "I use some kind of hair extension with 95 percent of my bridal clients," Mena says. Temporary clip-in extensions, also made of human hair, take mere minutes for a professional to insert. "Two pieces on each side and three on the black of the head help hold all styles," a boon to hair that always loses its curl, according to Mena. Unlike bonded extensions, temporaries can be reused for future events. For brides who prefer to stick with their own hair, a chignon or a half-up-half-down do can create fullness at the crown.
Trouble spot: Diffuse facial redness.
Long-haul fix: Soothing ingredients can reduce redness, but before starting a regimen, see your dermatologist to rule out rosacea, which affects more than fourteen million Americans. An oral antibiotic or a prescription gel, such as Finacea, alleviates the acnelike bumps present in some cases of rosacea, but to control fushing, one of the condition's common symptoms, you have to reduce the number of blood vessels in the area where you see a reaction. A pulsed-dye laser (a good solution as well for run-of-the-mill broken capillaries) or intense pulsed-light therapy heats the vessels and induces your body to seal them off. While each treatment takes only five to fifteen minutes, depending on the extent of redness, you may have to wait one or two months to see its full effect: a 25 to 35 percent reduction in redness. The results are cumulative – a second session pushes that percentage to between 50 and 70 percent – so the expert suggests that you have two to three treatments spaced about six weeks apart.
Shortcut: Your makeup artist should always apply makeup with a small concealing brush, never with her fingers, advises Linter, since pressure on facial skin may irritate it further. A green-toned product masks redness, but less is more here. "Thick layers of product will crack and look ugly," Pro warns. She recommends then applying an oil-free base; a cover-up for problem areas; and a dusting of powder.
Trouble spot: Uneven complexion.
Long-haul fix: A Q-switched infrared laser destroys the culprit, melanin, which causes small brown spots, like lentigo and freckles. But the laser is not as effective with diffuse discoloration; it won't eradicate the brown patches known as melasma or a chest full of congregated freckles. Your first step in those cases is a better skin-care routine, with either an over-the-counter lightener, like kojic acid, or a prescription cream. Your dermatologist will probably suggest chemical peels, too, from mild, at-home varieties to the in-office trichloroacetic adic (TCA) type. Whichever approach you choose, wear sunblock every day, or you'll never get rid of the hyperpigmentation. Last resort, though, does not mean last-minute: some deeper, more aggressive peels and lasers must be done three or four months before your wedding in case there are side effects (which may include blistering) and your skin needs time to recover.
Shortcut: The best cover-up for dark spots is a dense, noncreamy concealer that won't slide or move. When you choose the concealer, be sure the cover-up is matte. Anything with light-reflecting particles will attract attention to imperfections – a misstep you can easily make if you use your undereye concealer elsewhere on your face.
Trouble spot: Dull teeth.
Long-haul fix: Against a crisp white dress, your teeth can take on the dowdy tone of yellowed linen. The quickest way to a brighter smile is power bleaching, which employs a hydrogen-peroxide solution activated by a high-intensity light. Ask whether your dentist offers a whitening system. For the best results, use power bleaching four weeks before your wedding and then pair it with at-home trays. Over-the-counter options, like Crest White Strips, are also effective but don't deliver the same results.
Shortcut: A lot of teeth look darker than they actually are, because of surface stains. Blend baking soda and hydrogen peroxide into a toothpastelike consistency, and brush for two minutes. Then avoid peach and coral lip colors, which highlight yellow tones. Instead, bring out your whites with a pink or berry shade.
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