For those of you that follow me on twitter, you probably saw that I was lamenting the prices of wedding-day hair and makeup in DC a few weeks ago. I had to draw the line somewhere. I established a threshold that I would not pay more for combined hair and makeup (including trials) than what I paid for my dress, which was $535. Sounds reasonable enough, right!?
Well, I finally found a local hair and makeup artist through non-wedding review site means. Her prices were incredibly reasonable and her portfolio looked great online. I was excited about this great find and booked a trial as soon as I could.
So, here’s the rundown of what I hated.
- She set everything up on the dining room table without even asking and then proceeded to brush my hair right there and also spray hairspray without any effort to prevent it from going on the table. I eat at that table, lady!
- Her supplies were totally disorganized. I guess I envision makeup artists traveling with those cool train cases. Her makeup and hair supplies were split between like five dirty cosmetic bags.
- She only had two or three shades of foundation. I am extremely fair skinned, and the shade she used was way too dark. I looked like a muddy mess. When I pointed out the dark foundation line right at my jawline, she said that she would definitely blend it better on my wedding day. Ummm, blending or no blending, it doesn’t match my skin!
- I had sent her an image of a fishtail braid I wanted to try out. She had no idea how to do a fishtail braid and just kept doing regular braids at different angles (off to one side, off to another, etc.). She offered no apologies for not letting me know she did not know how to do the hairstyle I requested
- We ultimately settled on hair down with loose curls (which was my original idea anyway, I had just kind of fallen in love with the fishtail braid once I saw it). The curls actually looked quite nice, but within 90 minutes of her leaving my house, the curls were completely gone. When I brought it up, she just said that on my wedding day she’d curl it with an iron in addition to the rollers to make it hold more. Umm, not trying to be a diva here, but I thought a trial was all about seeing what my hair would look like (and how it would last) on my wedding day.
A final point, and this one is not her fault, I am completely paranoid about having anyone near my eyes (other than me). Whether it’s the eye doctor putting drops in my eyes, an eyebrow waxer that presses a bit too hard on my eyelid, or a makeup artist putting mascara on me, I become one blinky nervous mess. So, I kept messing up her eyeliner and mascara application.
So, now I’m really, REALLY mad that I just spent $65 on a hair and makeup trial that I HATED and now have to spend money on a trial somewhere else.
But, here’s what I’ve decided. I’m actually quite good with makeup. So, I’m going to do my own makeup on my wedding day. I figure, even if I do find someone better, I’m going to have my eye paranoia issue, so, I may as well just do it myself.
But, I do need to find someone to do my hair, because unlike makeup, I am completely useless at anything hair-related.
So, perhaps I’ll even do some wedding makeup trial tutorials and post them here to see what you all think!
