The Reflective Directive

a very comprehensive guide to my wedding day makeup

Hello!

I came into the process of determining my wedding makeup with a lot of opinions about what I like on myself and about event makeup in general, convictions of which have only grown stronger. I absolutely loved how I looked and I have never felt more confident in my skin. 

Photos: Holtz Photography, Makeup/Hair: Amber the Stylist

Before hiring my MUA, we chatted on the phone and shared philosophies, preferred brands and crucially, skin prep. Many times MUA will ask you to arrive with clean skin and do their own prep with moisturizer etc. but I obviously felt very strongly about doing my own prep, which she was fine with. I just made sure to prep my skin the exact same way at my trial as I would on my wedding day, so that we could ensure it would work. Also, most of the time they will skip sunscreen altogether, because of the chance of pilling, white cast or flashback in photos. I was adamant that my go-to sunscreen is superiorly formulated and works beautifully under makeup, so we agreed that I would wear it to my trial and if she thought it would negatively impact my makeup, I would skip it on my wedding day. Gasp, I know! But to my delight, I just wound up creating another convert. 

She also asked me to bring any of my favorite makeup products that I would ideally like to use to the trial and my final look used a decent amount of my own stuff. This felt very validating and it was so cool to learn some new techniques for products I already owned. I also got to introduce her to two new favorites: the only mascara that matters to me anymore and this Valentino Beauty sleeper hit. 

Below I’ve recapped my inspo, important things I communicated to my MUA and the key products she used to achieve my ideal wedding day makeup look.

THE VISION

I spent a lot of time on my Pinterest and eventually narrowed it down to a few images, each with a note calling out the specific element(s) I liked/disliked. (Very important step!) I can always count on Hailey Bieber and Camila Marrone for a makeup look I can see myself wearing. I don’t know who the other girl is, but she has a beautiful eye color.

“Pretty” over “glam” but still “wow” is something I said out loud to my MUA. It’s not my best sentence, but it did pretty accurately communicate the vibe I was after.

PREP

I say this to all of my clients and any MUA will agree that the key to good makeup is good skincare. Your skin is the canvas and with a good canvas, your makeup artist can work their magic. A good canvas means hydrated and smooth. Well-hydrated skin looks plump, bouncy, radiant and allows makeup to blend seamlessly and sit well, not disappearing into your skin. It is more important to focus on texture over tone–makeup can’t hide texture, but it can cover discoloration. 

Click here to view “Skin Prep” on Zeen!

1. Sofie Pavitt Face Nice Ice

2. LED Mask

3. ZIIP (used this conductive gel)

   1. Founders’ Favorite

   2. Instant Gratification

   3. Eyes

   4. Jowls

   5. Lips

4. Wash off gel with Sofie Pavitt Face Cleanser

5. Bioeffect Essence (all over)

6. Bioeffect Eye Serum

7. Sachi Skin Pro-Resilience Serum (all over)

8. Experiment Super Saturated Serum (tiny, tiny amount, on temples & cheekbones only)

9. Clearstem Hydraglow Moisturizer (verrrry thin layer all over. It hurts my soul that I like this, don’t look at the messaging/marketing, blame Sam)

10. Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel (I’ll be honest, a very thin 2-fingers worth) 

I also did the CO2 Lift Mask on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (day before) to amp up the hydration by at least 117%.

FACE

My goal was an even, glowing complexion. I wanted my skin to be the star of the show. I work really hard on it! This meant light coverage, allowing my skin to shine through, but enough to conceal any hyperpigmentation and redness. I told my MUA that I wanted to look reflective. Be generous with the highlighter. I don’t love the look of a lot of blush on myself, so I didn’t want it to be too bright or central. At my trial, I asked to tone down the blush even more, and to keep it higher on my cheekbones, which is one of the things I called out in the video I took at my trial.

Click here to view “Face” on Zeen!

Foundation: Clé De Peau Radiant Cream Foundation 

Concealer: NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

Cream Blush: Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks in Petal

Cream Contour: Makeup by Mario Skin Enhancer Light + Westman Atelier Face Trace in Biscuit

Cream Highlight: Westman Atelier Super Loaded Tinted Highlight in Peau De Pêche

Powder Blush: Sisley L'Orchidée Highlighter Blush  

Highlight: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Highlight Palette

EYES

I love my hazel eyes, which can look pretty green with the right light and eyeshadow, which I wanted to maximize. I wanted to be able to see my lids, which I feel can get easily swallowed by eyeliner or dense lashes. I told my MUA I wanted my eyes to pop and not look heavy, so separated lashes and only whatever eyeliner necessary for the lashes to look good. At my trial she used 10mm fishtail lashes, but we decided to do 8mm the day of (another thing I called out in my aforementioned video). 

Brow Pencil: Valentino Brow Trio

Eye Base: Armani Long-Lasting Liquid Eyeshadow in 18M Beige (all over)

Lid Color: Armani Long-Lasting Liquid Eyeshadow in 9S Cold Copper (on lid feathered out)

Upper Eyeliner: Makeup by Mario Perfect Brown

Inner Eye & Brow Bone Highlight: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Highlight Palette

Mascara: Tok Beauty Eyes That Tok Mascara

Click here to view “Eyes & Lips” on Zeen!

LIPS

One of my wedding makeup rules is “it’s not the time for a red lip.” For myself this is literal, but it’s not always meant to be. What it really means is that your wedding day, likely the most photographed day of your life, is not the time to experiment with makeup you don’t normally wear. You will not feel comfortable, you will be thinking about it and that will reflect in pictures. I very rarely wear a red lip, and when I do, I’m constantly aware of it and worried about my teeth. I generally feel this way about all bold lipstick, so I opted for something familiar, a kind of “my lips but better” pinkish-nude with a hint of brown. I like glosses and balms (remember the reflective directive) and wanted to be able to touch-up without a mirror, so nothing too precise. 

Lip Liner: Makeup Forever Artist Color Pencil in Anywhere Caffeine 

Lip Gloss: Westman Atelier Liquid Lip in Ma Puce + Summer Fridays Lip Balm in Vanilla Beige mixed with Eadem Le Chouchou in Fig Sauce

FINISHING PRODUCTS

Any good event makeup should have longevity and be able to withstand some sweat, but I made sure to emphasize the fact that I intended to be dancing a lot. 

Setting Spray: Morphe Luminous Setting Spray + Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish

Photo: Holtz Photography

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Three Other Things

1. I have now had the opportunity to use the CurrentBody Series 2 LED Mask and despite some initial difficulty adjusting the straps, I am ready to declare it truly superior in technology and in fit. I’ll post a more formal comparison on IG soon. If you already have the Series 1, you don’t need this one. If you’re thinking “but I have the money and I want the best for my skin” get a ZIIP instead. If you don’t have a high-quality LED mask, then yes, get the Series 2.

2. In other skin tech news, I’ve been loving the Therabody Depuffer. It’s proprietary technology gets cold or hot in seconds and it feels so nice. We’ve also started using it in facials at my studio.

3. Taylor Swift has a few signature red lip products and it’s always fun (to me) when her glam team confirms one. Most recently, it’s NARS Lipstick in Morocco. Supposedly it’s been in her rotation for years, but it’s what she was wearing at the Chief’s opener. Good luck finding it in stock ever again! NARS made an entire menu item dedicated to other products in the shade.

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Every Sunday at 5pm EST, I’ll begin a new thread for the week in Substack Chat, where you can ask me anything. Every Monday from 5-6pm EST, I’ll be in that chat live, answering questions for the hour. That way, if you can’t make it, you can submit any time after 5pm Sunday and still get an answer. If you can make it live, join in! You can ask questions in real time and (hopefully) interact with others in class ;)

Discount Codes

• CurrentBody: JOLIECB for 10% off

• Dermstore: JOLIE for 15% off (they sell Bioeffect here!)

• Eadem: JOLIE15 for 15% off

• Experiment: JOLIE10 for 10% off

• Sachi Skin: JOLIE15 for 15% off

• Sofie Pavitt Face: JOLIE10 for 10% off

• ZIIP: ZIIPJOLIE for 10% off

• CO2 Lift: Email hi@joldef.com They’re $100/each and I can give you a little discount on 3+.

you can find all of my discount codes here

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Have a great week! Appreciate you making it this far.

xx,

Jolie

P.S. I’ve had some inquiries about offering consults for wedding beauty (working with you to develop a vision, build a Pinterest, communicate with glam teams, advise at trials etc.) I’d love to turn this into an official offering if there’s interest. Email hi@joldef.com and let’s chat.