Hi guys,

I am blogging for the first time this month. Happy new month of September! How you doing? Fabulous, I suppose. So, here is my September issue of online magazine and I am blogging about weddings! Yes, weddings. The wedding season is here again and in Nigeria, the “ember” months are exciting for us as this is the ultimate bridal season. Nigerians love end-of-the-year weddings, with Christmas taking the cake. I took part in a colourful, exciting wedding one weekend ago so I am happy to upload some of the pictures.

It is common for brides to contract their makeup to professional makeup artists, but there are many brides on a budget, who make themselves up for their weddings – Kate Middleton makes a practical example and she looked fabulous on the day of her wedding [not that she was on a budget anyway!]

So, here is D-I-Y flawless, glam bridal makeup

When applying bridal makeup, your main goal is to achieve a flawless, natural looking makeup that makes you look fresher, younger and angelic. Yes, angelic because you want your groom’s heart to skip a bit when he sees you at the altar. If you want that “whoa” effect, less is more. Learn from Kate Middleton darlings!

Here is how my bride looked on her day:

For this bridal look, my goal was to create a look that was innocent, fresh, a little bit misty for that freshness and above all, all natural flawless finish. This is not hard to create; in fact, the bride took less time to makeup than her bridesmaids, no kidding.

Here are some easy steps to achieving this look:

1. Cleanse your face and neck. Once dry, apply moisturizer. If you have oily skin, use an oil free moisturizer.

2. Apply foundation base. This primer will not only help foundation to glide on your skin but will help reduce shine.

3. On your palm or container, pour three pinches of bronzer. do not use high density bronzers as they are not easy to blend on the skin. Use very light, powdery bronzers that shimmer softly. Squeeze some amount of foundation unto the bronzer and mix. If you like, you could mix liquid bronzer with foundation. If foundation is cream-2-powder, apply some moisturizer so the mixture is light, creamy and soft. Apply mixture on your face. Apply lightly under your chin. Allow to dry. If you have normal to dry skin, you do not need powder. But if you have oily skin, sweep powder lightly over the foundation.

Use soft bronzing powder to highlight the top of your cheek bone on either sides, your forehead and chin. Use same bronzing powder to highlight the arch of your eye brow.

4. For your eyes, bronze is a perfect shade for bridal makeup. You could mix bronze with gold to create a soft, shimmery shade. You do not need too much shine on your wedding day so if shimmer eyeshadow is all you’ve got, mix the eye shadow with a little moisturizer so it becomes creamy and less intense. Apply eye liner. If you are light in complexion, you can comfortably wear brown eye liner.

5. Smile and blush!

6. Keep your lips as soft as possible. Play with soft tones.

When you are done, get a handkerchief, sprinkle some talcum powder, shake it off and fold handkerchief into a square. Once you see shine appearing on your face, dab on the handkerchief by pressing it unto your skin. Do not wipe. But dab.

Good luck!