Category: makeup

hair, life, makeup, wedding

My Beautiful Budget Wedding Part 2: Accessories, Hair, and Makeup!

christinahopgood
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue… and a silver sixpence in her shoe.


1. Jewellery

 My jewellery was fairly simple: a necklace with one bauble, and my diamond earrings which were a 21st birthday present from my parents.  No bracelets, and nothing flash.  My necklace was actually my mum’s, and was certainly not diamond and certainly not expensive.  I chose it because it was simple and matched my dress without overpowering it.  Same for my earrings.  I didn’t want huge dangles or baubles, although they are nice sometimes!

I think that you don’t need to buy expensive things for wedding accessories, as cheap alternatives can be found in lots of accessory shops.  Don’t go for diamonds!  You’ll worry about them all day!  My only expensive thing was my earrings, but they were also special to me for other reasons. 
Because I used things I already had, and borrowed items, my jewellery didn’t cost anything.

Here you can see the necklace and earrings, just simple solitaires.  Also this is a good shot of my hair and makeup.


2. Garter

In keeping with my family’s tradition (well, me, my mum, and my sister-in-law), I wore my mum’s blue garter for my wedding.  It is old, borrowed, and blue, so that knocked three things off the good-luck-list!  And we didn’t have any garter tossing at the reception.  Ew.

3. Stockings and Petticoat

I just bought normal stockings from the shops.  I tried stay-up hose a few weeks before the wedding (I don’t like the tight feeling round my tummy with regular stockings), but stay-up they did not!  They were probably around $10.

Even though my dress was quite full, I wanted a bit more poof so I wore a petticoat I bought years ago for Lolita.  Lucky too, since I was considering getting rid of it! It was a Dear Celine fluffy marshmallow petticoat or something.  I’d had it forever so I’m not counting it in the price.

4. Hair

For my hairstyle, I decided to go to the salon.  I found photos online of this actress with a lovely hairstyle, and took them along to the hairdresser.  Turns out this lady is called Dianna Agron, she’s a year older than me, and she is an actor in Glee.  Who knew.  But she has nice hair.

The problem was that my hair is MUCH longer than her hair, so it looked a bit different on the day.  I wasn’t entirely pleased with my hair.  I wanted it to be a bit more floaty and pretty and voluminous, but the hairdresser hairsprayed the living daylights out of it and it was like a hardhat.  But it was fine in the end.  When we drove in the little car it got extremely tangled.
The hairdresser cost me $60 I think.  I also paid for Shona’s hair, so it turned out to be $120.  The hairstyle got very knotty (she did a lot of teasing), but it stayed put all day.

4.1 Hair comb

My hair comb was placed to match Dianna Agron’s photo.  I bought it from a little booth shop selling sparkly baubles, and it cost me $40.  I also bought one for Shona which was a little different.

5. Makeup

Makeup was the one thing I was the most stressed about.  I went to and fro between wanting to have a makeup artist do it, to wanting to do it myself.  I’ve had someone do my makeup twice before.  Once for a fashion shoot, and once at the makeup shop. Both times, I really hated her looking at my face so critically, and I felt like they made me into a face I didn’t recognise.  I wanted Charles to recognise me as I walked down the aisle.

So I researched different products and different techniques for applying makeup.  My favourite YouTube channel and website for this was MakeUpGeek.  Marlena really knows about different skin types, and how to make your products work the best.  I bought some products (a blush by NARS, a Lancome foundation, a Lancome waterproof mascara, and some other miscellaneous bits and bobs) and practiced applying them.
Then one day, I did a “trial run” of my makeup right before going in to teach.  Another teacher said “Did you just have a makeup trial for your wedding?  Because it looks so lovely!” and then I decided I’d do it that way.
It was a bit scary, but I was pretty happy with my face in the end.  I just looked like me, a bit more pretty!
So I’ll estimate that I spent about $150 on makeup (those high-end products are pricey), but I did it myself.  It last the whole day!


Costs:
Stockings: $10
Hairstyle: 60+60 = $120
Hair comb: 40+40 = $80
Makeup: $150

Total: $360

Next post: The Church, Decorations, Photography, and Flowers!
makeup, product, review

Product review – Garnier Caffeine Eye Roll-On

christinahopgood

So as we all know, I’m a little sensitive about my eyes. I often have kind of wrinkly, dark circles. So my friend recommended this stuff: Garnier Caffeine Eye Roll-On!

The stuff comes in a little plastic tube with a big silver ball at the top – kind of like a giant ball-point pen. You roll it under your eyes and it claims that it tightens the skin, reduces dark under-eye circles, gets rid of puffiness, and refreshes your skin. Sounds super great! However, it’s kind of sticky and you have to make sure it dries properly before applying any makeup – or it’ll roll off in gross sticky chunks.
It is a pretty good product, but I have to admit, the reality is only moderately great.
Claim 1: Tightens the skin. I think this is actually true! It leaves a thin film on your skin, which really does seem like it tightens the skin. It could be that it’s covering up any wrinkles and making them stay put. This might be enough for some people!
Claim 2: Reduces under-eye circles.
Not at all. My dark circles are as dark as ever! The tightening of the skin might give the illusion of reduced circles, but I don’t think it works really. To reduce dark circles I think you probably need bleach!
Claim 3: Gets rid of puffiness. I don’t really have puffiness so that doesn’t apply to me. Puffiness is what I want. I suspect it would work though, because there’s caffeine in it. Or something?

Claim 4: Refreshes the skin. This is true! It feels really nice to put this on! It’s super cool the first few seconds and then it starts to feel warm, at least for me. I really like the cold then hot feeling. It is very refreshing for tired eyes.
Do the results last? No. As soon as you wash it off, the skin returns to its previous state. This is okay, I guess. But it does mean that there’s no opportunity for real improvement, and that improvements are only as good as the amount of product you put on your eyes. It’s just like a prep for makeup, or if you eyes look just a bit lame today.
My friend thinks that maybe different people have dark circles for different reasons – allergies, tiredness, genetics. Mine are because of genetics – my mother and grandmother both have them. So perhaps if your dark circles are because of lack of sleep, or allergies, or something – this product might work better on you than it did on me.
In a couple of weeks I’ll review that super expensive stuff I was conned into buying the other day. I’ve tried it out and it is SO NICE OMG. My face feels so good.