Hair and Makeup Trial II: I am Putty in Your Hands

I admit it--I am totally excited about getting all dressed up on the wedding day, powdered and primped to perfection (or at least, just better than I look when I try to do my own makeup and dress myself).  Yes, the whole marriage thing is nice, but let's be honest, as the bride, we are kind of the star of the party, right?  I mean, that whole aisle and grand entrance thing? This is one day where I can spend otherwise embarrassing amounts of time and money on my appearance, and totally feel *justified* about the whole thing.  Woohoo!

So after my disappointment with my first hair and makeup trial, I decided that wedding-day narcissism, at least for me, had no bounds and I searched for another person to work with.  I eventually found Aimee Lam through yelp, and set up an appointment with her for a trial (if Aimee's name sounds familiar, that's because Miss Cola is using her as well!).

The results?  Aimee was amazing. Like, an artist, and very sweet and professional to boot. I had no idea you could do all that with makeup and hair. This is what I had wanted, a person in the bridal suite helping me to get ready who was a pleasure to work with, calming, and made me bee-yoo-tee-ful. Aimee even gave me a choice of three different facial washes when I first arrived! You had me at facial washes, Aimee!

I came armed with photos, including these: 

Hair

Source (Mrs. Coconut!)

Makeup

Source

(this link goes to a phe-NAH-me-nal makeup post by Mrs. Plumeria)

I don't usually wear makeup so it was kind of a shock to see the makeup and the dramatic hair--however, two things happened. One, I was so friggin amazed with how Aimee made me look and, to be honest, how gorgeous I felt that I didn't care what she did, I just wanted her to work her magic. Second, the makeup settled down a little after a few hours and became more subtle.

This is me before:

Aaaannnddd....this is my makeup afterwards (pay no attention to the half-done hair, focus on the face).

  

(see half open mouth? I am clearly stunned)

I know it's a bit dramatic especially considering how I normally look, but I care not. I love it. I got airbrush foundation and false eyelashes. For someone who doesn't wear makeup, I really decided to go big.

I like this next pic because it shows all the fun STUFF that a makeup artist uses.  While I don't wear much makeup on a regular basis, seeing all this makeup makes me giddy.

And here's...me again! From the front, just for good measure.

I have what is called jjak jae gee noon in Korean--my eyes are uneven. I like to think it's charming. In an annoying way.

As for my hair, here's Aimee furiously curling my too-long hair.  And see why I like her? She's laughing at something I said which was clearly very very funny.

Here's the back of my hair:

  
Wow, that's a whole lotta curls

This is the overall style that I'm going for--hair pulled back in curls still with some texture up front, although in this pic there are a hella lotta curls.  That is absolutely the result of my false belief that I needed to have Rapunzel hair in order to have an updo, not Aimee's doing.  I caught the drift when Aimee subtly asked, "Sooo, do you always keep your hair... *this* long?" Yeah, so I'm going to chill out on the length a bit.

Here's how my eye makeup held up by the end of the day (and check out those false eyelashes!):

And finally, in case I want to let my hair down at the tail-end of the wedding and have a Pantene moment:

Sassy! Hehe.

In the end, this was much, much more money than I had anticipated spending on hair and makeup.  But I really don't care.  This was important to me.  After seeing how I felt after the first and failed trial, to know I was in good hands made the budget explosion worth it (I believe that many a bride has repeated this mantra in justifying unforeseen wedding expenses).

Anyone fall in love with a vendor's skill and just let them do as they please?