Wedding Myth Busting with a Makeup Professional

Episode Summary

• Airbrush is an application technique, or a digital effect—not a product or a photoshop filter. 
• Airbrush makeup is great for hiding tattoos. 
• Product brand does not necessarily matter—it’s the skill of the artisan. 
• A track is the lines of care that are put into an extension or in a wig. 
• Lashes make a big difference in your makeup. 
• Depending on where you’re getting married, it is nicer to get ready in your hotel room than anywhere else. 
• Makeup with sunscreen in it will give you a bloating face or make your face look whiter than your body. 
• Something that has titanium dioxide in it is great for protection from the sun and the light of flash photography.

Makeup has come a really long way in the last decade, especially when it comes to bridal makeup. Amelia Cooper of Amelia C & Co is here today with us to bust some myths and share some tips about bridal makeup. Amelia has served as a makeup artist in over 10 thousand weddings, she has also worked as a makeup artist since 2004 and opened her makeup agency in 2011. 

What you’ll learn from this episode:

00:00 Amelia’s role in the wedding industry

01:11 Amelia busts some makeup myths about the wedding world

04:17 Makeup application method Amelia likes the best

08:41 Who needs hair extensions

10:12 What are tracks

16:39 Normalizing mobile makeup services

19:27 Your hair should be dirty

23:00 Makeup with sunscreen in it will make photographs look weird 

Full Transcript

The funny thing about makeup is. Prior to social media, it was one of those things you had to up, let’s say four, or, you know, you have to look at the early two thousands blogs. It wasn’t really a whole lot of widely available information out there.

That was a space for industry professionals. I just say now it’s much. And since we have had this proliferation of information that’s coming around there’s also a lot of myths that are circulating and not for nothing. I say half of our job as wedding professionals is to save our clients from themselves.

And the same is true for wedding makeup artistry. So one of the things that we hear. We don’t hear it as much as we used to. Thankfully, but back in 2013 where anybody and their mother could be airbrush makeup certified, that was a big thing. Everybody wanted airbrush makeup and they thought that airbrush makeup would actually make them look like they were Photoshopped in real life.

We didn’t know the difference. And what people should understand about airbrush makeup is that airbrush is actually a technique of application. It’s not a makeup product. There can be, make a product specifically designed to go through a camera brush time. But most of those products you could use either use with a brush or with a gun so it’s really a method of application and it is awesome for certain things. I once covered a full back tattoo. It was great. It was a full back tattoo. It was a gorgeous, like shoulder to ass cherry blossom tree. But it was a traditional wedding and the Brite family was not comfortable with her showing her tattoos.

And in that. Airbrush makeup was awesome. We were able to use the alcohol base formula. You can’t use that on the skin because it’ll crack with the facial movements because you can’t even like make good emotions for my Botox. Just pick this. But normally we have a lot of movement up here, so we can’t use an alcohol base, but you don’t have that movement on your. So in that case is super, super durable. It blends beautifully. I know it’s going to last all day, not going to come off anybody’s clothes.

And that’s a really appropriate use of airbrush makeup. I am going to makeup on the face. There’s different numbers, there’s different technique, there’s different bases. And most of the times people have this idea that what they see on the ground with the airbrush photos and the photos or photos, that’s actually the effect that they’re going to get.

If we hose down their face and that’s really not. Got it. Got it. So, so do you have a preference in general? Like in an average, which, which application method do you like best? I think it depends on the artists applying it and what they learn. It’s kind of like, like, can you imagine if we expected bakers to use a hand paint versus an airbrush gun, if they were designing.

We’re better yet. What if you said, because that’s one of the questions we get asked all the time is what brand would make a fee. You imagine, as a photographer, somebody asks you what brand your camera was. People do ask that you don’t really get asked what brand of flour or sugar. Yeah. What is your brand of sugar or your, you know, your farm that you get your age?

These are things super unique to our industry. And I mean, you can have hired designer kit and it doesn’t make you a great makeup artists, right? And there’s been times where great makeup artists have to perform without their kids. So you get thrown into something and they will make it work with two, six and Maybelline.

Right. Right, right. So maybe that’s a myth too. It doesn’t matter actually. What brand your product is. That’s true. It does not matter what brand your product is. We use the products that we like, because it makes our job as person. That’s the value. The value comes in letting the artists who’ve worked through life.

If you’d like an artist work, letting them dictate how they get there, managing every step of the way, because he would never take easily. If the tech has decided that she wants to move my people here you would never ask an artist to the beautiful paintings and oil. To switch to acrylic because you heard online that acrylic is better, right?

Yeah. Okay, cool. So myth number one, let’s just do a quick recap. Airbrush is a technique. Airbrush is the application technique, not necessarily a product or it can also, we refer to as a digital. Got it. So it’s not a, it’s not a Photoshop filter, not a Photoshop. I cannot make you look like Instagram models, big three-phase tunes, a filter in a blurb.

And then the second myth that I heard was a product brand does not necessarily matter. It’s the, it’s the skill of the. Yep. It’s a skill, the artist. And we use it to our benefit because we know what we like working with. Got it. Perfect. Okay. Let’s head on over to miss number three, myth number three, you have to grow your hair out long. If you want enough to, oh my God. Don’t do that. Longer hair is not synonymous with volume of an up do. First of all, we can always add if we need it right. If you’re not a long hair person, or you threaten your shoulders, you can always do that. Secondly, we can really fake an up do on short hair.

Very, very, very well. And then lastly, if you have really long hair and you want to assume the reality is, is that you may not realize it, but we’re hiding about half of it underneath the actual ups too. It’s just creating another set for us to do. You’re not even going to see it all going to be hidden.

So I would say the third myth is that you have to grow your hair out. If you want to, the only time that you should grow your hair out is if you want. Meaning that you’re having it half up, half down or all down and you want that late. And in that case, I do really recommend the clip-in extensions because they also add volume as well.

Let’s talk a little bit about extension.

So not necessarily a myth, but I think that this is something that maybe people often overlook that there is accessibility to extensions for one. And then, I don’t know if you have. Quick tips. Cause this could probably be a whole other episode, but on ’em where to get them and how to get them and what to look for.

Sure. Yeah. So there is a tugger, I need extension. You have your phone and you have your least. There are ice hits. There are brackets, there’s more pensions there halos that I could possibly name but our preferred Ascension and what I would recommend for somebody who doesn’t normally wear benches would be the clip-in.

Because first of all, there’s temporary. So we just have to pop them into the day. There were usable, so you can use them, you know, long after your wet. You don’t need to be in a closet to put them in or take them out. Most of the other types of extensions, you actually have to be professional to have them installed or have them removed afterwards.

They’re just, they’re so versatile. And especially when it comes to wedding hair and depending on the style that she may get extensions thinking that it’s a really great email. She may get let’s say hits or a phone and needs phone extension, thinking that that’s going to be so great for her up to, and not realizing that the look she really wants is actually going to show off her track.

And she’s not going to be happy with that. And still having flippin is the affiliate specialist and the opportunity to use. Kristen extensions as they’re needed and then hide them because you can’t just pull out a phone in a moment. Yeah. Yeah. So when I hear the word tracks, can you just, just educate us just to touch on what that means, tracks of the west with hair.

So think of it as

like a very, very, very small braid with hair coming off of. So ATrack is the lines of care that are put into an extension or not be confused with individual extensions, which are usually done with practice or, okay, cool. And then let’s say if you have those in and you lift your hair up, sometimes they can show kind of like, you know, here or whatever.

nobody needs to know you got one and don’t leave it on. Got it. Okay. All right. Great. Thanks for the tips on extensions. I think that That’s kind of a fun, fun area that people often overlook and maybe, yeah, they could save a lot of headache and stress with like, eh, do I really need to grow my hair out?

Or maybe I’ll just get a couple of extensions and then I can have a totally different look for my wedding too, you know? So cool. Okay. Let’s jump onto another myth. I’m so curious what you got in your pocket here. So let’s see here. Another myth, anything around eyelashes. Nope. Nope.

Although we do get asked pretty often if somebody should get lash extensions or prior to the wedding day I think that just about every reputable makeup company that I’m aware of offers less lashes with. That’s not necessary. And there’s kind of like, kind of like hair extensions. There’s so many varieties of lash extensions.

Now there’s some magnet ones, and then there’s the strips and then there’s a clusters. So then there’s the ones that go up under the eye and are considered permanent. So they only last a week. But there’s such a huge, you know, and then there’s last last term for last salary and there’s so many different options.

But that right can choose from. It really is just personal preference on the, the, the monetary commitment, the time commitment, what they’re willing to put into it. Personally, I’m a fan of little fashion. They’ll strip the body or the better, but that’s my child. So you don’t have that, that same aesthetic they can certainly choose.

Yeah. So on a personal note I’m, I’m definitely along the more natural side of. Hair and makeup use as you might be able to see from her differences on camera here. But when I do have my photos done and I do have lashes, it does make a massive difference. And as Amelia said, like she might like a little bit more of the exaggerated lashes, but when, when Amelia’s company puts lashes on me it definitely accentuates.

Open my eyes, even though it feels like they’re heavy and they’re like, weighing my eyes down. That’s not the case. Visually and you do get used to it. So now it definitely is hard to go without them for my photo shoot, my personal family photo shoots and such, because it does make such a massive difference.

And oftentimes, honestly, the lashes. Could be like one of the only things you need, you might be able to correct me if I’m wrong here, but it’s a major asset. Today’s a perfect example. I have a very, very busy day. And if you’re listening to this on audio just know that there might be a video floating around somewhere. So I actually had to put myself together to come on camera and I did the very bare minimum. And the only thing that you really need to know about makeup, art, skin, brows, lashes.

Right. If you’re missing one of those things, if one of those things is an on-point, then it’s really noticeable. But if you have those four basic things covered, which just for me is like a 15 minute look. It actually looks very polished and pulled together because skin, brows, lashes, and lips, and the false lashes really helped that.

Yeah. Yeah. So we often get, I mean, I get brides that will occasionally ask if they should get their hair and makeup done. And I almost 100% always say. Just do the lashes. Like you’re going to be like, oh, I’m so natural, you know? Oh, I don’t want to have an over overbearing makeup look, but lashes. Make a big difference.

So that would be my tip tip of the episode, get the damn lashes, the ones that we put on you because we’ve done your makeup, right. A million times. What we put on you is different than what I wear. I, we put individuals on you and we keep them that short and. They’re much more comfortable if you’re not used to wearing makeup the way I wear my makeup, they’re so much more comfortable.

They’re more durable because girls don’t wear makeup a lot. They.

So they’re a lot more natural. They’re a lot more comfortable and are going to stand up to my natural girls. So they know you’re out there. You both

put up with your busing. They last much longer. Awesome. Good. Okay. What are some other Myths, sorry. We’re on myths, not tips, but it’s kind of hard not to, to throw on some nuggets here and there. It kind of mixed in between them in there. Let’s see. We’ve gone over lashes. We’ve talked about parents hair talked about airbrush makeup, which is a big one.

I don’t know, I’m kind of at a loss, anything come to mind? Do I have to go to a makeup counter to get my makeup done? Is that a mask? If you don’t believe, I think, or like a salon, do you operate, you know, like I know maybe count makeup counter is not the right word, but I do think that, you know, one thing that’s unique maybe to Las Vegas, but I know that you’ve had, you know, experiences other places Is that your mobile make hair and makeup companies typically come to you in Las Vegas, but I’m sure they do in other, other towns and cities.

Yeah. That actually started probably in the late nineties, early two thousands. Having on location, hair and makeup services became more and more normal. It actually became the expectation. And especially, I would say within the last five to seven years, we’ve seen exponential growth where, you know, having makeup services was once reserved for.

Maybe prom, which everybody was always terrified that you’d make them look like, or they’re reserved for film sets, but it wasn’t a, maybe you would go and get, you know, go to a makeup counter for your wedding day, or maybe you would have a Mary Kay rep. That was your friend that would be your make for your wedding.

We really normalize almost patient services and they’re pretty standard around. The United States. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but for the United States, I do think that there’s an exception for a few areas that legally they’re not allowed to service client homeless patients, but that’s pretty rare.

Okay. Cool. So you can stay in your home if you’re getting married locally, or if you’re in a hotel in a destination wedding and most of the time it sounds like your hair and makeup company will come to you. Yes. Great. Yeah. It’s way easier. I’ll just tell you that it’s so much easier. It’s so much easier.

The only caveat I would say to that is that depending on where you’re getting married plans are, it really is nicer to get ready in your hotel room than anywhere else, because sometimes people want to wait till they get, so then you need to do it. Or they, they have these ideas about like, I dunno, like something’s going to happen to their makeup if they get in a car with it, like something about the car doesn’t come off.

Yeah. Make as much more day is much, much, much more durable than that. So really the most that you would have to do with block from shine in such a field, if you get a professional makeup artist to do it, that’s the most that you just have to be. Okay. Cool. All right. Any other myths regarding hair makeup for wedding days that you’d like to bust?

That your hair has to be perfectly smooth in order for you to achieve a file, please don’t flat iron your hair. Before we show up, that’s going to make sure that your hair does not grow. There are a very few exceptions and the lady to hire reception. They already know that because they’ve lived with their, their curly hair or they’re, you know, highly forced or highly textured hair, their whole life.

And they know exactly how to manage it. But for most of us, that’s not the case. I don’t care if you look like a fuzzy Keke dip, when we show up Got it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Actually, I have one here. Should you? I’ve always heard that your hair should be dirty. Oh yeah. That used to be a thing. We’ve talked with you that now we don’t have have 30 hearing more.

We don’t need you to have there been hearing more. We don’t have to show up with your three, three and do it with

to the iron trail, the hair. And you’re trying not to say that you don’t need to have one third stage. We have create that effect for us actually have that happened by the way, just so like all of our listeners know I have literally gone to do weddings and they were so excited. They were so proud of themselves that they had one day dirty hair.

They were so pleased. And their dirty hair had so much hairspray in it. Wasn’t dirty. It just, yeah, that it likes to a 450 degree iron and I, and they have no idea, but behind them I’m panicking because I’m trying to peel their hair off the iron because it’s sticky because of the hairspray.

Okay. Cool. What else?

Thank you. Another thing let’s talk about this dirty hair thing real quick. So. The other thing too, maybe. And again, I’m not the makeup and hair expert here, but my hair, when it goes a day or two without being washed actually gets more oily, that’s probably not great for, right. So I’m just making sure that.

I’m asking for a friend, but no girlfriends, straight hair, like you have very, very straight, very, very fine hair. And the thing about it is the girls who have that straight fine hair for some reason, thought also they’ve know a lot of it. So it’s like straight find tons of hair. And when it gets just a little, it’s already hard to pull the curl as it is.

And there’s so much of it. That once we, once you get that oily, you know, the spacious plans and the oily scalp and the sweat, all that starts to get onto the roof, it’s nearly impossible to hold a curl and technically kind of look three feet is not something people typically want me on the other hand.

I have very naturally very, very curly. And so I go five days without championing my hair, but the oil weight, my hair candles, my scalp oil is completely different so I can get away with it. But even me, I would never now that we have really, really great products, if I get my hair done by one of my artists, when I get high on my own supply, I make sure that I have had clean freshly dried hair and it needs to be dry because of the dampness to it.

What about clean freshly faced for your makeup as usual? Preferably with Nelson’s. Okay. That was going to be another question. I have heard of. You know, I have never experienced this personally, and this might be different now, too, but with product changes and stuff, but I’ve heard that some, sometimes people say that if, if makeup or lotion has sunscreen in it, that it will photograph hammered.

Yeah. It’ll give you a floating face. That’ll make your face look wider than your body because they’re not a reflection. So sunscreen has a titanium dioxide in it, which is really great for protecting you from the sun. It’s also really great for protecting you from the light of flash photography. So because it reflects off when you have makeup on that has SPF in it and you get that classic tography, it will usually create a flashlight, which is what your face looks lighter than your body.

And it’s not because your actual foundation color is incorrect. It’s because of the reflection. So you see this a lot with mineral makeup because mineral makeup and, you know, we all went through this phase a few years back where we decided everything had to be all natural. And I got so frustrated with it.

At one point I just started asking people. I was like, well, let’s working is all natural. You don’t want that on your face too, just because all natural. Does it mean it’s free? Doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for you than anything? All it means is that it’s all natural. And so our scorpions and trends. So now I will say this a couple of things with that.

First of all, when it comes to natural light photography, we’re not allowed clashes being used. It’s typically not as much of an issue because you have a lot of light. You have a lot of you, you don’t have a lot of artificial light as being directed specifically on you. You’re beautiful film. So and you know, if you’re having a beautiful outdoor ceremony, you typically, and especially if you’re doing enough, right.

Sunday, you typically will not have that issue. The other thing that I will say is that makeup has come a really, really long way in the last 50. And there are certain brands that do contain SPF in them that do not have any flashbacks. I personally whereby it cosmetics and it, cosmetics has a product called a CC cream, although it’s not a beauty balm, as we know it is got more coverage than that.

It’s very hydrating and their CC cream has an SPF 50 in it. And there’s no class. No, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. But that is a professionally designed product. Most products like your average, your average drugstore products and your mid to low end products will create that effect. Yeah. Okay, cool. had another question for you, but I cannot.

Okay. I’m sure. I’ll see you again. We’re on the, is that I know where you live. Right? All right. So any other myths you’d like to bust before we close out this episode? No, I think that’s it. I think the biggest ones are, you know, don’t, don’t grow your hair out for a year. You don’t need to. In fact, you’re just making our job harder and we’re going to hide half of it in.

Don’t insist on airbrush makeup. If you’d like the artist work, let them determine how they get you, the results you want. Don’t try and micromanage them. Because all you care about at the end of the day is feeling beautiful and having a blast. And I guarantee your artists knows more how to do that than you probably do.

And they may want to do it by hand. They didn’t want to do it by airbrushing their choice. And you definitely don’t have to have your hair. You can but we have great products now that we don’t require it. And lash extensions are entirely up to you as well as your pension, but I’m personally an advocate of.

Temporary and easy, especially if you’re going on a honeymoon. Right afterwards, last thing, some girl walking down, sand resort in Jamaica with like, you know, half flashes on one side and she had a track hanging out in the other and leave your lashes on you. Don’t worry about the tracks. Good. Okay. Great. Well, thank you so much for busting some wedding, hair and makeup myths with us today. Tell us, yeah. Tell us how we can find more more about you.

Yeah. So if you want to find some Instagram. It’s AmeliaCAndCo. You can also visit our website, www.Amelia-C.com. We’ve got blogs on there. We’ve got some galleries. So even if you’re not getting married in Las Vegas, that you need hair and makeup.

And so we have hundreds of photos for you to browse through. And we’re of course always available and at your shirts. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me!