Bridal Beauty Makeup Tips

Recently I celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary. Every year this time around, I like to look back on one of the most emotional and memorable days of my life. There's not a single think I regret or would change about my bridal look and it's because I kept it classic and simple.

Trends come and go,  on your wedding day you want to look as classic and timeless as possible. Loverly reached out and asked me to share my makeup looks for a wedding dress and here are my favorite products, some of which I actually used on my wedding day. So here are my tips for all you beautiful future brides to be. These products are also great for any wedding attendee.

The Dress:

I choose this classic drop waste dress, because it was the closest to my own wedding dress and I love the elegance, simplicity, and modern look of the style. You can look back at this years from now and not cringe at your choice. Example, those huge puff sleeve satin, polyester blend dresses from the 80's.

Here are some pictures of my own wedding dress:

Now the makeup!

It's all about a good flawless face for me. I personally had my makeup artist use the Armani Luminous Silk foundation that I had bought on me for my big day and it is still my goto event/ special occasion foundation. It lasts all day and has a beautiful natural flawless finish. Just so you know a hurricane blew through my wedding right before I was about to walk down the aisle. So this held up through humidity, rain, sweat, and tears. 

Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Eyes:

Eyes should be the highlight of your makeup. You can go smokey, sultry, bold, or natural, I personally choose a natural smokey eye with TONS of lashes. I wanted to look like a doll. Lashes were my main focal point. We used neutral eyeshadows, with hints of plum to bring out my golden brown eyes and tons of mascara and individual false lashes. 

I think we used a whole pack of these on me

The perfect amount of neutral shades and plums. Lorac Pro Palette

With lips I suggest using a your lips but better waterproof lip liner to define your lips and fill in. Apply a your lips but better gloss or stain over. This way you won't be a mess after all the kisses you do for photos and guests. Also you will have no time to reapply your lips, so pick a good long lasting one!

It Cosmetics YLBB Waterproof Lip Liner. This is my goto lip liner. It stays all day and has the best shades to achieve a natural lip. 

I'm a HUGE fan of it cosmetics vitality lip flush 4- in -1. This product goes on super creamy and moisturizing, yet wears off nicely leaving a subtle stain on your lips. 

No matter the products you choose or the look you go for, just make sure it represents you! Your going to glow with happiness on your big day and you want to let your inner beauty shine through. 

What are some special occasion products you always pull out? 

XOXO

Serein

A Very Merry Anniversary Wrap Up

If you watch my youtube channel or follow me on any of my social medias, you'd know that I recently celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary.

Leading up to our trip, there was quite a bit of stress and planning involved. At first we were trying to make a week in Hawaii work, but finally it fell through, so off to plan B... Vegas. My husband bought us Britney Spears tickets and I was elated! Now I know Britney hasn't been her best since 2007, but there's something about getting to see my high school pop idol live.

The week leading up to the trip, I was filming, editing, cleaning, and working like crazy to make sure our trip would be as smooth and stress free while we were there.

Monday I took the babies (if your new they are my 2 dogs not actual human babies) to my mom's for her to watch while we went away. While I was at my mom's my husband lets me know that they have canceled his returning flight home and they are trying to schedule him on a new flight. I start to panic... what if he doesn't make it back in time?!

A few hours later I get a phone call from my husband, clearly he has not gotten on the plane.
He calls: "Well your not going to believe what happened, I guess we're not going to see Britney."

I PANIC I'm thinking there is no way in HELL I am not going to drive myself to vegas and go see her on my own. Then he says that I have booked a job (acting job).

"That's not possible, I haven't auditioned for anything," was my response.

My husband says: "No it's a direct booking from your last audition." (these things apparently really happen)

I still don't believe him.

Flash forward to a few more hours, me finally believing him. I ended up working on Tuesday and our tickets are for Wednesday so worst case we can still drive in Wednesday morning to go see my pop idol.

Basically everything worked out. I worked early Tuesday morning and was wrapped just before 11am.

I play a Young Teacher

My OOT from my trailer

Gotta take a selfie!

This whole time I thought things were working agains us and our trip, but I got to work on one of my favorite shows, take a week long vacation with my husband, and see Britney Bitch!

At the concert

Look how tiny she is!

Nils from Beautylish sent me this autographed perfume from Britney. I was kind of gushing about how excited I was for the concert on Sunday at the Beautylish Charlotte Tilbury Launch. 

Sometimes things going wrong really are things going right.

XOXO
Serein

P.S.
HUGE Vegas makeup haul will be up soon on my channel. Make sure your subscribed!

Louboutin Red

20 Years after Christian Louboutin painted his first stiletto sole with red varnish as a finishing touch, women around the world now recognize the infamous red soles everywhere. Even if you don't know it, you've seen them and they look nice.

To me Louboutins are a symbol of luxury, art, and sex. Each pair is beautifully crafted and every detail is thought of. Wearing a pair of Louboutins makes you sway your hips a little and walk a little sultrier. The best part is how the toe cleavage make foot fetishes go wild.

Going back to almost 2 years ago (wow time flies), I was newly engaged and before I had a location, dress, or even idea of what I wanted my wedding to be like, I knew what I'd be wearing on my feet. A pair of Christian Louboutins.

My wedding shoes

Many girls dream of their dress, first dance, their ring, mine were the shoes I'd be walking down the aisle in.

Flash forward to last week during an impromptu date night, which consisted of my husband being the best and most patient husband in the world by taking me to my favorite Sephora in L.A., there it was. The most beautiful nail polish on display with NO tester.

I had heard that Christian Louboutin was releasing a nail polish and I had decided that I did not need this beautiful nail polish in the most artistically constructed packaging I'd ever seen, but I had to share the visual with my husband. When I walked up to it and showed him, He said "Wow that's nice." I asked "would you totally kill me for spending $50 on nail polish?" Without hesitation he said "no, it's a collection item and you love Louboutin." I know that I have married the right man for me since our first date, but that moment reminded me how wonderful he really is and how much he just gets me.

My very first pair of Louboutins from my mom 

We walked away to have a wonderful dinner so I could think about it. After some advice from my Instagram crew,  I made the decision to go back and spend $50 on this baby.

It took me 2 days to even open the box and expose the beautiful bottle. Then another day to paint my nails with the most beautiful nail polish handle.

peer pressure from the beauty snoop 

I have to say Mr. Louboutin did not disappoint one bit. The formulation is rich, pigmented, beautifully fluid, and so far no chips (we're going on day 31/2 with some major house work). Every time I look down at my toes or my hands, I have a little smile. It reminds me of the shade of the sexy red soles when you walk away wearing a pair of Louboutins.

My 2nd pair. Black suede. 

My Wedding shoes. 

Will you be purchasing your very own polish? Have you ever splurge on a major designer item? I'd love to hear your thoughts and stories.

XOXO
Serein

Facebook Is Not a Form Of Communication

Here's a daily rant and personal pet peeve of mine...

Facebook while great for stalking your old classmates, co-workers, and sharing silly photos and quizzes, is not a form of actual dependable communication.

In the days of social media and wonderful life improving technology, we as a society have lost some personal contact with humanity.

I'm a big believer in traditions for special occasions and following some basic etiquette, especially for engagements, weddings, announcements, and major life changing events.

Our Engagement Shoot Photo By Scott Land Photography

For example: If you expect me to take time off work, buy a ticket, buy a present, and come to your wedding, where you or your family has spent considerable amounts of time and money on, I expect something more than an Evite, FB Event,  or E-mail. Don't get mad when you need to remind me to attend your supposed special event.

This also means that if I spent the time and money to pick out paper invitations and personally addressed each invitation and purchased the ridiculous over priced stamp from the post office and included a self addressed return envelope or an "RSVP to and by", I expect a damn response! RSVP is not optional!!!

My Sister Hosted our Engagement Party and did all the food.

As we become more comfortable behind a screen, we loose touch of common decency and consideration for each other and it's truly sad. I see it when I goto the store and I see it more and more on the road. It makes me want to move somewhere far away from everyone and really brings out my anxiety and depression.

Me somewhere far away

I admit I'm the first person to avoid chatting on the phone, I hate it, I rather you text me a place and time and I'll spend my whole day chatting with you in person. That's just me.

Now you might think I sound like a total hypocrite since I have a youtube channel and blog and most of my day is spent on social media of some sort. My argument is not against social media, I think social media is a great form of expression, sharing photos, sharing general life events, and a great business tool for promoting oneself or company. my argument is that if you expect me to be somewhere or to know your trying to get a hold of me, use the fucking phone or at least my e-mail!

Shameless self promotion, but go check out my youtube channel if you haven't already!

I've had many missed events and messages lately and folks are upset with me for not responding, attending, or knowing what is up, well being a blogger I spend so much time responding to comments, e-mail, and maintaining all forms of social media, that I'm not going to be able to maintain my personal life on there as well. In fact I resent it when expected to.

I make it to events when I know about them! Screening of Sleep Away Camp

So next time your throwing a party and I don't know about it or show up, instead of getting mad at me, maybe think about the way you invited people. If your event is truly that important for people to attend I'll give you a hint, Facebook Invite isn't the way to go.

xoxo
Serein

Another Birthday Come and Gone

So as I reach another birthday I reflect on the last year of my life. It's been a little less than a month since my personal holiday.

Sometimes as excited as I get about celebrating my day, there's a deep rooted sadness that I feel around the 19th of April as well. As I get older each year the sadness becomes more prominent. This could be the fact that as a child you never imagine yourself past 20.

This year was the marking of truly feeling like an adult, yet still not quite. Do we ever feel our age? I seem to have age identity crisis a lot.

This I've done this year:

I planned a wedding and got married!
As much as I love being married and I adore my husband, who makes me the happiest woman on Earth, I never actually imagined being married before meeting him.

So as I look back at 2012, getting married was a huge milestone in my life and it happened last year! Just sitting back and reflecting on the whole process of being engaged. Planning the wedding. Getting married. It's all very overwhelming. No matter how much I knew my husband or how much I loved him before the wedding, something happens when the vows are said, the ceremony is over and that little wedding band is on both of our fingers. I can't explain it, but a shift happens. Expectations change, not bad, not good, things just change. It's you and him forever now. You have a partner for life. You are responsible for another's well being and hapienss. It's a huge adjustment mentally.

Youtube Beauty Guru
I've also become an active youtuber posting multiple videos a week on beauty, product reviews, makeup tutorials, and shopping hauls. I never would have thought of myself as a youtuber. If you asked me a few months ago even, I would laugh and be embarrassed of my endeavor to advise through youtube. Making videos has become an outlet for me. Videos fill my creative needs and also makes me feel productive and helpful to others. It's become my main source of daily expression and creativity. I get complete creative control talking about things I'm passionate about.

Yoga?
I became a Yogi in the last year as well. In college I hated yoga, I didn't see the point, now I need it. The breathing, the stretching, the community, it all calms me and centers my mind. The physical benefits are great too!

Independence
I've learned to be alone. Being alone use to lead to depression and feeling like a looser for me. Now I cherish the moments of solitude. To do my own thing and not be disrupted or worried about someone else. While I love my friends and always need them in my life, I have learned that as we age and grow up and build our own families, the time we do get to spend together is precious and rare. Just because I don't hear from them every day doesn't mean that they would be there for me if I needed them. This goes for them too. I don't feel the need to have to call them everyday, we are all busy and trying to live life. In fact my best friends are the ones I see the least.

Move On
This is something I'll always struggle with, but looking back at the last year, I've really improved this trait. It use to take me years to move on from the smallest slights or fights. Now mostly I figure it's not personal, but something the other person is going through. How often do I start a fight or get upset at someone because of my own insecurities or issues? Almost always. So 90% of the time if someone has beef with you, it's really not personal.

Growing up has made me a better partner and friend to those in my life. Do I still get a little sad around my birthday? Yes. I think it's the panic that I haven't done enough with my life or that I am not where I thought I would be, but honestly? Who is exactly where they thought they would be? Life is unexpected and beautiful. The control freak side of me needs to just shut up and enjoy the ride because looking back at the last year, It's been a pretty great one :-)