bride-to-be beauty timeline

With wedding season gearing up fast and furiously in addition to being surrounded by engaged people (including BOTH of my sisters), I have been asked quite a few times recently for skincare advice for bride-to-be’s! Even if you’re not engaged, it’s beneficial to have a timeline in mind when considering switching up your skincare routine or preparing for another event.

photo courtesy of my sister, Emily!

Pre-Wedding Beauty Timeline

8 months before

This is the time to address any skin concerns you may have, such as acne, hyperpigmentation, fine lines & wrinkles, large pores, etc. There are SO many resources online to help you identify your skin type and suggest a skincare routine! If necessary, visit a dermatologist to get more insight as to which products could benefit you.

A great start is: Cleansing your skin twice a day, using a serum or treatment targeted toward your area of concern once a day, and using at least one kind of moisturizer (morning and night).

*hint: retinol is GREAT at improving both acne and fine lines, and you can find it in many drugstore products! Just look for retinol on the label. An added perk is it makes your skin glow, however, you have to be extra careful in the sun and liberal with your usage of SPF if you decide to use retinol because it increases your skin’s sensitivity to the sun.

6 months before 

If you would like to improve your exercise and eating habits, start now! Exercise helps your skin glow and reduces stress, which helps with acne and fine lines. Eating good “skin” foods (usually high in good fats as well as lots of veggies and cutting back on sugar) will make your skin look radiant.

5 months before

Nail down the hair and makeup look you’re going for on your big day and hire someone to do your hair and/or makeup if you haven’t already. Pinterest away for inspiration!

3 months before

You should have started to see results from your new skincare and exercise/eating routine! This is a good time to start targeted treatments such as once weekly masks, wrinkle treatments, peels, and acne treatments. One of my go-to’s is anything with glycolic acid; I love a good peel. Now there are plenty of gentle, affordable products containing glycolic/alpha hydroxy acid available! One of my favorites is First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads.

1-2 months before

Do a hair and makeup trial run so you know exactly what you’ll look like on your wedding day! This is also a good time to test different self-tanners, nail polishes, etc.

2 weeks before

Refresh your hair cut and color! If you don’t do color, a clear glaze will make your hair shine without altering your current color. Start exfoliating a few times a week to maximize the “glow” you have been working on.

Try to avoid limit alcohol, sugar, and salt-rich foods at this point to avoid the negative consequences they reap on your skin (I know it’s hard!).

3 days before

Get a manicure and pedicure, a spray tan, wax, stay out of the sun, shape your brows, and get lots of beauty sleep.

If you don’t feel a need to change your current skincare routine, or don’t have much time before your wedding, hop in the timeline wherever you want! These are just my personal suggestions starting from ground zero.

Happy wedding season!

Revlon Skinlights

Everyone seems to be obsessed with dewy-looking skin that "glows" lately, and for good reason. It absolutely exudes health and beauty. 

Most celebrities and models attribute their radiant skin to a diligent skincare routine, juice cleansing, tons of sleep, daily exfoliation, the list goes on and on. For those of us who struggle to stick to all these different routines or simply need a little more help to get that perfect glow, there's highlighter. 

Highlighter is a bit tricky because you have to figure out the best type (liquid, powder, solid, cream) for your skin tone (pink, golden, bronze) to avoid looking too frosted and shimmery. I have tried many different kinds, and think I've finally found a very natural looking one for me: Revlon Skinlights in Bare Light. 

Revlon Skinlights comes in four different shades: Pink light, Bare light, Peach light, Bronze light. Bare light is the most neutral shade of all of them, which is why I decided to try this one first! 

It goes on smoothly, blends in really well and stays put. I love how it doesn't look like highlighter - it looks totally natural. You can apply it like regular highlighter, or mix a drop or two into your moisturizer/foundation for an all around glowy look. 

In these photos, I opted for your average highlighter application: tops of cheekbones, brow bones, and the tiniest bit in the center of my forehead (between the brows & blended up), down my nose, on my cupid's bow, and on my chin.

Pre-Skinlights

Bare Light looks closer to a BB cream than a highlighter (read: natural)

Blended in, you can see just a touch of "glow"

You can barely see the highlighter on my cheekbone/browbone

And again

Post-Skinlights

As you can see the difference is super subtle, but if you're scared of highlighter I definitely recommend started with Skinlights because it is so natural-looking!

Do you wear highlighter? Let me know which other ones I should try! 

New York Fashion Week: Beauty Re-Cap

Most people look forward to New York Fashion Week for fashion (obviously). From models' off-duty street style, to the celebs sitting in the front row, to the actual clothes on the runway, Fashion Week seems like an endless source of inspiration for the fashion-obsessed.

However, others of us look forward to Fashion Week for the beauty inspiration. Every show has a distinct hair and makeup look, yet there are always common beauty trends to be found for the upcoming season. While some designers go for bold, shocking hair and makeup looks, others incorporate beauty looks that us mere mortals can actually pull off.

From the dead-ish look at Altuzarra, to smokey eyes at DVF, there was a look from this week for everyone. I could go through each designer's beauty look separately to point out what is so great about it, but I can't ignore the fact that there was an overwhelming presence of a single beauty trend for Fall '15: effortlessness. 

That's right folks, the "no makeup makeup" and "I woke up like this" trend is stronger than ever and here to stay. This is great news for us normal people! No need to buy the latest color-saturated products - it's all about looking your best naturally.

The makeup was minimal, with a sheer wash of color on the eyes or lips (or neither), the focus was on the skin and natural beauty. The hair was low maintenance, embracing natural texture and simple styling.

Below are my favorite I Woke Up Like This looks from NYFW:

Prabal Gurung 

Derek Lam

Donna Karan

Jason Wu

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Philip Lim

Tibi

Michael Kors

Tommy Hilfiger

My personal favorite all-around beauty look this week is tied between Prabal Gurung and Michael Kors! Which New York Fashion Week look is your favorite?

P.S. Check out  more Fashion Week beauty looks here and here (source of all photos).

there's a new, cool kid on the block: glossier

I realize I am a little late when it comes to proclaiming my New Year's Resolutions, but I honestly didn't give it any thought until January 2. Oops. 

This year, I simply want to take better care of my skin. By washing my makeup off every day, moisturizing on a regular basis sticking to a solid skincare routine I think I'll look and feel a lot better. Also, let's be honest here, I received Glossier's Phase 1 set for Christmas from one of my sisters so it seemed like a good time to start being serious about skincare.

Hint: if you don't know, Glossier is Into The Gloss's spinoff beauty brand created by Emily Weiss (you might remember her as super-intern Emily on The Hills). It's pretty effing cool that a beauty brand was born out of a blog if you ask me, or Forbes.

I have only been using this set for a little over a week and I'm OBSESSED. I can seriously already tell a difference in my skin texture; it looks and feels more even and more glowy! I can't make this stuff up, people.

The tie for my favorite product is between the priming moisturizer and the moisture tint. I use this priming moisturizer every day on top of my favorite serum, and actually look forward to slathering the stuff on my face. The super creamy texture is great but even better is that it completely moisturizes my skin (read: no dry flakes) WITHOUT making my face oily which is truly miraculous. The "priming" aspect does seem to work as my face makeup doesn't slide around as much throughout the day. 

If velvety cream existed this would be it

On the other hand, the moisture tint is simply amazing. I was skeptical at first because it looks pretty unassuming out of the bottle since it's runny and only comes in three shades, but it's definitely a power product. The coverage is medium, it covers imperfections well (still need concealer for pesky blemishes and dark circles) but makes my skin g-l-o-w. Since it lets my freckles show through it looks like a "me but better" version of my face and I'm not sure I'll ever try another face makeup again.*

Looks like totally the wrong color, but is perfect blended in.

*if you're looking for heavier coverage that covers everything, this may not be for you.

The smoothing face mist is pretty awesome, I guess, but I have to admit I'm not much of a face mist person. I have heard of people using it to set their makeup or simply to feel more awake during the mid-day slump (ya hear me, 2 p.m.?!), but I haven't  decided when it will be my go-to. To be continued...

The balm dot com is pretty much the bomb dot comb, as to be expected with any petroleum-based product. You can use it literally anywhere; I use it on my lips, eczema patches on my elbows, under my nose, tops of cheekbones for a glow, etc. I compare this to Elizabeth Arden's infamous Eight Hour Cream; it's a product you never want to leave home without, even if it basically is just glorified vaseline in a tube.

The do-it-all product

The tote and padded plastic travel bags the came with the goods. Not pictured: the cute, quirky stickers included as well.

Who was I before Glossier?! These products have quickly become essentials and I don't think I can ever live a day without them again. Word on the street is that Glossier will be debuting more products, including makeup, this year and I can't wait to see what my new favorite beauty brand has in store!