"I decided to do my own makeup on my big day. In my family, that's a really big deal. My mother is Iranian whilst my dad is British and I've grown up seeing some serious wedding slap going down! Honestly, I can laugh about it now, but I must admit I was stressed out at the idea of my mum's side of the family pressuring me into taking on an overly made up doll look which is so popular in the community. I think it can look really brilliant on women who embrace it, but it's just not me. To make matters worse, both my aunts are popular makeup artists so I knew there would be some, shall we say, tension over my bridal 'look'.
In the end, I had to go with what felt right for me. I went with my usual face, just accentuated. I used more of everything. I guess you could say I applied my ordinary makeup with a heavy hand. I've been to enough weddings outside my family to notice that brides who look beautiful and natural in the flesh, often don't show up well in the photos. My fiance said he wanted to recognise me, which was his way of asking me not to show up looking like a christmas tree. I got it. Actually the three of us (along with my dad) are the only three people in the whole wedding party who said my makeup was beautiful (which I think it was) so I think that can show you how disappointed some of my guests were to see me not made up in the traditional way.
It was really important to me to have the centre of my face highlighted. I have some pigmentation on my chin and cheek area so I wanted that area to be lighter. I also avoided contouring even though its so popular now because it makes my face look too full. I used two shades of my favourite and trusted Liz Earl foundation in my skin match (Beach 3) and I had to use two layers to get the right amount of coverage. Then I applied the lightest shade down the centre of my face. I mixed this lighter shade with my llia illuminator and it really made my skin light and dewy, which I loved. It's a kind of reverse contouring where you enhance all the light areas but don't do any deep contouring in darker shades except for bronze on my cheeks. But I kept that higher on the cheek so that it wouldn't have an overly sculpted look. I just don't like that.
As well as using a bronzer on my cheeks, I ran it through the sockets of my eyes before launching into my Estee Lauder eye pallette which has a really nice plum and slate / brown colour that blends out really nicely. I lifted my eyes a bit with the black too. My makeup really stands out in the above photo because of the lighting and for the reasons I mentioned before, I went heavier on my look than usual because I knew we would be having outside shots - that's where my makeup really shines, it look so natural.And most importantly, as far as I'm concerned, it looks like ME."
These are the tools Julia used to makeup her face:
Diorskin Nude Tan Healthy Glow Enhancing Powder in Sunlight
Estee Lauder
Color Design 5 Pan Eyeshadow Palette, Jason Wu Collection
Double Wear Stay in Place Brow Lift Duo
Dior Addict Gloss
Ilia Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams
"Daylight is really when my makeup came into its own. It did look a bit strong indoors, but in my outside shots, I'm really pleased with the effect. This is how I wanted to look. It's all me, but stronger. If I'd actually worn my usual daily makeup, my face would have looked naked in these outdoor shots. I'm so grateful to my photographer who gave me the low down on that because I personally don't like heavy makeup and was in two minds about not having outdoor shots. But this worked."
