5 tips for Beautiful Bridal Skin

Simple steps to a gorgeous glow

Everyone wants gorgeous, glowing skin and no one more so than my brides-to-be. If you’re looking for beautiful bridal skin, you’ve come to the right place. I cannot stress enough that the key to flawless looking makeup on your wedding day is good skincare. Get your skincare in order and you’ll immediately see how your makeup sits better and lasts longer.

So I’ve put together my top 5, simple tips for beautiful bridal skin that you can start right now.

I send all my brides a basic skincare guide in the months leading up to their wedding, not only because I hope they will benefit from it but because if they do it, it will make my job a whole lot easier on the wedding morning. Win, win.

Number 1 – Moisturise

My most important tip is to moisturise. This may seem like a simple thing that everyone does, right? Well yes, it should be! But are you getting enough moisture into your skin?
Skin is made up of 70% water and around 20-30% of that is found in the top layer (the epidermis). If your skin is not getting enough moisture, signs of dehydration will show pretty rapidly. Your skin will start to look dull and tired and will lose its plumpness. Not the youthful, healthy, glowing skin you are imagining for your bridal skin! You may also notice that your makeup starts to disappear during the day or go patchy as your skin tries to take all the moisture from your foundation, seeking water wherever it can.
There are so many moisturisers out there but my current favourite has got to be from Lumene.

Lockdown schmockdown

If you are reading this during lockdown or isolation your skin is most likely more dry or dehydrated than usual because of the amount of time spent indoors, without the suns vitamin D and with the drying central heating on. You may want to ramp up the moisture levels by adding an oil to your skincare routine.
Even if you have oily or combination skin, your skin still needs moisture and you should not be scared of adding an oil to oily skin. In fact, oily skin is often caused when the skin produces extra oil to try to fight the lack of moisture it has, so stop trying to dry out your oily skin and give it what it is asking for. Get that moisturiser on! Morning and night. No excuses. You (and your bridal skin) will appreciate it when you see how nicely your makeup glides on and stays on, on your wedding day.

Number 2 – Exfoliate

Sitting on the surface of your skin are dead skin cells. These do nothing to help with the smooth, radiant skin I know you all want! Get rid of them.
There are many types of exfoliators out there, gentle daily ones, scrubs with gritty bits in (no microbeads please!), weekly peels. Find something that you can commit to, that fits easily into your routine and something that your skin can handle.
DO NOT over exfoliate! We don’t want red, tight and flaky skin, we are aiming for radiance! My personal favourite way to exfoliate is by using a muslin cloth or a good old fashioned flannel when I cleanse (every day). This exfoliates my skin nicely without being too harsh and I may use a stronger exfoliator once a week or as and when I feel I need a bit extra. Oh, and don’t forget those lips! One thing that ruins a bridal makeup is trying to put lipstick on to dry, chapped lips. No thank you!

Number 3 – Clean Your face!

Another simple one, but one that seems to get missed too often. Clean your face. Properly. And please, please do not go to bed still wearing your makeup! You need to clean your skin every night, especially if you wear makeup or sunscreen, in fact if you wear either of those you need to clean it twice. Double cleanse. Your face attracts all sorts of grime during the day and we want that gone or that dirt and bacteria will cause breakouts and other nasties that have no place on your beautiful bridal skin. Give it a wash, its as simple as that.

The start of Beautiful Bridal Skin

Find a gentle cleanser that you can use daily, something without alcohol, ideally not a foaming wash (they tend to dry the skin out) and don’t even get me started on wipes! If you are a wipe user, STOP! My recommendation would be to find a cream/balm/gel/oil that you can massage into your skin to really loosen the dirt and makeup and then wash it all away with a warm damp cloth. Once your skin is clean it is ready to soak up your serums/oils/moisturisers overnight and leave you waking up with smoother, brighter and softer skin.

Number 4 – Diet

Sorry, I hate to bring it up but it is pretty important. Now I know a lot of you are probably already into getting your body fit and svelte, ready to get in your wedding dress/tux, but whilst exercise is fantastic (so I hear) for your body and mind. Please don’t think that that is enough.

Drink More Water!

Drinking water is necessary for our bodies to run at its best and to help nutrients reach the skin through good blood flow. Drinking water literally flushes our systems, removing toxins and hydrates our bodies as a whole, including our skin. And you know what has the opposite effect? Sugars, caffeine and alcohol – sobs uncontrollably. Consuming large amounts of sugars produces something in the body (cytokines, if you want to get all technical) which literally eat away at collagen and elastin, so get rid of those fizzy drinks, processed foods and other things that have a high sugar content.
Alcohol, we all know is dehydrating, but in fact it’s more than just that. Alcohol has been linked with skin disorders such as rosacea, psoriasis, premature ageing, saggy skin and acne. It also has a ton of sugar in. Let’s save the alcohol for the post-ceremony celebrations and enjoy beautiful bridal skin on the wedding day.

Do you dairy?

Now, let’s talk dairy. If you follow me you will know that I am a vegan makeup artist. My kit contains only vegan cosmetics but I myself have been vegan for a number of years, so I can personally tell you that giving up (or even limiting) dairy will do wonders to your skin and sooo many other things. I’m not going to go into all the benefits now, we are looking at skincare, but if you are interested, check out some of my other blog posts or simply take a browse online, there’s plentiful information out there.

Basically dairy is full of hormones and chemicals which have a negative effect on the skin’s appearance. The hormones in cows milk, which is fabulous for growing cute baby calves into full-size cows, in humans produces inflammation, acne, and over-production of the sebum glands (which produce oil). So if you suffer from any of these things, you may want to think about reducing or cutting out your dairy intake. You won’t be wowed overnight, but given some time I am sure you will see the benefits too. And if you do (or even if you don’t) I’d love to hear your experiences.

Number 5 – Recharge with a Face Mask

Finally, the lead up to your wedding is a very special time. It can also be quite stressful (if you have to re-write that table plan ONE.MORE.TIME…) so take some time for you. Grab yourself some face masks, set some time aside and relax.
Have a think about what your skin may need, perhaps it’s a deep cleanse or some extra hydration. If in doubt, I would go for something that claims to be ‘nourishing’. Whatever you do, do not apply a new face mask the week of the wedding! Some masks can cause breakouts to occur initially as part of their deep clean process, whilst others may have an ingredient in them that you’re not used to and may react to. Start using them well in advance so if it comes to the night before the big day and you want to give your skin that extra boost, you can without any worry.

Beautiful bridal skin never looked so good, or was achieved so easily.

So there you have it. My 5 simple tips to great skin which you can start incorporating right now. It is never to early to start and you can thank me on your wedding morning!

Glowing, radiant Bride — Skincare is the key to glowing, radiant skin.

Nichola x

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