…Eyes and Lips

To Finish off my Week of Make-Up,
I’m going to walk you through my eyes and lips!

The Eyes

Urban Decay
Primer Potion (Eden)
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

My eyes actually didn’t take as long as I had thought they would! I was sipping cokeZero (I skipped coffee in case I got the jitters) and munching on my waffle (no syrup, I eat it like toast) before I knew it! I started with Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion Eden. This cult favorite goes on easily, leaves a matte light color, and is like superglue for eyeshadow… so naturally I smear it all the way up to my eyebrow! The light color makes for a nice highlight right under the brow, too!

Clinique Color Surge
Teddy Bear
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

Once I had my base, I used Clinique Color Surge Eye Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear. I did a classic smoky eye, and left enough space at the top to highlight my brow. Directly under the brow I used bareMinerals Eyecolor in Soul. I drew a pretty thick line above my lashes with Clinique Quickliner for Eyes in Intense Chocolate, and smeared just a little under my eyes towards the outsides. (I also lined my waterline with white liner from Walmart. This helps the eye look more open.) I slapped on some fake eyelashes, and thinly lined right at the lash with jet black liquid liner from Victoria’s Secret.

Benefit
They’re Real Mascara
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

I put on a coat of Benefit They’re Real! Mascara (cute name, huh?), and moved on to my brows while I was waiting for it to dry. I lined each brow with Anastasia Perfect Brow Pencil in Ultimate Brown. It should be noted that I typically would use this in a blonde color, but I wanted my brows a bit more pronounced… that and there may have been a bit of a waxing mishap two days before the wedding that left me with a Vanilla Ice throwback Zebra Stripe Brow. I took his own advice (you know, “If there was a problem, yo I’ll solve it…”) and just drew the brow on in the bald spot and hoped for the best.

Anastasia
Genius Waterproof Topcoat
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

Once I had given my bottom lashes a second coat of They’re Real (at this point… not much left on me was), I put on Anastasia Lash Genius Waterproof Topcoat. This stuff is pretty cool. It is a clear waterproofer that you can put over your favorite mascara. Most people say you shouldn’t wear waterproof mascara every day, and not all types come in waterproof. This solved my dilemma, and let me be able to cry away!

The Lips

Sephora Disney Collection
Moonlit Kiss Lipstick Set
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

Lips were super easy. I lightly lined my lips with Chanel Le Crayon Levres Precision Lip Definer in 34 Natural. (This was a Macy’s find, as Sephora doesn’t carry Chanel.) Then I filled in my lips with the Disney Cinderella Collection Moonlit Kiss Lipstick in Pumpkin. It was just a tad darker than your traditional nude, but gave my lips just a hint of color.

(I also carried Boscia Fashionably Matte Oil Blotting Linens to help keep from getting oily: I wanted to glow not shine!)

So there you have it!

Every single thing that I wore on my wedding day,

well at least when it comes to make-up!

I’ll write soon to detail my attire for the day!

… The Canvas

Yesterday, I promised to give you the whole shebang on my wedding makeup.

So let’s get down to it, shall we?

The Canvas

I’ve always heard make-up artists say that having a good foundation is where great make-up starts. For months I had been taking extra care to use my Clarisonic, Proactiv, and a good moisturizer. That morning, I washed my face regularly patted on a tiny bit of moisturizer and waited a good bit for it to dry. I followed with the Make-Up Forever HD line. First, I put on the Primer, waited, and then followed with the HD Invisible Cover Foundation. Make-Up Forever also has a starter kit that has everything you need if you’re new to the line. I had the foundation in shade 155 , and I was able to get a sample of one shade lighter (153) and one shade darker (160) in case I needed them. I actually used all three to help highlight and contour.

Make-Up Forever HD Starter Kit.
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

Once I had on the foundation I touched up under my eyes with bareMinerals Multi-Tasking Face Powder in Well Rested. It is a great product for canceling out dark circles under your eyes, and I also used it to highlight on my cheekbones, nose, and around my mouth. Instead of shimmer, it uses a yellow-tone to lighten. Everything I read stressed the importance of avoiding anything too shimmery on your wedding day, so that you don’t look shiny (aka greasy) in all those photos you’re paying so much for!

bareMinerals Warmth and Well Rested.

After I was all highlighted, I used bareMinerals All-Over Face Color Warmth to contour. I did the classic kissey-face, and put it under my cheekbones, around my temple, on my chin, and on each side of my nose. (For a good tutorial on highlighting/contouring click here for the famous Kardashian pinterest pin. It really does work wonders!)

Smashbox Blush Rush
Bright Fuchsia
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

Just for added security, I added a small amount of bareMinerals Matte Foundation to my forehead, nose, and jawline. To get a little glow, I brushed a tiny bit of Smashbox Blush Rush (bright fuchsia) onto the apples of my cheeks. This is the only thing that I used that contained sparkle/shimmer. It was very subtle, so I thought I could break the rule.

Urban Decay All Nighter
Long-Lasting
Makeup Setting Spray
Photo Courtesy Sephora.com

To finish everything off (after eyes and lips), I dusted my face with Make-Up Forever HD Microfinish Powder. This translucent powder is great to set your whole face! The very last thing that I did was mist my face with Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Make-Up Setting Spray.

So there you have it!

Drop by tomorrow for Eyes and Lips!

… Bridal Make-up!

Weddings are busy.

No matter what anyone says: the time goes by so quickly! In fact, it is easy to run out of it if you aren’t careful! In order to fit everything that we had to do that day in, Kevin and I got married at 12 Noon. That meant that I was up and getting ready by 6am. There are tons of amazing companies that can come in and do your hair and make-up on your wedding day. I know you’d never guess this… but I’m kind of a control freak. I thought it would be best to just do our own hair and make-up. It gave us all time to do the girly bonding stuff, and I didn’t lose hair worrying about someone messing something up. I started my own hair right around 6am, took a break to do Kari’s, finished my hair, did Adrienne’s, and helped touch up everyone else’s. Then, I ate my waffle and put on my face.

A full face of make-up is something else that you certainly should give yourself some time for! You’re likely to wear more than you typically do. Hey, you’ve gotta be ready long before the wedding, are having photos taken, have little time for touch-ups throughout the day, need to combat tears, and –in my case– the Florida humidity. On my big day, I wore far more make-up than I typically do… but was pleasantly surprised at how light it felt, and how natural it looked in all of our pictures.

Of course, you should never try a new product on the day of your wedding… so I had stocked up my caboodles a month or so ahead.  (yes, I totally took not one, but three caboodles with me) I wore everything at least a few times. I was very pleased with every single product that I used that day, so I figured I would share them with you!

Don’t even act like you don’t
remember this little gem!
Photo Courtesy Target.com

I get a great deal of my make-up at Sephora, so they got all of my business when it came to wedding time. The cool thing about Sephora is that they will give you samples of nearly everything. I have super sensitive skin, so I have to be really careful. With Sephora, I can try a product there that day, take enough home to use again once or twice, see how it works with my skin, and then purchase it if all is well. It takes two trips (or one trip then buying online), but it is absolutely worth it!

Tune in tomorrow for the first installment

of my ‘wedding make-up two-cents’ !

 

 

… Wedding Videographer Promo!

Since we were so limited in those able to be with us for the wedding (minus the amazing Jordan running Skpye), we really wanted a video to be able to share with our friends and family so that they could see the real wedding — not just pictures.

When doing tons and tons of research, Kevin stumbled onto STVS Video, a company that often works in cooperation with Chapman Photography. They had great reviews on all of the boards, were given awards (including from theknot.com — which is kind of like the wedding bible), and had very reasonable prices!

They film in HD, put a hidden mic on Kevin so that you will actually hear our vows, and even followed us all day. While they will make a wedding video that I’m sure will be amazing, we also were able to purchase the raw footage so that we could use it in any way that we want.

The following video is basically a sneak peek that Stan threw together for us within a couple of days after the wedding! We watched it on my phone while riding the monorail to Magic Kingdom! (it is also a bit of a promo for them too, so ignore the music and shameless plugs on my part at the end)

I think the video will be awesome,

and I can’t wait to see the finished result!

… and a series of commercials?

When it came to our Disney Fairytale Wedding, we were super lucky in finding photographers and videographers! Over the next few days, I’m going to detail our experience with each one! Lets start with Ceremony Photography, shall we?

I love the lighthearted sense of happiness that this photo has!

For the ceremony we hired the wonderful, Mr. Randy Chapman of Chapman Photography. Randy has been shooting Disney Weddings for years and years, so he brought some awesome experience and ideas to the table. We mostly were just along for the ride! He took so many creative photos that I don’t have the time (or web space) to post them all!

Boardwalk Empire?

The only two pictures that I requested were: The Bridesmaid Poster Copy, and the Groomsmen gushing over Kevin’s ring like little ladies. Everything else Randy came up with on his own! He was AMAZING!

Bridesmaids!

Look at that sparkle!

Randy also has a blog that is really neat! (it is particularly helpful for those of you looking on a tablet or phone that doesn’t support flash. His website is super fancy… too fancy for a smartphone, but the blog loads just fine!)

Expect many more posts with photos!

I can’t wait to share them all with you!

… doing Disney: Day 4

On our last day at Walt Disney World we were keeping busy!

Maybe it was to try to fit everything in, or maybe it was to keep from remembering that we were leaving first thing the next morning…

Thursday we enjoyed EPCOT, and some of our favorites! Kevin (actually, the entire Gessler family) was super excited to ride the newly reopened Test Track!

The inlaws in love (maybe with eachother, maybe with the ride…)

I enjoyed making my parents watch Captain EO, and expected everyone to endure the Living with the Land Boat Tour! (Its all about gardening and agriculture, so most people probably think it is super boring! It is basically heaven for me! Christine got what a big deal it was!) Everyone will enjoyed visiting Disneyland in California on Soarin’ before we took a trip around the world at the World Showcase!

Someone is just grumpy enough to actually remind you of ole Gill.

Check out everything to do at EPCOT!

After EPCOT we walked back to our hotel, the Beach Club. It had an amazing lobby (complete with Gingerbread house), awesome pools, and even a private beach!

Check out this giant Gingerbread Carousel!

Just enjoying the private pier!

After hanging out there for a bit, we got ready to head to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! There we enjoyed cookies, cocoa, Santa, special shows, a Christmas Parade (complete with snow), and a special fireworks show!

Look at that VIP Bracelet

Cinderella’s Castle all decked out in millions of lights!

It was certainly an awesome way to end an amazingly awesome week.

… doing Disney: Day 3

Wednesday we spent the day at Magic Kingdom!

We did it!
We’re Married!

It was a perfect time to see the new Fantasyland! Now this expansion to the park isn’t slated to be done for more than another year, but it was neat to see what was already there! It also was the perfect time to sneak in just a little girl-time with my new sister-in-law, Kari. Of course, that was mostly because we were the only ones that wanted hotdogs and fries for lunch. By hotdogs and fries, I mean an order of cheese with a side of hotdog and fries from Casey’s Corner. That place is just great! Yum!

Look at all of that delicious cheese!

The Magic Kindgom has all of the nostalgic favorites,

so I won’t bother to try to name them all!

Set aside some time to check it out!

NOW ON TO EPCOT!

Dad just as happy as a clam to pose with the Prototype-Chevrolet car at Test Track.

After the Magic Kingdom we headed on over to EPCOT to do a little sightseeing, and hear our famous pal, Meredith, sing in The Candlelight Processional. It was beautiful, and really got everyone into the Christmas Spirit! Apparently, the narrator was famous… but not one of us had a clue who he was. Sorry, Disney.

This one is just a little blurry, but it contains a totally famous pal of mine. You may have heard of her? She’s kind of a big deal!

… doing Disney: Day 2

I think everyone might have been getting a little bit tired, but we all pushed on! It was way too early in the week to be tired!

 We still had two more completely full days ahead of us!

On Tuesday we visited Hollywood Studios! This park (formerly MGM Studios, so he still calls is that) is Kevin’s favorite of the four parks! It may be because he is a total movie-buff!

Don’t ask them to pose ‘like a prom picture’. They show no mercy.

This was the time to do some of Kevin’s favorite rides. Tower of Terror, (the ever popular) Toy Story Mania, and, of course, Star Tours! He wanted to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith about 7 times… but I had zero intent to do that.

The visit with the Storm Troopers went better for Kevin than it did for me.

I thought that Travis and I would duck off to see Beauty and the Beast while everyone else was losing their stomachs on Tower of Terror… but he braved through it! We really enjoyed Lights, Motor, Action (where Christine actually knows one of the stunt drivers, so we got a total back-stage tour and even got to sit in the cars!)

The star herself in one of the famous cars!

Kevin’s dad treated us all to a special lunch at Mama Melrose’s that granted us early access (and guaranteed seats) to Fantasmic. This show just happens to be my absolute favorite thing at all of the parks! (you can see a brief overview video of the show on the website) On top of my favorite show… it could be my favorite meal… ever. I had the Charred Strip Steak with Five-Cheese Baked Macaroni, Aged Balsamic-Shallot Butter, and Chianti Wine Reduction. Kevin and I had also shared the anti-pasto tray as an appetizer, so I slathered that steak with leftover bleu cheese. I am imagining it right now, and am almost as happy as I was at the time.

Who doesn’t love a good family picture?

We spent ages at the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

It is actually awe-inspiring,

and could get anyone into the Christmas Spirit!

… doing Disney: Day 1

On our first day as a married couple:

we went to my favorite park: Animal Kingdom!

This park is absolutely amazing! It just so happens to be the largest animal theme park in the world. Home to more than 1,700 animals across 250 species. Disney claims that the park reflects Walt Disney’s dedication to conservation and is committed to animal care, education and research… I think it reflects his dedication to leave you amazed, and it does.

Oh, no big deal… just about 5 feet from a couple rhinos.

There aren’t just animals at this park! We enjoyed some amazing shows! We started the day off with seeing Finding Nemo the Musical. We watched Travis’ favorite: Festival of the Lion King, and enjoyed sharing it with Christine and Kevin’s family for the first time.

The wait before stepping onto Dinosaur is exciting!

Animal Kingdom is also the home to one of my all-time-favorite rides ever: Dinosaur. It is pretty self-explanatory, really… I’m a nerd. We also rode Expedition Everest (My mom basically flipped out, and panicked. It was her first big coaster, and I just don’t think she was prepared for it. Eventually, she calmed down and we all had a nice laugh.) We went on the Kilimanjaro Safari tour and saw the Disney-Style 4d Its Tough to be a Bug!

After Animal Kingdom, we made our way on over to the Magic Kingdom park to watch the Electrical Parade, and then catch the showing of Wishes! We were lucky and they were doing Celebrate the Magic before Wishes!

… blog bugs fixed! (I think)

Okay, so I’m married!

Wahoo!!!!

Inside The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa!

Unfortunately, there has been a bit of a bug with my blog… and you haven’t been getting any updates (including the ones that I so carefully pre-wrote and scheduled to update periodically throughout our trip). Fear not, it may all have worked out for the best… because we switched up our trip… so now I can give you the up-to-date play-by-play of our time in Florida! We are still planning receptions for here in town, so once we’re done with Florida stuff that whole wedding planning part will be laid out for ya!