Watch 5 of the best bridal make-up lessons captured on video

For brides-to-be either hoping to master their own wedding make-up, or to simply find the perfect beauty look for their Big Day, a make-up masterclass can be invaluable. In a bid to master bridal beauty (and to help you decide which to opt for when you walk down the aisle), I went to the brands I love to wear - Tom Ford, Bobbi Brown, Charlotte Tilbury, Chanel and Nars - to discover what's available in their respective boutiques. All offered a personalised bridal beauty experience, incorporating skincare advice and direction as well as imparting make-up tips to the brief of achieving ‘the best version of me’.

Watch the condensed two-minute makeovers and read the top tips I learned below:

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Nars

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The service:

The Nars ‘Bridal Consultation’ is a 90-minute session teaching the essential steps and techniques for creating a bridal make-up look with a fashion edge. There is an £80 booking fee which is redeemable against product purchases. My lesson was at the Nars Kings Road boutique.

The makeover:

Key lessons learned:

Nars senior make-up artist Samantha Qureshi taught me that to ensure the skin’s ultimate luminosity you can highlight with a triple-pronged approach. First with a radiance primer all over the face, then with a cream highlighter on the high points before applying foundation, and then with powder highlighters on the same spots after foundation. As it’s typical to play down colour on the lips and eyes for a bridal look, “highlighter can be a little stronger than usual,” she explained.

I loved Qureshi’s technique for achieving a long-lasting yet fresh faced base. First she warmed up the foundation in her hands, “as the warmer the product the better it blends”, before applying it lightly. She then set loose powder into the T-zone, pushing the powder into the skin with the brush before buffing it. Finally, with warm hands, she pressed the make-up into the skin to set the formulas together. While maintaining a natural finish, my make-up really did last and last.

All the muted eyeshadow shades used were expertly blended and diffused to look soft, without any harsh lines, but when it came to reflective colours Qureshi used a wet eyeshadow brush, “for a more intense pay off”. She used this technique to highlight inner corners of eyes and create a mirror effect on the centre of the eyelids – both serving to open and brighten the eyes.

To give the illusion of longer lashes, she lifted the eyelid and applied liner underneath the top lashes.

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Chanel

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The service:

‘Chanel For Brides’ is a two-hour appointment with a make-up artist where you discover a personalised skincare ritual, your unique bridal beauty look, plus how to fragrance your wedding. It costs £200 which is redeemable against product purchases. My lesson was at the Chanel London Studio, Harrods.

The makeover:

Key lessons learned:

Chanel make-up artist Dean Lewis told me that brides should book in for a make-up lesson at least two months before the wedding, when at Chanel they are given a skincare regime to follow ensuring complexion perfection for the Big Day.

When choosing make-up formulas for their longevity, Lewis said to use powders for weddings over creams, as they will require fewer touch-ups.

When deciding on eye shadow shades, the Chanel philosophy is centered on choosing harmonious and complementary colours, either used to make the eyes appear bigger, or to make your natural eye colour pop. For my makeover Lewis suggested “English rose tones with warm contrasts.”

For this look bronzer was avoided, “because we’re going out of the fashion of contour,” Lewis explained, “and it’s all about natural complexions now.” He said brides should use “the suggestion of contour if needed, but with no edges” – and blush can provide this as well as a bronzer can. Not only does he consider this look more modern, but more feminine and romantic, ideal for a bridal look.

To give my lips a ‘3D’ effect, after applying lip liner and lipstick, Lewis placed a gloss on the centre of the lips and cupid’s bow. A “gloss topper”, as he called it, to “plump” the pout.

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Tom Ford

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The service:

A Tom Ford Beauty Bridal lesson is a 90-minute skincare and make-up masterclass, which at their Covent Garden beauty outpost (which I visited) can be recorded via their ‘smart mirrors’ fitted with filming technology. Afterwards, your tutorial is emailed to you (in edited chapters) to dissect at home. The booking cost is £100, redeemable against product purchases.

The makeover:

Key lessons learned:

Make-up artist Lori Woodhouse, Tom Ford director of education, was full of takeaway tips for brides. Firstly, when choosing your make-up palette, she said to avoid warm colours on the eyes (“they can make you look a little tired”) and lips (“which can make teeth look yellow”). So, for photography purposes while you may want to warm up the skin, opt for cool colours to accentuate your facial features.

To perfect your base, Woodhouse recommended using a slightly lighter shade of foundation in the middle section and under the eyes “to bring light focus to the centre of the face”. After using a brush she went in with her hands “to push the foundation into the face” – making my base longer lasting.

Using a combination of matte and shimmer eye shadow shades, Woodhouse demonstrated different techniques for each as you’ll see in the video. To avoid drop-down, “when using matte shadows be sure to dab the product, not sweep across the lid,” she said. When it came to the highly packed sparkle shade, “use your finger to apply it across the eyelids for more of a dramatic effect” she advised. If you don’t want to wear sparkle on your eyes for day, simply add this later on in the day to take your look into evening.

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Charlotte Tilbury

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The service:

A two-hour Charlotte Tilbury Wedding Make-up appointment teaches you all the backstage ticks for making your dream bridal look picture-perfect and long-lasting. The experience with a lead artist costs £100. Mine was at their Covent Garden beauty boudoir.

The makeover:

Key lessons learned:

Kelly Mitchell, pro artistry and development manager for Charlotte Tilbury, began with thorough skin-prep, incorporating the brand’s dry sheet mask to turnaround my tired skin. She also recommends a relaxing facial massage for brides on their wedding day morning to drain and elevate the lymphatics, reducing any puffiness and defining the facial framework.

Beneath foundation and in place of primer, Dawn applied a complexion booster (their new Hollywood Flawless Filter) first with her hands and then buffed in with a brush. This injects photogenic radiance.

To avoid eye shadow drop-down, the pro had a top tip: “Once you have loaded the brush with the shadow, press the brush in to the eye first before moving the brush back and forth across the eye,” she advised.

When it came to my brows, Dawn used Charlotte Tilbury’s ‘brow compass’ technique: “Using your brow pencil, measure the corner of the nose to the inner corner of the eye – this is where brow should start; then the corner of the nose straight through the iris – this is where you want to lift the arch; and finally, the corner of the nose to the end of the outer corner eye – to add length to your brow.” She used little hair-like strokes to fill them in, then set with a clear gel.

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Bobbi Brown

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The service:

Bobbi Brown ‘Your Bridal Make-up’ is a complementary 60-minute how-to lesson taking you through skincare prep and wedding make-up application. My lesson was at The Studio Soho.

The makeover:

Key lessons learned:

Bobbi Brown are renowned for bridal beauty and Amy Conway, their Pro Artist, actually did my wedding party make-up when I got married (sadly this experiment is purely for professional purposes!).

As you’ll see Conway too uses the trick of utilising the warmth of your hands to press the face post-foundation, “to ensure it looks like skin and not make-up”. At Bobbi Brown, bronzer is used to colour-correct the complexion instead of for contouring purposes, so Conway recommends taking it down the neck and chest (depending on your dress style) and over the ears too.

I loved her mascara tip for brides. She says to apply your favourite formula to your top lashes, but use a waterproof formula on the lower lashes to prevent any running or smudging should you get teary. Waterproof mascara on both the top and lower lashes isn’t necessary – unless you know you’ll definitely need it.

When finishing your eye make-up with a pop of sparkle shadow, “use your finger to press the shadow on top of your eyelid crease and not on top of your liner,” Conway says, “so your liner stays clean and defined.”

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