Bridal Make-up With MAC and Illamasqua At Metquarter Liverpool! #weddingwednesday

So as you probably know, Tara and I are both getting married next year, and there's a ton of decisions to be made regarding budget. One of the things I've been toying with is doing away with the obligatory make-up artist in favour of being my own for the day. I've heard a lot of brides say that doing their own make-up on the day gave them a sense of control and helped them feel like they looked more like themselves, so whilst I guess it's a personal choice every bride has to make for herself, it's something I'm definitely considering because I think I'm pretty handy with the old rouge!

So with this in mind, I've teamed up with one of my fave local shopping haunts, Metquarter Liverpool, to put my handiwork to the test! Everything I've used in this post is from MAC and Illamasqua (both stores can be found on their ground floor) to create a bridal look that suits me. Brace yourselves for a full kit rundown before we start!

• MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation - NW20
• MAC Pro Longwear Concealer - NW15
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural - Medium
• Illamasqua Powder Blusher - S.O.P.H.I.E.
• MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow - Peachluxe
• Illamasqua Eye Colouring Pencil - VOW
• MAC False Lashes Mascara
• Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel - Stare
• MAC Pro Longwear Lipcolour - Clingpeach

I've always wanted my look to be classic bridal glow and our wedding colours are orange, ivory and black, so I chose these warm peachy shimmery tones with this in mind. 

A good base is essential. You want it to last all day, or at least until the break between the sit down and the party when you can refresh, so I chose the tried and tested MAC Pro Longwear foundation and concealer combo, applied with brushes. They truly live up to the hype, and I wouldn't trust anything else to do the job on my big day. You do get a true matte finish from these two products though, so to give my face that much coveted bridal dew I finished with the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish powder, pressed on with a puff, then buffed to perfection. And my canvas is ready!

Next I tackled the bridal glow! Illamasqua's Powder Blusher is highly pigmented and long lasting. S.O.P.H.I.E. is a beautiful pink/peach with gold shimmer, perfect for my colour palette but you need a light touch because the colour is very dense on application! Using a large blusher brush, I applied it in light layers to my cheeks and cheekbones to give a flush of colour that should last until the wine kicks in ;)

Bridal eyes can be tricky. I want them to stand out and look beautiful but still look naturally accentuated rather than heavily made up. A lot of women avoid glitter and shimmer on their wedding day, but I love a bit of sparkle so I'm embracing it with the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion palette in Peachluxe. It has everything I need to create a gorgeous marry me stare! It's so easy to use. I used the palest ivory pink to highlight under my brow, then the beige/peach shimmer was applied all over to the lid. The lid was covered in the darker peach, with the outer corners and crease darkened with the light brown. The dark brown was used to line my upper and lower lashlines. I prefer to use a shadow to line as I'm after a soft look and pencil can be a bit harsh (and hard to maintain on a long day!). Finally, a slick of Illamasqua Eye Colouring Pencil in VOW, a pale cream, was applied to my inner lower lid. Some people like to use white, but I think this cream colour is a more discreet way of opening it up. I want him to be staring into my eyes, not wondering if I have an iron deficiency.

Now I know a lot of brides will opt for falsies on the day, and I still might too, but for purposes of this cosmetic based look I decided to just use mazzy, and MAC's False Lashes does exactly what it says on the tube so you can't go wrong! My brows are filled in and held with Illamasqua's amazing Precision Brow Gel in Stare, their darkest shade, instantly upping my game. A lot of women do their eye make-up before their base to avoid spillage and smears, but I like to do it afterwards. You just have to be careful with clever use of powder and tissues.

Finally, the lippy! Again I hit the MAC Pro Longwear range, and chose their lipcolour in Clingpeach, a peachy nude. You have to remember that your lippy will look lighter when photographed (all your make-up will actually) so it's important to go a shade darker that you would ideally like. I adore orange lipstick but I think it might be a bit too much against my dress, and I also love a good nude lip but this would wash out in a photo. Clingpeach is the perfect combination of the two, and the Pro Longwear formula literally does not come off. I'm not joking, I have to remove it with waterproof make-up remover. Good stuff to have around when you're kissing the world on the cheek!

And that's it! For a bit of fun I grabbed a lacy strapped dress and tiara clip from my wardrobe so we can all get a good idea of how it would look on the day, what do you think? I'm really happy with it :) To be fair, I was working with some pretty amazing products but I'm really impressed with myself!

I adore a good browse around Metquarter, and I'm totally considering heading into their MAC and Illamasqua stores for some professional tutorials if I do decide to go it alone for the big day, it can't hurt to get some expert tips and those guys are veritable artists! Who knows, maybe I'll be doing my bridesmaids faces too ;)

If you've enjoyed this and you'd like to know more about Metquarter Liverpool, head to their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages for more fashion and beauty inspiration and edits.

J - here comes the bride!