When it comes to foundation, it’s a good idea to seek advice from several department-store make-up counters, but don’t buy anything until you’ve seen the product on your whole face in daylight - and even ask if you can take some samples away with you. Otherwise, L’Oreal’s Translucide is a great oil-free foundation with light-reflective properties and SPF12 - and it’ll leave you with change from a tenner. For brides with very good skin, or those who aren’t used to wearing make-up, a tinted moisturiser is a good alternative to foundation. Juliet loves Vichy’s Lumineuse. “It contains light-diffusers and SPF15, so it’s great if you’re getting married on the beach, for example.” And at around £10 a tube, it won’t break the bank. “What I advise brides to do is to get a couple of tubes of the Lumineuse in different colours and blend it until it’s the exact right shade for their skin.” Once you’ve decided on your product, think about how you’ll apply it for the best effect. Opinions differ as to whether it’s better to use a sponge, a brush or fingers, but trial and error will help you decide which method you favour.

 

If you’ve found a long-lasting lipstick in a good colour that doesn’t make your lips look and feel dry, you’re a lucky woman! Juliet is sceptical about long-wear lip products, and tends to advise brides that their lipstick will be the one aspect of their make-up that they’ll need to touch up over the course of the day. She favours lighter formulations, and particularly likes Clinique’s Colour Surge Bare Brilliance Lipstick, and Virgin Vie’s Colour Wash Lipstick. “Both of these products give a nice wash of colour - sheer and with a slight sparkle, but not as sticky as lip gloss. Really pretty.” Choose your colour carefully, keeping in mind that darker shades can make lips appear thinner.

“With eye make-up, it’s all about creating the contrast between light and dark, and thorough blending,” says Juliet, who swears by Bourjois eyeshadows. “They’re actually made by Chanel and are really good quality - they stay on for hours.” Buying the shadows as a trio rather than individually ensures that the colours complement each other, but if you want to keep things even simpler, stick with just two colours - a pale beigy colour as a base, for example, plus a darker brown. Juliet says: “Apply the paler colour all the way from your eyelashes up to your eyebrows, then gradually add the darker colour to the crease of your eyelid, blending out just a touch to the outer corners. Then spend time blending the colours.” She advises keeping the inside corners of your eyes and the area immediately under your eyebrows light in colour, to give the effect of opening up your eyes.

It also pays off to keep your eyebrows tidy and groomed, and to define them using either a specialist eyebrow powder or a regular eyeshadow, as long as it has no shimmer to it. “If you’re slightly older, attending to your eyebrows is like an instant facelift!” enthuses Juliet. Last but by no means least, the holy grail of bridal eye products is a mascara that will lengthen lashes beautifully but won’t look clumpy and won’t run, regardless of how many tears are shed on the day. Juliet believes that Max Factor’s More Lashes Waterproof Multiplying Mascara is one of the best. Whichever one you go for, Juliet points out, you should choose a waterproof formulation as opposed to one which is merely water-resistant. And for added impact, it’s worth using an eyelash primer first. “One coat of a good eyelash primer underneath mascara is the equivalent of, say, four coats of mascara, but without that clumpy look,” says Juliet. Clinique’s Lash Building Primer is good, and the white end of Bourjois’s Coup de Théâtre Mascara performs a similar function.

 

Blusher tends to be one of the more important make-up products to wear on your wedding day. “I normally use cream blushers because they tend to be sheer and natural,” says Juliet. “Powder blushers can look a bit cakey in photos taken in daylight.” Clinique’s Blushwear is a nice sheer product, she says, as is Powder Cream Blush by Barbara Daly's Make-Up for Tesco - especially considering its competitive price tag. To avoid getting heavy-handed with the blusher, steer clear of applying it until you’ve finished your lips and eyes, advises Juliet.

 

It’s all very well using make-up on skin which is already radiant, but how can make-up enhance a problem complexion, such as one which is very spotty? Juliet is unfazed. “You don’t want to look like you’ve got a mask on; I like to make skin look like skin! What I do is use a primer [see above], followed by a very sheer foundation, then I finish off with concealer from my Dermacolor Mini Palette. This contains 16 different colours, which means that an exact shade can be mixed. The trick is to keep the foundation as sheer as possible, then apply a good concealer using a good brush. This way, you can end up looking like you’ve got incredible skin!” For lighter cover, Juliet is a fan of Rimmel’s Hide The Blemish. “It’s a really good concealer, and it’s so cheap that you can buy two or three different shades and mix them on the back of your hand to get exactly the right shade for you” As for disguising dark circles under the eyes, Juliet uses the much-vaunted Touche Eclat by YSL - but never straight from the tube. “I mix it with a tiny amount of either foundation or tinted moisturiser on the back of my hand to take the colour down and avoid the panda-eye look!” She also stresses that any product you use under your eyes should be specifically formulated for the delicate skin in this area - regular concealer is too heavy.

Although it’s possible to get a great effect by applying your own make-up, nervous brides-to-be could be well advised to enlist the services of a professional if it’s within budget. Whatever your decision, it’s your chance to shine, so make the most of it!

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More information about Juliet Cunnington can be found on her website.

The image in the article was kindly supplied to us by Karen Turner

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