Miss Seal Gets Beautified!: My Hair and Make-Up Trial

After a roller-coaster ride of making a hair and make-up artist decision, I've finally found the woman who will be making me up on the day of the wedding. Despite some previously unfortunate circumstances on the glamour-front, and having not budgeted any money for my day-of hair and make-up, I was left in quite the predicament. Thankfully, I have the most amazing family in the world and my parents graciously offered to pay for my dream vendor! A winning situation? I think, YES!

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber, let's get on to the good stuffs.

Last week, I met with the lovely Susie Chhuor for a hair and make-up trial and boy was I blown away! From the moment I sat down, I knew I was in good hands and knew that the unexpected investment would be totally worth my parents' money :)

What I typically look like without make-up:

Mr. Seal and I after completing Bay-to-Breakers in SF this past May.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't show you what I looked like "before make-up" on the actual day of the trial, and I will gladly explain. The only picture taken of me without makeup that day was by Susie...and it was right after I got my eyebrows waxed. When I showed the picture she sent me to the Sealman, he (no joke) laughed for a full minute. Anyway, I'll let you see the picture below, but I just couldn't bear the thought of that photo being on the FRONT page of the blog for all to see and laugh at...because I totally look terrifying.

Back to the trial! After explaining/showing Susie my make-up inspiration (think very defined eyes and natural lips!), she got to work. I was excited to hear that Susie uses airbrush foundation as I've never had this done before. The result was a surprisingly "light" feel and complete coverage of my newly developed stress pimples! The expert then finished up my eyes and lips and we moved on to my hair.

As perhaps you recall, in addition to my cathedral-length veil, I plan wearing a beautiful headband I purchased off of Etsy. I therefore wanted a tiny bit of a "bump" on my head to allow the band to lay secure. My other requests were for lots of curls in the back of my head pinned up into a loose/messy kind of bun and for my bangs to be swept to the side off my face.

She sure pulled it all off effortlessly! Ready for the results?

Omg. Please disregard the double bags under my right eye and my crazy hair! I was running around trying to get my eyebrows waxed before the trial! (Mr. Seal....STOP LAUGHING!)

(All above photos/artistry courtesy of Susie Cee)

A sneak peek of the look with the veil and earrings ;)

 A little greasy a couple of hours in, but I'm naturally oily--I'll just have to keep a compact on hand!

A close-up of my hair after a couple of hours. (That loose curl is my fault--I was picking at a bobby-pin!)

 And me at the very end of my evening. Despite a bit of shine, the look was still completely intact.

PS - It seriously started to STORM the minute I decided to head home after the trial (like...full on buckets of water and gusts of wind) and regardless of the bad weather, my hair stayed in place and my make-up stayed fresh. With California's completely unpredictable weather, I am confident that my hair and make-up will withstand whatever weather my wedding day has to offer!

Now, with the the hair and make-up off of my mind, I'm feeling loads better about this whole wedding thing again.

What do ya think? Did you have a hair and make-up trial? How'd it go?!