Whether you're planning to hire a professional photographer for your wedding day or for family photos, having your best face forward is important! I interviewed professional wedding and portrait photographer, Danielle Allendorf of Danielle Allendorf Photography to get her perspective on the subject. Enjoy & be sure to check out some of her work at the end of the blog.

1) Does professional makeup make editing pictures easier for you as a professional photographer? If so, how?

YES! When my clients have professional make-up done for their portrait session or wedding it makes all the difference when I'm sitting behind my computer editing in Lightroom. We all have small imperfections in our skin and that's totally normal, a blemish here or there can pop up every now and then, and I know I get dark circles under my eyes even if I am well rested! We're only human. When you have your make-up professionally done, your skin looks flawless and your eyes look bright and refreshed! This saves me tons of time when I'm retouching because I don't have to worry about editing out those pesky red marks on skin or bags under eyes!

2) If a client doesn't wear makeup or get it done professionally for a shoot, how does it affect your editing & posing process?

It definitely slows down my editing time. I have to spend extra time taking out those pesky imperfections in Lightroom. I am always considering and posing my clients based on the most flattering light. But I have to be extra sensitive if they don't have make-up on when considering different poses or locations to shoot in. 

3) Have you ever had clients wish they had professional makeup done after doing a shoot?

One of my brides had a family member do her make-up. It totally looked great for about an hour. She did not do a first look, had a very long church ceremony, followed by family portraits and wedding party photos. By the time we got to bride & groom photos, her foundation was completely gone, her mascara was down under her bottom eyelashes due to the heat of the day (and the emotions), and it was a challenge to want to get those up close shots knowing I was going to have to edit out all her blemishes. It was not ideal and I definitely wish she had hired a professional.

Some might say, well isn't that your job? Photoshop? When you're editing hundreds of photos for a wedding gallery and delivering a high volume of images (sometimes 1000+), it is not ideal to have to take every single photo of your bride and photoshop their skin. If I can do it in Lightroom it's ideal, if I can totally avoid it, it's the best! They do say time is money!

4) Other tips for photoshoots or perks of having makeup done for them?

I think planning to have your hair & make-up trial done on the day of your engagement session is SO important. I know it's an extra planning step but it benefits everyone involved! You're able to communicate with your artist/stylist about what you like and don't like and it's the perfect excuse to go have photos taken! It's a win win win.

One tip that I have come across lately. People often say "You need to wear more make-up on your wedding day because it looks better in photos." While yes this is true, brides need to remember they should also feel like themselves. You have to be happy with the way you look on your wedding day - if it's not you then don't be afraid to speak up and say something. If you're not happy with it, say something. And all the more reason to have a trial run!!! As someone who hardly ever even wears mascara, I get it. Too much make-up feels weird. But hear me out - I had my make-up done by Hillary for a branding portrait session recently and was thoroughly impressed. Yes I had a full face of make-up on but it totally felt natural & light! It was truly incredible. My skin looked perfect and my eyelashes were to die for but I still felt like myself and that's the most important part! 

Covid19 has brought on many unknowns to the wedding and event world. As a makeup artist, I quickly had to adapt and restructure to ensure my clients (and myself) were all safe. The funny part was, we (makeup artists), were already doing most of the sanitation practices anyway! Here's a list of precautions I am taking & that are required (as of 9/20/20 by the ACCD and Department of Health):

1) Masking Up: This has been the biggest change for me- masking up for every client! It's also probably the most obvious change. I will work with either a surgical mask or N95 mask to help protect us both. Even if I'm not working directly on your face, I will still wear it anytime I'm around or in the room with clients. 

2) Non-porous Containers: A big change I made to my kit was transferring products into non-porous containers to make sanitizing and cleanliness super easy. These containers stay sealed unless I'm opening them to get a product out. They are very easy to spray and sanitize after a job either with a bleach solution or 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. 

3) Disposables: This was NOT a big change! And if you get a makeup artist who says it's a change...RUN. Disposable mascara wands, sponges, and lip wands have always been used. This is to prevent cross-contamination and was a practice prior to Covid19; but now more than ever, is  just as important. 

4) 70% Isopropyl Alcohol: Again, not a big change! I use this level of alcohol to spray powder products, stainless steel trays, and the outside of product packaging. This percentage level ensures bacteria is killed on the surface. Any percentage higher or lower is not as effective. * See CDC quote at the end of the blog!

5) Surface Wipe Downs: Bringing a table and chair with me on-location means those also get deep cleaned. Paper towels are put down for easy clean-up on the table, and a bleach solution is used on all surfaces. 

6) Set-up Area: While most wedding mornings have all the bridesmaids and moms gathered round', I prefer to setup in an area either in a separate room or area that is distanced from others. This makes it easy to keep my area sanitized and myself socially distanced from those not receiving services. 

Please note that NH and other states have very different guidelines for makeup artists, so this is per Vermont regulations. Some artists may be wearing shields, smocks, gloves, hair nets, etc. I always bring a face shield with me as well, if it makes the client more comfortable. Questions? Feel free to reach out! 

Travel fees will vary depending on each vendor & business type- so this is subjective to myself and most likely many/ all other makeup & hair artists. 
When you hear “travel fee”, most people think of it as a fee to cover the cost of gas & mileage on the car. While this is partly true, there are SO many more factors we consider when creating travel fees. Let me break it down for you!

1. Gas & Mileage: As mentioned above, this is the obvious one! The travel fee will include what the actual gas and “wear and tear” on the car will cost. So, for further away destinations, this piece will cost more. 
2. Prep & Packing: As a makeup artist, I bring a directors chair, large folding table, lighting system, and two kit bags with me. Not only is this a lot to pack up and carry around, I spend a solid hour prior to a wedding making sure everything is organized, sanitized, and ready to be seamlessly unpacked at the venue. 
3. Time: Another big piece to the travel fee is the actual time we spend on the road. For example, if we travel 2 hours one way to the venue, and 2 hours back home- there is 4 hours of our day spent on the road. If you factor that on top of the 4-6+ hours we are physically working a wedding, it makes for a very long day! Time on the road is also time spent taken away from possible other clients. 
4. Unpacking & Setup: Once we actually arrive at the venue, we get to unpack everything we brought. For some venues, this could mean lugging everything up flights of stairs, across resort areas, over gravel driveways, through elevators, etc. Plus the actual unpacking and setup in the room when we arrive. 
5. Re-packing: After we finish the best part of our job- actually doing makeup and hair(!!!!)- we have to re-pack and bring everything back to our car. While this seems like an easy pack and go situation, I always make sure to put everything back in an organized fashion so nothing gets damaged or broken while driving. 

And there you have it! All of the bits and pieces we factor into our travel fees. While the makeup and hair is the best and most fun part of our job, factoring in our time is important as well. 
PS- we love to travel! Seeing new parts of Vermont (or anywhere!) is incredible, and we are so lucky to do it. My goal with this was to simply provide education. Questions? Shoot me a message on the Contact page.
PC- Amelia Marie Photography 

A few months ago I pondered the idea of adding a hairstylist to my business. Creating a seamless & easy experience for my clients has always been a priority to me, and after speaking with a lot of clients and other wedding vendors, this seemed like the right direction to go in! I also knew my friend, Kelsey, was moving back to Vermont after finishing cosmetology school in Florida. It seemed like the perfect time!

The process went a LOT faster than I anticipated, but that was because I had an amazing graphic designer for my new logo. She had the designs done for me in less than three days! Once I picked out which one I loved, I got to work on changing my website, PDF guides, social media, contract information, state business name, and all the other fun stuff that comes with changing your brand & business name. 

So what does this new brand incorporate and stand for? A lot of the same things Hillary Fay Freelance MUA stood for! I still own the business, still offer makeup, and still plan to give the absolute best beauty experience possible for all my clients. It is now incorporating more broad spectrum beauty-- i.e. hair styling! Kelsey will be available to book with me for your wedding, event, commercial, or head shot needs. This fresh, clean logo & color palette represents the clean and elegant beauty offerings we have. 

Perks to having a one-stop-shop for both makeup and hair now? Booking one less vendor, having a cohesive team that can create a fluid timeline for your day, and can create a flawless makeup and hair style while working closely together!  We can also offer trial runs together so you can get the "whole look" at the same time. A huge shout out to Erin Hoefel Designs for the logo design... follow her below! Questions? Hit the Contact page and let me know. 

 https://www.facebook.com/ErinHoefelDesigns 

This shouldn’t come as a shock, but hair and makeup artists should work closely together to achieve your perfect wedding day look. This means good communication, trial runs, and proper timing on the wedding day and leading up to it. I interviewed a fabulous hair stylist, Ashley Moran, of Ringlets Studio to get some more insight: 

- Do brides typically know what look they want when they come to you, or do they look to you for opinions? 
My typical bride comes in with an idea or ideas they are envisioning for their wedding day. I typically ask them to bring in more than 1 picture. I also always want to see a picture of the dress (best part about being on the bridal styling team is I get to be one of the first to see the dress).  I have a consultation and figure out what will truly work best, it’s all about your dress and what you will feel comfortable wearing all night dancing and sometimes in the heat! A big suggestion I make to brides is don’t be afraid to add hair extensions on the big day.  Just like your MUA would suggest lashes. 

- What are the benefits of communicating with the MUA & bride about the overall look prior to the big day? 
Style and presentation. You wouldn’t want a cake half frosted. Having a team that works together on your wedding day look is key! 

- What is your favorite hairstyle to do on brides? 
Truly anything that brings the brides natural beauty out and showcases who they are  as a person. It all depends on the bride and the dress.   But if I really had to pick I love a classic pulled back and off the neck style.

-What suggestions do you have for brides who are looking to hire a hair stylist for their wedding or elopement? 
You want a Stylist who will listen but isn’t scared to say that won’t work. It’s taken me many years to feel comfortable to tell a bride that style may not work and here is why.  You also want someone who will enjoy your big day as much as you and is excited to be there.     

To chat more with Ashley & review her work- check out her Instagram at: 

When I tell people that I’m a bridal makeup artist, I get a lot of the same replies: “Oh how fun! Playing with makeup all day”, “Must be cool to meet brides from all over the country!”, and “I wish I could just play with makeup for a living”. While all of these are great perks to the job, my goal is to create an experience, not just apply makeup. Take a look at some of the steps I take to ensure the best possible experience for my clients:

1. Quick Communication: I pride myself in providing timely and thorough replies to your inquiries and questions. Wedding planning can be stressful enough, but having vendors who take days to reply to simple questions or new inquiries can be a huge turn off, and make the process even harder. You will always get a reply within 24 hours, but I aim to be even faster than that!
2. Thorough Trial Runs: A trial run or “preview” is a great time to get to know your artist and nail down the look you want for your day. I provide more than that. I want to know what your overall wedding day vision is, what color flowers you’re getting, what your dress looks like, guest count, etc., etc. This helps give me the best vision to create your makeup look. 
3. Timeline Coordination: Whether you’re working with a planner, or doing it yourself, I offer morning timeline coordination for your big day. Having the hair, makeup, and photography schedule for the morning perfectly lined up is key! I’ve seen so many weddings end up running late because hair and makeup overlap schedules. I reach out to your hair vendor and photographer to figure out when you need to be ready, when a first look is happening, and create a detailed schedule for appointment times with hair and makeup so no one overlaps, and everyone is on time. 
4. Professional Products & Adaptability: Paying a premium price for a makeup artist often includes everything I listed above, but also includes the cost of top-of-the-line, professional makeup and skin care products. Thousands of dollars go into my kit so I can provide the absolute best for my clients. Being adaptable to various skin types, ages, and preferences is also a huge part of my job. Evaluating each person's needs and quickly adapting is a skill perfected with practice and time. I always love improving and learning with each client!

To sum that all up, my favorite part of my job is creating that experience. When you book my services, it’s not just “applying makeup”, it's the whole package. Check out some testimonials here: 

This is a scary time in the world, and even scarier for those who have weddings coming up in April, May, and even June of 2020. You spent countless hours (and money!) on booking your dream vendors. If you are in the boat of having to reschedule your date, here are some tips to help!

1. Friday/ Sunday Options: When picking a new date, realize that if you want a Saturday in October, chances are, many of your original vendors are already going to be booked. Consider going for a Friday or Sunday, or 2021. The chances of you being able to keep your original vendor team go up significantly! Plus, this saves you a lot of money that could be lost in retainer fees. ​
2. Venue First & Get Dates: When you first decide to reschedule, reach out to your venue first (unless they were the ones who suggested it!). Try to get three or four new date options from them. From there, reach out to your entire vendor team to see which new date can accommodate the most of your vendors (ask your planner to help, too!). Or, pick the date that accommodates those vendors who are “irreplaceable” in your mind. Remember, you picked your vendors for a reason!
3. Losing Retainers: Unfortunately, this is also a scary time for wedding professionals. Our incomes and livelihood are significantly impacted as well. For many of us, our retainers (sometimes called deposits), are typically non-refundable. This means, you will not owe any further payments, but the vendor will keep your original retainer fee. This can range anywhere from 20-50% of the total contracted amount. This will need to be factored into your new dates’ budget. 
4. Asking Guests: Once you have a few new dates in mind that might work for you and a lot of your vendors, reach out to the most important guests (family, bridesmaids/ groomsmen, etc.), to see which might work best for them. A wedding isn’t a wedding without the ones you love!
5. Recommendations: If you do end up in a situation where a vendor can’t accommodate your new date, it’s OKAY to ask them for recommendations! Chances are, they will know a handful of other professionals that they have met, worked with, or are comfortable referring. 

Wrapping it up, this sucks. There is no other word for it. I am so sorry that this is something you have to do. Try to use these tips to help guide you in selecting your new wedding date. It’s hard, but remember that no matter what happens- your wedding will STILL BE MAGICAL!
PC: Amelia Marie Photography 

There are SO many options to choose from when selecting your wedding photographer. Some edit in styles that are dark and moody, and others edit their work to be light and airy. Whatever your aesthetic may be in a photographer,  your makeup should still stand out! Let's chat some more about this:

1- Lights, Camera, Color: If your wedding makeup style is going to be a light, peachy, romantic look, you should know that you may need to go a bit deeper with tones than you think! If your photographer's style is light & airy, the already light peachy tones will be washed out, and may not show up well in photos. Using a cream blush AND powder blush with deeper peach tones will help ensure it shows through in photographs. If the photographer's style is deep & moody, we may need to take those peach tones down a bit, because they will likely be enhanced by the saturation that the photographer uses to edit. It's all about color play!

2- Tones & Layers: Another thing to look at with how photographer's edit, is what under tones and tones they apply. This means, do they have a more golden/ yellow edit style, black and white style, pink, etc. Once we know that, selecting colors like: eyes, lips, and cheeks can change a bit! Previously, I've applied a mauve lip, and had the photos come back showing up almost as an ORANGE lip. This photographer's style was very heavily saturated with a gold / yellow tone. Layering blushes and lip products can help us to achieve the perfect outcome that will photograph as the color YOU want. 

3- Considerations: If your photographer's style is light and airy, be prepared to have on a bit more blush and dimension on your skin than you might be used to. Of course, there is a fine balance with looking good in person AND in photos; that's my job as a Pro MUA to make sure this happens! As an artist, I just don't want to see you looking washed out or pale in your photos. Dimension, depth, and color can help ensure this doesn't happen. On the contrary, if your photographer is the moodier style, and you want a dramatic look, I might suggest toning it back to a neutral level because in heavily saturated pictures, it will appear deeper & darker. 

To wrap it all up, it's all about communication and your vision. I want to know how YOU want to look in your photographs, and what colors will suit you and your wedding style. I will take the time to review your photographers edits, and make suggestions for you. That's my job as an artist and professional! Let's create some magic. XO.

This photo is a great example of light, pinky makeup tones brought out enough to stand out in a lighter/ airy style of editing. This is three layers of cream blush, two powder blushes, and light contour shades. It appears very natural and romantic, while still standing out enough to provide dimension and depth to the face. 

For some brides, selecting their overall "look" is a piece of cake. It's something they've envisioned since they were five years old. For others, it's a huge challenge. Hair up or down? Red lip or neutral lip? Let's break down some factors that each play an important role in choosing your look:

1) Overall Theme: The biggest question to ask yourself is what is your theme/ color palette/ vibe of your wedding? Your look should play a big factor in matching, or being cohesive with this. For example, a Roaring 20's themed wedding could include a red lip, lashes, blusher, and finger waves shaping your face. So really think about what your overall style is and how it can blend with the wedding as an entirety. 

2) Dress Style: Once you have your dress picked out, your hair and makeup style should compliment how it fits you. If you have an elegant, lace covered back, perhaps having your hair up to show it off would be best. If your dress has a lot of texture and detailing on it, a simple, clean makeup look would best show it off, and not overwhelm the look. 

3) Your Comfort Level: Some people are very confident wearing a more dramatic makeup look, whereas others want a very simplistic look. This often depends on what you wear day-to-day. A key reason why trial runs are important! I always ask what you wear daily to gauge your comfort level with products. Feeling and looking like yourself on such a big day is necessary!

4) A Timeless Look: While makeup trends come and go, photos are forever! When choosing your look, keep that in mind! Will your look be timeless in years to come? A dramatic winged liner might be trending right now, but will it still be fifteen years from now? I'm not saying to not have fun with your look, but I encourage you to modify it to some extent so it remains elegant and timeless for years to come. Same goes for your hairstyle. 

5) Combining Hair and Makeup: These two factors should again, COMPLIMENT each other. True professional hair and makeup artists will work together to create a cohesive and beautiful style for you. I encourage you to show each artist what you're thinking for makeup and for hair, or even better, do the trial runs together if possible! If you're wanting soft, romantic waves for your hair, you makeup artist should keep to that style; soft and romantic. 

If you're still unsure of how you want to look, experiment! It's okay to do a couple of trial runs with your hair stylist and makeup artist. Or, try a few different lip colors at your trial run. At the end of the day, it's about YOU and what you're envisioning. My final plug: Remember that Pinterest photos can be a good reference point, BUT they are often over-edited, photo-shopped pictures done on models. Try to find reference images of someone that replicates your skin tone, hair color, face shape, and eye color. Lastly, remember to enjoy the process and have fun!
Photo by: Anne Mientka Photography // Hair by: Down the Aisle Upstyles // Florals: Nancy Bishop Floral // Venue: Inn at Manchester // Gown: Everthine