Kensington Makeup Artists

Picture Perfect Wedding Makeup from Kensington Makeup

By now, you all know I’m the Spa Girl with “bride brain,” as they say. With just a few short weeks until the big day, I wanted to test out my makeup look to be sure I’d look picture perfect on my wedding day.

I chose Kensington Makeup Artists to manage my wedding makeup look because their website gave me tons of options: I was able to pick an artist by skill level and price, and even check out pictures of each artist’s portfolio. This made it super easy for me to figure out whose style I liked the best, and what price point I was comfortable with.

I booked Jessica Adarme, a platinum level artist, to make me beautiful. Jessica came to my home for my makeup trial run on a Saturday morning. She set up shop in my kitchen, bringing every makeup product imaginable. Jessica has been doing makeup since 2003, when she received her certification and training from MAC (this would explain her loyalty to all things MAC, just check her stash!). She frequently does the makeup for weddings, photo shoots, fashion shows and other special events.

After briefly describing what kind of look I was going for (eyes that popped but didn’t look too made up, and light lips), Jessica got to work. She set my skin with a primer, Charged Essence Serum by MAC, to create a moisturized yet matte base for the makeup, and also to give the skin a temporary tightening effect.

Then, she applied the airbrush makeup. Since I had just had a facial a few days before and my skin was still a bit sensitive, Jessica used a water-based makeup, which was amazingly lightweight and felt clean on my skin.

Next came the eye shadow base: MAC’s Paint Pot in Painterly. Jessica said it’s her go-to base for lids because it creates a blank canvas and prevents creasing. She applied the base with the MAC #252 Synthetic Bristle Brush. As Jessica told me, “It’s all about the brush.” Good brushes are made out of real hair, so they should be treated as you might treat your own hair. Jessica uses her everyday shampoo and conditioner on her brushes to make sure they stay squeaky clean.

To complete my “dramatic yet natural” eye look, Jessica used a variety of eye shadows that were applied one at a time starting light and slowly getting darker. Then came the false eyelashes, and then the eyeliner, Blacktrack Gel Pot Liner by MAC. Jessica believes that this liner is the perfect finishing touch – it’s very long wearing and shape can easily be customized with a liner brush. Plus it acts as a sealing agent to swipe over the lid and the seam of the false lashes.

Finally, she dusted my skin with MAC’s Prep & Primer Translucent (Setting) Powder to fill in any uneven pores and cut shine. This is a vital step to make sure skin looks perfect in photos all day. Then, we chose Luv 4 Ever Longwear Lip glaze by MAC, because it’s a feminine shade of pink and will stay put all day long, a necessity after lots of smooches, champagne drinking and cake eating! Jessica told me to simply freshen up my lips with lip gloss throughout the day.

The end result was amazing. We talked through a few slight tweaks that I wanted to make on the day of my wedding; it was so relieving to go through a makeup trial run before my actual wedding day, and Jessica made it easy and fun. Kensington Makeup is a definite “must” when prepping for your wedding (they’ll travel to your location and can handle the makeup for your wedding party, moms and even flower girl). Plus, many of their artists do hair and airbrush tanning, too. Prices range from $100-$225 for bridal makeup, depending on the artist skill level.