It is finally 6 months before your wedding and you’re freaking excited! All the major planning is out of the way, and it’s kind of a coasting period, which is a huge breath of fresh air (trust me I know)! However, the 6 months mark is the best time to start thinking about beauty preparation for your wedding day. We’ll break it down below into two sections, hair and skincare/makeup - because thats what we do here, duh!

HAIR PREPARATION

Let’s ask the important questions:

Are you leaning towards a full up-do? Or all down? Or will you be happy in the middle with half up half down?
Do you need hair extensions for the look you’re leaning towards?
What do you think your hair color will be for the wedding day?

There’s a lot to think about and you need time to get set into your new hair goals routine. Do you need to know the exact style you want right now? NO, but its really nice to have a general idea of what you’re leaning towards.

Let’s think about extensions for a second. Sometimes it’s not about the length for extensions, it could just be all about the volume or thickness. For example, a very popular look right now are the Hollywood waves look like you see above. We love it, it’s beautiful, but believe us when we say 99% of people that want this look, NEED EXTENSIONS. You need fullness for this look for it to replicate that Pinterest pin you have for inspiration. You’ll need time to shop for extensions, and extensions are not cheap -and the ones that are cheap, are the ones that aren’t 100% real hair -and what does this mean you ask? Well let’s just say a hot tool with something synthetic (mostly plastic) isn’t gonna be good. So take your time to research and figure out what you wanna do. Most people go the clip-ins route, but some do go semi-permanent which is basically installed in the salon setting. It can last up to 3 months depending on the technique you choose to do.

Some local Minnesota places you can find clip-in extensions are: Sonny’s Wig shop, Sally’s Beauty Supply, or Salon Centric, and some online retailers: Luxy Hair (we have a partnership to give you $20 off your purchase of $80+ with code: HS-LHNBEAUTY!) or Bellami Hair. If you’re wanting the semi-permanent extensions (done in a salon), you can check out some of these specialists: BLONDELUXE, Hair by LG, Raquel @ LifeSpa (St. Louis Park location).

Hair color is also so important. Having some sort of dimension is always a plus because it will help see the intricacies of an up do, or add dimension to a down-style. If you’re doing a major change to your look -take time to consult with your regular colorist to figure out a game plan on how to get there. If you do not have a colorist we would recommend: BLONDELUXE, Hair by LG, Raquel @ LifeSpa (St. Louis Park location). Or you can go with who your bridal artist is if they also provide salon services!

Whew, its a lot to think about with hair things. Sorry! But like we mentioned, its good to start thinking about these things -and since you’re in a lull point, its the perfect time!

SKIN PREPARATION

Beauty preparation for wedding day — Photo by Alexis Chanel Photography

Now, let’s talk makeup and how to prep for the best makeup for your wedding day! Well actually, its gonna be skin focused because you can’t have beautiful makeup with bad skin. Skin is the foundation of it all and unfortunately makeup cannot do a lot for texture. Here are the questions to ask yourself:

What really bothers me about my skin?
Do I have problems with makeup staying on now?
Does my skin have acne scars and bumps that can’t be smoothed out by makeup?
Do I have a solid skin care routine? (AM and PM)

Luckily, a lot of these questions can be easily answered by yourself. Our suggestion is, even if you feel like you have a solid routine and pretty great skin already, we would recommend still making an appointment to see an esthetician just to check your skin health. A lot of times when I personally see clients at the salon and from first meeting, their skin looks amazing! But after I do a thorough skin analysis, they’re actually quite dry (for example). How does this affect makeup, you ask? If your skin is too dry, it is forced to take the moisture from somewhere like your makeup foundation, even with using moisturizer. This causes your makeup to look less luminous, dry, or “cakey,” and doesn’t help with the longevity of your makeup. 6 months before the wedding day is a good timeline to start new routines and procedures if you’re trying to clear up things like acne scars or pigmentation or to just perfect your current routine.

Some amazing local estheticians you can see are: myself, Lisa (unshameful plug), Skyn Distillery, and The Skin Standard (formally known as Physx).

That’s all you really need to focus on for now. Weddings are meant to be fun and exciting and this is no exception! If you’re an LHNBEAUTY bride, we will keep you on track of what’s next to be planning for. You’ll hear from us roughly at the 4 month mark before your wedding date with some additional beauty preparation tips! Cheers to you, the day will be here before you know it!

For more wedding day preparation tips, see these other blog posts!