Today on Wedding Secrets Unveiled!, we’re thrilled to bring you part two of an exciting, in-depth interview with the wedding industry power couple, The Dawsons! In this episode, Nicole Dawson from Mineko Beauty is here to guide you in finding the perfect makeup artist for your big day. Nikki shares her expert tips on crafting your dream bridal look, staying on schedule, and setting a beauty budget. And if you missed it, be sure to check out last week’s episode featuring her husband, Jason Dawson of Dawson Entertainment!
We were joined by Nikki and her husband Jason in the studio when taping this episode. See Jason’s episode about finding a DJ here!
Meet Nikki.
My name is Nikki Dawson. I am located in Mystic, CT, and I am a bridal specialist for hair and makeup. I’m also a licensed aesthetician. So I do facials, chemical peels, lash, lifts, waxing – I like to be able to offer a little bit of everything to my brides and clients and help my brides know how to take care of their skin, so they can be wedding ready.
I think it’s very unique to find someone who does both hair and makeup, let alone being licensed and focusing on beauty and skincare. So, that right there is a really successful package.
You don’t find many artists out there that do both hair and makeup. Sometimes that could be a little frustrating- being able to find artists that like to do both and I understand that hairstylists don’t want to do makeup. They just want to focus on the hair, and vice versa. But being able to offer the whole entire package is a pretty sweet deal.
I love it. Well, I think for today’s show, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna focus a little bit more on the prep work of getting wedding ready. Our listeners are interested in the hair and makeup component, but they need to get their skin ready. So, talk to me a little bit about that.
On my first initial calls with my brides, I go over everything with them. We talk about why it’s super important to take care of your skin to get and get into a nice skin care regimen. We also talk about when to start it – the earlier the better – for getting your skin ready and prepped. I also help them with products and educate them on what products to use, how to use them, and then also get them into the treatment room, so that we can start facials and get the skin nice and glowy.
So, start about a year out. Find an esthetician if you’re into Botox and injectables and everything like that. 3-6 months out, you’ll book a trial so we can start talking about your vision of your hair and makeup, and discuss how to get your hair ready. Most women think that they need to grow their hair out for the entire year and I have to explain to them that we’ll want to be doing healthy trims. That’s it. Because, at the end when you’re getting super close, all of this effort that you’ve done to grow your hair out – they’d have to cut off these dead ends and it would be shorter than you wanted. We want your hair to be healthy and shiny so trims are important.
What about the skin? So take me through what brides should be doing and what they should avoid.
So, at the year mark, we always start with a cleanser, toner, a serum for day and night, and that you’re exfoliating. And number one is SPF. We can’t forget our SPF! You’ll use serum during the day, vitamin C and then at night, your retinol and antiaging. So those are always the biggest ones to start out with and use, and then we get you into the treatment room. What we do there depends on what your concerns are. Whether it’s fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation, or dehydrating, there are certain things that we can do. We could do chemical peels. We could do microdermabrasions or radio frequencies. So you get pretty creative with what we can do with the tools and products right in the room.
Then from there, we check in with the brides and how they’re doing with the products. When you get closer to the wedding date, then it’s about deciding on spray tans, if you have peach fuzz and you’re concerned, or things like that. As you get closer to the date of the wedding, we’d do dermaplaning. So you don’t want to do it super close or too far away – about 2 weeks from the wedding is the sweet spot.
I would assume with a lot of these procedures, you shouldn’t be doing them too close to your wedding, right?
Everybody’s a little different. When it comes to the lasers and things like that, definitely further out – not super close to your date, in case something happens and you got a burn.
What about the wedding party? Anything you can suggest for them about how to prep for the wedding day?
Pretty much the same thing as the bride. Let the girls know to keep their skin hydrated, exfoliate and make sure on the wedding day that they’re not wearing any makeup the day of and that they come with clean dry hair.
Not to interrupt – but the days of coming with wet hair are long gone, right?
Long gone! We don’t have the time. We make a timeline and schedule it out for each person’s hair and makeup. So, if we have to blow dry hair, that cuts into my time and we run late. But, listen, it happens. And , depending how wet it is, we can move onto the next person while they dry it. But, there are some women that do come and they’re ready to go for a blowout. I always wish I could. And if we know ahead of time, we can schedule accordingly.
What about the ideas for the look? What are you seeing right now for trends and what are you also suggesting to people to do to help you deliver what they’re looking for?
So the biggest thing is when you’re finding your artist and looking at their pictures on social media, decide if you like full makeup. Do you like the softer makeup look?
What happens with someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking for?
I always like to tell my brides, there’s so much out on social media and my version of being natural might be totally different from your version of natural. So, I tell them to pick out three inspirations for makeup and hair. Why? Because when you start to have more than that, you get overwhelmed. Then you start second guessing and you’re like, I thought I liked this but now I don’t know. When we’re at the trial, I’ll pull up the inspo pictures and ask them what they gravitate towards more. Then I break down what they like – the brow liner, the little shimmer. And we talk about each picture. So that’s how we customize and create the bridal look.
I love it. What are the trends that you’re seeing right now?
Oh my goodness. The trend right now is more of the soft, glowing skin – not natural, like you’re still wearing makeup. It really is a full face but it’s still super natural. There’s products out there that we use that can give you that look, which goes back down to what we’re originally talking about: prepping your skin.
As I tell my brides, the makeup is only gonna look as good as what we’re doing for our skin. So we’re taking care of our skin. We’re exfoliating, we’re making sure that we’re eating a healthy diet and exercise. When the wedding day comes, your skin is going to look amazing and the makeup is going to look flawless, and it’s going to be beautiful in pictures.
Let’s go over the timeline!
Timelines are super huge and still, to this day, there’s artists out there that don’t do timelines.
They just kind of go with the flow. And I’m like, I don’t understand how you can do that. I tell my brides that I like to do timelines closer to the wedding day. A year and a half out, there’s so many things that can change and so many details.
So I always tell them, when you’re doing a first look, let me know what you and your photographer have discussed. And then I can go back from there and your ceremony time. But I have to know what time the photographer needs people and work back from there.
It’s so funny that you say that. I have lots of opinions on this. Beecause, first and foremost, your hair and makeup is the very first thing you’re doing other than waking up, right? It’s literally the first thing you’re doing, and your ceremony is the one thing that’s a confirmed time. I mean, obviously there’s your cocktail hour and reception, but the first look or ceremony is your first confirmed time. So there’s a lot going on in between there. As a photographer, there’s nothing that pains me the most as when a bride or the bridesmaids aren’t out of the chair on time. It’s a domino effect and it impacts everything. So, it surprises me that some makeup or hair stylist artists don’t do timelines.
There must be some makeup artists that want to know their schedule. But is it okay to have a window of time and then we tighten that up closer in?
Absolutely, because we’re humans, right? We have an idea of how the day is going to go. But, there’s always something that comes up. Doing it closer to the event is much easier and much less work on our ends.
I get that. I get people asking me if their hair and makeup needs to be done two hours prior to leave. You think it’s a simple question, but no it’s not. It depends on where you’re getting ready, if you have to travel and the questions that go into it with the size of your bridal party. What happens if not everyone’s doing hair and makeup?
They come in, they get to enjoy everything, but then they start seeing everybody getting their hair and makeup. And then they come up and they ask if I can do their hair and makeup. Usually, there’s not enough time unfortunately. I always tell them that I would love to and if there’s enough time at the end, we’ll be able to get you in the chair. But I don’t give them false hope or anything. But, it’s good to think about everyone who will be in the room.
And then also visually, there’s a component there.
Visually, yes, and that’s for photography. And I always tell professional makeup is going to look different. It’s going to translate differently in your photos to someone who’s doing their own makeup.
Unfortunately, it does. I mean, look, we’re all beautiful. But you are right when we’re talking about hair and makeup right now, there is a difference between professional hair and makeup and someone doing it on their own. And if you have the entire wedding party doing it and then one or two people not doing it, it does translate.
Do people do a lot of bridal party hair and makeup as gifts?
Yeah, I have a lot of brides that ask me what other people do. Many do 50/50 because when you add up all the gifts, especially with a huge bridal party, it gets to be a lot. But, just give them the hair and makeup. They will absolutely love that from you more than you getting them another glass.
Especially if you really want them to have hair and makeup. You have to ultimately think about that as part of your budget. When you are part of a wedding, there is a financial responsibility in being a bridesmaid.
Yes, it’s expensive on the bridesmaid. So being more upfront and being honest of whether you can afford it or not is definitely the best way to be with the couple. I know when it comes to hair and makeup, I have a limit of when you can add someone or take away services. You’ll still be responsible if someone backs out, like 90 days before the event.
I’ve had a lot of friends where I’ve seen them not not be part of the bridal party because they weren’t ready to financially take the responsibility, but they’re there in support. Or if you are someone who wants someone to be part of the bridal party, and that there’s a financial situation, you might need to think about paying for that portion of it and just being part of being part of your budget, right?
Wrap Up Question
What are some key points that couples should be asking their hair and makeup companies when they’re inquiring to make sure that they’re working with a professional company to ensure that their wedding day is a perfect event?
Do they have social media? Is there anywhere that you can see their pictures and where you work? Like, I work independently at all of these venues.
I get a huge following of brides from reviews too. Reviews are big because they see how you interact and work with everyone.
What We Discussed
Meet Nikki (2:32)
Preparing Skin for the Wedding Day (5:44)
Wedding Party Preparation (10:24)
Trends in Wedding Makeup (12:31)
Timelines and Logistics (18:00)
Handling Large Bridal Parties (33:04)
Wrap Up Question (37:06)
Links Mentioned in the Episode
Find Beauty by Mineko at Website | Instagram | Facebook
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