Make up artist for engagement photos

I did my own make up for our engagement photos. I figured I am going to be all glammed up for wedding photos, so I wanted our engagement pictures to be authentically us.

I went and had my foundation done for free at Sephora. I am not a makeup person and I wanted to make sure it looked nice. A full “make over” required a $50 purchase or something and as someone not into make up I didn’t want to spend that much. So she did the foundation (and maybe a little extra when I told her what it was for) but then I did the rest myself (eyes, lips). It photographed well.

I had an appointment to get mine done professionally... it was March 20, 2020 so they canceled on me. No choice but to do it myself, LOL!

I scheduled one of my hair/make-up trials for the day of our engagement shoot, so I could see how long everything held up. I usually don’t wear very much make-up, so I looked on Pinterest for soft, romantic, and natural looking styles with a similar skin tone to me. And it turned out great! I loved the look, I felt confident, the photos were beautiful, and now I’m not worried about needing a lot of touch-ups on my wedding day.

I rarely wear make up and my engagement photos was i think the fifth time I'd ever worn it. I did it myself, but I have years of artistic and design background. I'll likely do the same for my wedding. Fifteen minutes, liquid eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lip crayon. Other than a bit of regular powder as a base around the eye socket, that was it. Here's how it turned out:
Very subtle, barely there, enough to look dressed up and little enough to look like me. The little wings are my favorite.

It depends on your confidence in your skill level. Not all women know how to apply for various reasons, and all the YouTube tutorials in the world won’t help your skill set if you aren’t naturally gifted in that area. I prefer using a professional because applying lipstick is the extent of what I can do on myself that looks good.


Many brides say they use the trial with the hair/makeup artists the morning of the engagement pictures so that everything can be tested.

View Quoted Comment This is a really great idea! Two birds, one stone!

View Quoted Comment This is exactly what I did! I got to see how my desired hair would hold up after hours in the Florida humidity and had photo-grade makeup. The timing was perfect and I love how I looked in our engagement photos. I stuck with the same hair and makeup for our wedding.

I did use my makeup lady, but I’m very confident doing my own makeup so it was a nice to have, rather than a must have - if budget was a concern I would have skipped it.

I’m glad I did though, as she did something I wasn’t keen on due to a miscommunication on my part, and I am glad I know to be much clearer next time, on the big day.

I'm also scheduling my make-up trial for the day of a photo session. I did own makeup for my engagement photos and I love how they turned out. But I'm doing a boudoir session and I want a particular look for those photos. So I guess it's about the look you're going for and how confident you are accomplishing that.