May 12th, 2017
You guys remember how the world was supposed to end on December 21st, 2012? Well it felt like my entire world was going to end on May 12th, 2017. After two years of planning for the date, it began to have an ominous tone. Seeing as how I lived to see this day, I survived May 12th, 2017, but just barely.
Oh! What was May 12th? It was my sister’s wedding. The most joyous occasion was just that and more once the day finally came but the preparations proved to be torturous, terrifying, and even tearful. The most nerve wracking part about the whole ordeal for me was that the bride entrusted me to do her hair and makeup.
I’ve been playing in makeup and burning the hair off of my Barbie dolls for as long as I can remember. In fact, my earliest hairstyling memory was attempting to straighten my Barbie’s hair with the heat of a lamp. It turns out that Barbie’s hair is plastic. The smell of burnt plastic and the vision of Barbie’s stiff body dangling from the lamp as her hair remained melded onto the bulb of the lamp made sure that I never forgot.
I started playing in my mother’s makeup in my middle school years. I couldn’t recall the exact age if you held a gun to my head. Due to being homeschooled, my elementary school years are one big heap of time.
My mother ALWAYS did my sister and I’s hair, which is how my sister and I first began to learn the craft. I can recall exactly one time when my big sister sat me down and did my hair. She gave me two big french braids (actually they were dutch braids by the very technical standards of today). This was WAY before Kylie Jenner or Khloe Kardashian “invented” or “popularized” “boxer braids”. Two big braids hanging from the back of my head in a pigtail fashion was the Gray sister’s go-to “in between hairstyles” hairstyle. It felt awesome to have my sister do my hair and now a decade later it was terrifying to think that I had to do hair and makeup for THE MOST PARTICULAR WOMAN ALIVE!
“Not too much makeup!” “I don’t want to look like a clown!” “I don’t like blush.” “What are you putting on my face now?!”
How do you do minimal bridal makeup for a woman who is wearing a sequin dress?! My sister is truly one of the strangest people I have ever met! I love her to bits and pieces but I had nightmares about doing her wedding makeup! I only did one hair and makeup trial with her prior to the wedding and then I had the nerve to scrap the trial look and wing it. Did I fail to mention that I did my own hair and makeup as well as my mother’s?! It was a lot to manage but the challenge was fun!
I ended up creating a double liner look with her favorite color, aqua blue and silver glitter. I found false eyelashes that were “not too long, but not too short”, gave her a minimal foundation-highlight-contour base, dabbed on a smidgen of blush and highlight, filled in her eyebrows ever so lightly, and she put on her favorite deep berry MAC lipstick. I curled her hair until my wrist fell off and then combed it into a soft wave. I also utilized a popular hairstyle in the bridal world, a waterfall braid. There were two waterfall braids that created a half up half down look while still ensuring the fullness of an all down look. There were so many rhinestone butterfly hairpins in her head that I lost count. To top it all off, there was a beautiful jeweled hair comb placed in the middle of the her head.
Whew! That was a lot to describe, but surprisingly not too much to execute. I think she ended up liking her look. If not, I’m sure I would’ve heard about it by now.
So that's the story of May 12th, 2017. I survived, my sister has a new husband and everyone lived happily ever after.
Peace, Love, Soul, and Emerithing in between...
Em