Wedding Ready Skin

Your wedding day is one of the biggest days in your life and naturally you want to look like the most beautiful version of yourself on your special day. Having wedding ready skin starts with your habits months before you say, “I do”. Adopting a good skincare routine combined with facial treatments and maintaining a healthy lifestyle have all been proven to enhance the appearance of your complexion. If you’re a little unsure as to where to start, read on for my top beauty wedding tips to look and feel beautiful from the inside out.

Have A Skincare Consultation

Getting married is an opportune time to get your skincare routine in check to ensure healthy beautiful wedding ready skin. I would highly recommend a skincare consultation as having a one-on-one consultation is always going to result in a more bespoke and effective skincare plan and is a fantastic way to determine your skin goals and find out how best to optimise your skincare in the run up to the big day. I have clients who come to me a few weeks before their wedding looking for a quick fix and yes there are certainly treatments and products that will help improve the appearance of skin but to have it in tip top condition, ideally you should be starting to think about it a few months in advance.

Invest In Hero Products

For me face serums are the heavy lifters and work brilliantly for tackling specific skin concerns. Perhaps you’re wanting to brighten your complexion? If so find yourself a serum with a high concentration of brightening ingredients, such as vitamin C and vitamin B3 (niacinamide). In terms of application, they sit between your cleansing and moisturising step.

For your night-time routine, consider a retinol serum. It will strengthen and brighten your skin, improve texture, reduce the appearance of unwanted pigmentation, smooth skin and make long lasting visible changes to your skin. Less is more if you’re not used to retinol. Start using a low percentage formula at night twice a week then gradually build up the frequency of usage as your skin adjusts.

Exfoliation

When done gently and correctly, is a great way to smooth skin’s surface, so it reflects light and appears glowing or brightened. There’s a dizzying array of exfoliating products and methods to choose from and it can often lead to confusion. Enzymes in skincare are enjoying a much-deserved buzz right now, thanks to their extra-gentle nature. Most enzymes in skincare are derived from fruits like pineapple and papaya and they digest away the keratin protein in the outermost layer of your skin, helping you slough off rough, dull dead skin cells to reveal soft, glowing skin underneath.

Schedule Some Facials

Investing in regular maintenance facials can go a long way in creating that ‘lit-from-within’ bridal glow and can also better prepare skin so that your makeup will look flawless on the day and last longer. Schedule a monthly treatment three-to-six months leading up to the wedding, get into a routine and give your skin the best chance to respond to treatments and products. This will allow your skin to adjust and ensure significant improvement.

If you have specific skin issues to tackle, then six to nine months before your wedding will show the best results. As to which type of facial treatment is best for brides, it really is individual and depends on your skin type, how much time you have before your big day, your budget and what type of results you’d like to see. Your Facialist will be able to advise what’s appropriate for you and your skin and remember, with all things skin, the more time you put into it, the more rewards you’ll reap. AND in the midst of all the wedding planning, facials are a welcome treat and a time for some self-care which we all know the importance of.

Don’t Forget Sunscreen

By now, we all should know the importance of incorporating a facial sunscreen into our skincare routine whatever the weather. Spending just a minute every day applying UV protection can future proof your skin not only for the wedding but for years to come. When it comes to choosing a facial sunscreen, it’s important to remember that not all sunscreens protect against both UVA and UVB rays. Make sure your sunscreen is labelled Broad-Spectrum, which means it contains a combination of ingredients to protect you from both UVA and UVB rays. Opt for a facial sunscreen that also delivers some beneficial skincare ingredients to help improve the health and appearance of your skin.

Acting as your skin’s bodyguard against skin enemies (skenemies) apply 1⁄2 a teaspoon to your face, neck, and ears evenly as the last step in your morning skin care routine and before makeup. Apply more to any exposed areas. Reapply every two hours when exposed to direct light, €36 available in selected pharmacies nationwide and online from ellaandjo.ie

Stress Less

Easier said than done when the wedding to-do-list is getting out of control, however, on the complexion front, keeping stress under control is key to healthy skin. A calmer mind means calmer skin, you don’t want those cortisol levels to rise, as many inflammatory conditions, including acne, eczema, psoriasis may flare up with stress. As stress weakens the immune system, chronic inflammation worsens.

Stress can in turn, also impact your sleep, and sleepless nights will mean dull, lacklustre skin. Sleep enables the body to reverse everyday free radical damage by replenishing energy, building new cells, and repairing connective tissue. Because sleep is an ideal time for cellular renewal and overall repair for the skin and other organs, poor sleep is quite apparent in the complexion. There’s little use in a great skincare routine and regular facials if you’re not supporting all your efforts with a healthy sleep routine, as well as anything that helps you to destress – be it exercise, meditation or delving into a good book in between the wedding planning.

For brides-to-be, if would like to have a consultation or have one of my bespoke facial treatments click the Book Now button.