Hair Up, Glasses Off: Remix

A few weekends ago, we trekked out to California for my sister's college graduation. Why is this relevant to weddings? Well, luckily enough, Mr. CA's Auntie also lives in the same town, so we were able to get together with her. Bonus? She is also my wedding hair and makeup artiste extraordinaire!

So, of course, we simply had to do a trial while I was down there, right? I mean, come on, who doesn't love getting themselves done up all nice and pretty like? No one.

Armed with my hair-spiration, we set off. Unfortunately, due to terrible weather across the country, flights were delayed out of Newark, and we missed our connection in Phoenix. Which meant we landed in Phoenix around 1am. Meaning we had to sleep in the Phoenix airport to catch our super-early-morning flight. I was not pleased. Airport-sleeping does not make for a beautiful, fresh-faced Miss Candy A. Yep, I looked pretty haggard. Poor Auntie, she wasn't going to have much to work with.

But, we pressed on, and once we landed, we met up with Auntie and Uncle CA for lunch, then the appointment. I dragged my mom along and pressed her into service as our photographer for the day. Mr. CA and Uncle CA also ended up joining us, so it was just a big ol' Candy Apple party!

Get ready - lots of pics coming your way!

Me, fresh off the Phoenix airport floor with less than an hour's sleep. Dehydrated. Tired. Sexy. Wait, which of those doesn't belong?

Showing Auntie the joys of Pinterest with my saucy curlers in.

I actually really liked the curlers, and vowed to purchase some hot rollers of my own. This has yet to happen. Oh well.

Curls! Love. Seriously, I have always wanted beautiful, lucious curls. Stupid straight hair.

I look like a cheerleader here. Mr. CA arrived around this time, and was kind of like, oooh, you look.... nice? Heh, poor guy. I informed him that I wouldn't look like this the day of our wedding, and he was quite relieved.

And voila! Hair is all done. I told Auntie that I wanted a loose, low updo. I didn't want it to look super sleek, and I think it turned out really well. Exactly as I was envisioning it! Minus my haggard appearance, and drooping eyes.

The side, with Mr. CA and Uncle CA in the background. They're troopers.

I told you - Mom CA = photog. She took her job seriously.

And the back! Simple. Elegant. Natural, and yet classy enough for the big day. Perfect!

Annnd, a close-up of me with hair done, no makeup. Again - this is after a night in the luxurious Phoenix airport. Please excuse the hideousness.

Working her magic... I don't typically wear a ton of makeup, so my instructions to Auntie were "natural-looking, but still elegant." I am a woman of words, let me tell you.

Deer in the headlights!

All done! Oh man, I look so tired here. But happy! And made-up! Yay!

Vogue

I love how it turned out! YAY! Just as I was imagining, but better.

One of Auntie's colleagues forced me to go outside and have a photoshoot. They like getting pictures from all angles, in different light, so that they know how the look will photograph.

Super close up. You're welcome.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but once I got in the car, I realized that the air-brush foundation had gotten all over my pearl earrings! Ha. It wiped off super easily, but I made a mental note to put on my jewelry after makeup on the wedding day.

A shot about an hour or so afterwards, with my lovely Sister/ MOH. Note the hair tendril creeping out.

After an afternoon consisting of a cocktail reception, mass, and another cocktail reception (it was a busy trip, let me tell you). Hair is pretty loose at this point, and that tendril/ curl has escaped the clutches of the bobbypins.

All things considered (no sleep the night before, having been on planes and in an airport for the better part of the 24 hours prior, etc.), I think the trial went really well! I am so happy with the look we're going for - natural, yet still elegant enough for a wedding. I looked way better than I thought I could!

Auntie is, of course, a hair and makeup goddess. I loved getting my hair and face done, and she was so diligent in writing down everything she used during the trial. Seriously, she had a coloring-book style face thingy on which the stylists apply the actual makeup, to color in and show what product/ color went where. She also had a massive list in a notebook where she wrote everything down - products, steps, etc. This is crucial, people! You don't want your stylist forgetting something on the big day. Auntie is so prepared.

Some notes from the trial: we did determine that we wanted to use slightly less air-brushed foundation around my nose. Auntie also assured me that my hair would be super-hairsprayed, with lots more bobbypins, the day of, so that it wouldn't slip out. Don't want that puppy falling down during the ceremony! Thankfully, I will have my stylist on-hand to fix my hair if necessary. Whew.

I am incredibly lucky that she is helping me on my wedding day! It was so much fun being able to spend some girlie time with her, too.

Did your hair and/or make-up trial come out better than expected? Do you have an amazing friend or relative helping out? Do you have an awesome Mom Photographer like I do, to document these fun events?? (Thanks, Mom!)

The Horrors: Beautifying for the Big Day

This post was sort of tough to write, so please, be kind Hive. Guys, I have a confession. Ready? Okay, here goes. I pick my eyebrows.

Oh, I do that too you say? No, no, I don't pluck them in the sense that most women pluck their eyebrows. No, I actually pick them. As in, Hello, my name is Miss Candy Apple and I mangle my eyebrows.

Still confused? Let me explain. As far as bad habits go, nail-biting never really appealed to me, but in late grade-school (7th or 8th grade?), for some reason I started pulling my eyelashes. I don't really understand why I started doing it, and I eventually kicked the habit, but then, in highschool, I started in on picking at my eyebrows. Stress, maybe? Honestly, I'm not sure exactly why. It is soothing to me for some reason, and even though consciously I know I shouldn't, I still do it. It relieves my anxiety.

Which is bad. Because wedding planning makes me anxious. So I pick at my eyebrows. Which means that I have patchy eyebrows. But, realizing that I will have patchy eyebrows for the wedding? That makes me anxious too. So I pick at them some more. It's a vicious cycle, a la Le Petit Prince.

In recent years, the eyebrow-picking has focused mainly on the inner-ends of my eyebrows. Those ends have consequently gotten really patchy and ugly; I imagine people think I'm just really terrible at plucking my eyebrows. Sigh. They actually might not even notice. Who knows. But I notice.

I have thought about this problem, and have even done some searches online about it. I honestly thought I was the only person who does this (I am totally weird, right?), but it turns out that a quick google search turns up a LOT of people with this problem. It even has a name? Trichotillomania. (I told Mr. Candy Apple that it has a name, and he was like, stop trying to pretend like it's a real thing. Just stop picking your eyebrows. Easy. Thanks, babe.)

To be honest, I don't think that I have the full-fledged psychological problem (ha, that's what they all say, right??). Seriously, though, it's not a life-consuming thing for me. I don't avoid people because of this. I limit the hair-mangling to my eyebrows (ie I don't pick my scalp bald, or at all). And I don't consciously say I must pick out this specific hair. I must pull out my hair now! It's more of a self-soothe, like when people bite their nails, and I become aware of it as I'm doing it and stop. Well, I also sort of like the weird stubbly feeling of the hair underneath my fingernails. Yes, I realize this is totally, incredibly bizarre behavior, and that it is wrong, and semi-OCD. I told you, I'm crazy. Don't judge.

My mom would always say stop pulling out your eyebrows! Mr. Candy Apple has started to yell at me when I do it now, too. So, I am really, truly trying to stop this time. I mean, I am going to stop this time. I don't NEED to pick my eyebrows. It's all mental. In theory, I can stop anytime.

And although it sounds vain, I just really don't want patchy eyebrows for the wedding. You know all those lovely bridal close-ups? Yeah, patchy eyebrows wouldn't look so great in those.

{Photography by Michele M. Waite}

See?? No patches there...

So I've stopped. Cold-turkey. It has been over a month. I have only felt my fingers straying to my eyebrows a few times, and I have managed not to pick at them at all (Okay, this week has been stressful, and I sort of mangled them yesterday. Oops. Don't tell Mr. Candy Apple). I can honestly notice a difference, just from these few weeks. I read somewhere that it takes between 56-58 days for eyebrow hair to grow in after it has been plucked, so clearly, I still have a ways to go. BUT, hopefully they will continue to fill out, and I will be patch-free for the wedding! That is my goal, anyway. Must. Restrain. Self.

Did you have any bad habits that you tried to kick in the days/ weeks/ months leading up to the wedding? What strategies did you implement to help? Do you have the same weird eyebrow-picking tendencies?? (Tell me I'm not alone!!)