Bridal trial makeup

A trial answers five questions, and only the first of them is about taste.

• Whether you like the result, in the room and in a photograph
• How the base behaves on your skin after four or five hours
• Whether anything you are wearing causes a reaction
• How long it genuinely takes — which the wedding schedule depends on
• How it reads under the light the ceremony will actually be in

Two to four weeks before the wedding is the best window. Earlier than that and your skin may change; later and there is no time left to alter anything you did not like.

If you can, book the trial for a day when you are going out in the evening. Then you test the makeup in real conditions rather than at home in front of a mirror for ten minutes.

Bring photographs of what you like and, if you already have it, a picture of the dress or at least its colour. Tone and shades are chosen against the dress rather than in isolation.

Tell us where the ceremony will be and at what hour. The dim, warm light of a church and midday daylight call for different intensities, and the trial is where that gets settled.

A trial leaves a record: which products were used, which shades, in what order, and how long each part took.

On the wedding morning that record means nothing is searched for and nothing is improvised. That repeatability, more than the result on the day itself, is what a trial is actually worth.

You can, and plenty of people do — particularly when the wedding is in another city and travelling twice is impractical.

In that case we change the approach: more detailed questions at booking, photographs of you in daylight, and extra time built into the wedding morning schedule for adjustments.