By Ashley Arnold
I have a Man of Honor, and several bridesmaids who are beyond talented in the hair and makeup department. One of them admits to occasionally falling down YouTube beauty tutorial rabbit holes, and experiments with various makeup looks when she’s bored at home. Therefore, in a moment of insanity, I said to her, “Do you think we should attempt to do our own hair and makeup for the wedding?” She said that we absolutely should not. Leave it to the pros.
Thank goodness she said that, and I mentioned to my regular cut and colorist, Qamil at Moss Salon in Providence, that I didn’t have anyone to do our hair and makeup for the wedding. I had sent out several inquiries to vendors on The Knot, but none of them had returned my messages. Qamil said, “Forget chasing after web vendors. Talk to our girls here in the salon.”
Right away, I was set up with a back-to-back appointments with hair designer Kelly and makeup artist Robyn. Kelly is a regular stylist at Moss, and Robyn has a private alcove setup in one of the front bay windows of the salon under the name Bonjour Belle Cosmetics.
For all of my practice with special effects makeup with TEN31 Productions and turning myself into a statue, I am fairly ill-equipped when it comes to everyday girl makeup and beautification. I wanted to document my trial day the way the “kids” do nowadays: Snapchat. I am fascinated with someone’s ability to turn me into a fancier version of myself, and so I documented my day of The Bridal Trial:
Obviously, I made a mistake making these appointments for 10 a.m. on a Saturday. I have allowed my sloth-like fiancé to influence my sleeping habits, and he frequently can be found sleeping until at least 12 p.m. on weekends, as long as he doesn’t have to be anywhere. But by the time I had a coffee at Moss, at their quaint little coffee station in the waiting area, and I was sitting in Kelly’s chair with some curls setting in my hair, I was feeling a bit better.
Yes, that is all my own hair! Go Kelly! She gets in the zone and wants to showcase your hair in the most sophisticated and sleekest way possible. We looked at photos of the dress to make sure it would match the aesthetic and she also helped me shop for hair accessories, which were purchased a couple of weeks later. Then, I was transferred to Robyn’s station for makeup! Time to get a fresh face!
I showed Robyn a series of photos that I had plucked from Pinterest, many of which played up the eyes. However, one or two featured a bold winter lip. After talking about the practicality of that, and how it fit in with me and how I usually present myself, she gave me a great warm look which plays well with my skin tone and eye color while not being too pale or princess-y. We chose these fantastic winged lashes which gave amazing dimension to the eyes. So glamorous!
Kelly and Robyn will be joining us at our hotel on the day of, taking so much pressure off of the bridal party while we get ready. The team at Moss made this booking so easy for me. I’m so grateful that I mentioned to Qamil that I needed some help and he pointed me in the right direction. I feel like I’ve been saved!