When it comes to the wedding beauty routine, I definitely did not mess around! As a self-proclaimed beauty guru already, it was time to take it up a notch for the big day. From facials, to body treatments and of course haircare, this post outlines everything that I tried and recommend. I’ll also share another post about all of my wedding weekend makeup!
Wedding Beauty Routine
Skin
Having a good skincare routine is always super important to me, but you cannot mess around when it comes to your big day! You can find my full PCA skin routine in this post, and I still integrate a ton of those products into my routine. I also love getting a facial peel by PCA 1-2x a year to really take my skin to the next level. Here are some other treatments I tried and a rough timeline of my wedding skincare prep.
1 year out: I solidified my skincare routine and focused on minimizing the amount of new products that I used. I also met with Skin Spa New York to talk about a customized routine leading up to the big day. We decided on a combo of Laser Genesis and HydraFacial to help heal acne scars and keep my skin looking bright and even.
6 months out: I kicked off the sessions with Skin Spa and focused on evening my skin and getting rid of some redness. I only had two laser sessions, but I think that they did help my dark spots and scarring! I did 3 HydraFacials with them as well and always left looking super refreshed. HydraFacials are great because they can really customize them to your skin’s concerns. Top concerns being skin tone & texture, dark spots, fine lines & wrinkles, hydration or congested pores. You’ll get similar results as you would from an extraction, peel, and facial—without the irritation or redness.
3 months out: My package with Skin Spa ended in September, so I focused on some beauty treatments at home. One favorite was this LED light mask, and I was shocked at how well it worked! It’s still one of my favorites to help with improving any redness and preventing wrinkles.
I also found another med spa closer to my home in Jersey City and went here for a final glow-up for the wedding. I went to NJ Beauty and Acu Center and they offer a ton of different treatments. One of my favorites was the Cryo-Facial! It was my first time trying one, and the before/after was insane. It totally sculpted my jawline and helped get rid of any puffiness. Their lymphatic drainage massages were also SO helpful. As someone with a thyroid condition, I can hold onto a lot of water weight and puffiness, so these made me feel a lot better too.
Week before: I did a final HydraFacial and facial sculpting session at NJ Beauty and Acu Center about a week before the wedding. Aside from that, I focused on hydrating my skin + drinking a ton of water. I tried to avoid food that night break me out and limit makeup as much as possible. Now is not the time to try any new products!!
Hair
My blondies know the drill, but we’re always on a hair salon schedule. I kept everything with my color about the same, and only did small trims to let my grow out. One new thing I tried was the hand-tied hair extensions. With straight and fine hair, these would help me get volume. I got them in early May before my bachelorette party and really loved how they looked. They added fullness and volume and the color was really a perfect match.
But, getting thick hair extensions in the summer is probably not the best idea because your girl was hot! I had them removed at my 6-week appointment with plans to put them in before my October wedding, until I quickly realized that I lost A TON of hair. Even though I went to one of the best stylists in NYC and used good-quality extensions, I think that my scalp just didn’t react well to them. So then I was super self-conscious about my fine hair all summer and really switched to focus on getting it fuller again. I ended up having the extensions turned into clip-ins so that the expensive purchase didn’t totally go to waste.
Enter: my hair health era. I had dabbled in the collagen world (ie: Vital Proteins back in college) and took Nutraful during 2020. But I needed to step it up a notch after this new hair loss. I switched to a daily liquid collagen supplement and even my hair stylist said that she can tell a difference in the density! I also started using this scalp serum and LOVE it. I’ve also heard good things about these hair vitamins, so I might try them soon when I run out of my liquid collagen. For the actual wedding weekend, I used the clip-in extensions and they were perfect! It also felt great to be able to take them out and toss my hair up in a big messy bun while we were on the beach on the honeymoon.
Okay, I think that pretty much covers the wedding beauty routine! I tried to keep my prep as simple as possible, even though I love trying out all the beauty newness. Let me know if you have any additional questions and stay tuned for the wedding weekend makeup guide. Thanks for reading! x
photos by Shannon Moffit