I’M GETTING MARRIED IN LESS THAN A MONTH 🤗😬🤗😬🤗😬. 🤑 Oh so expensive and we’ve kept it WAY under the national average of 26,000-30k. Other than that we were actually pretty average. We got engaged in a blizzard. Like a legit, NWS approved, blizzard in Colorado in April of 2016. The road to the church was actually closed about 15 minutes after we made our way down the mountain. The super for the church couldn’t make it down to open it up for us since he was snowed in further up the mountain. Ian did a MASSIVE amount of planning for this and I almost canceled because I needed to finish writing my dissertation. So glad I didn’t cancel it after that because he did a great job even though both of us managed to forget our heavy coats. Because who goes to Colorado, doesn’t ski, and thinks they don’t need a heavy coat….. in April. Obviously this couple.
We bought a house together earlier this year. We have 5 bridesmaids and groomsmen and out colors are Dark Purple (Aubergine specifically (do be specific with your florist, in fact, I searched for the Pantone color and that made him super happy) soft green and antique pink. Surprisingly finding antique pink flowers was SUPER easy once I discovered varieties like ‘Sahara’, ‘Quicksand’, and ‘Sandstorm’.
At first, I axed any standard roses at my wedding. They’re just over-priced and there are SO MANY other flowers to choose from than roses. But the color is exactly the shade of antique/vintage pink I am going for so that’s the only standard rose that’s allowed in the mix. Seriously!
November 3, 2018, is going to be my big fat Okie wedding day. And my number 1 concern is actually how good my skin will look. With today’s high definition camera you can scroll in and find every single pore, blemish, and odd dark hair normally only found on a male face. So I’m going to document my major skincare OMGs that’s I’ve gone through up to date and continue throughout the process as I have bigger things done.
Engagement Day
Started growing my hair out. It’s currently halfway down my back. On the side, I do minor hair modeling for my hairdresser, which has perks and weaknesses. She gets to control how long my hair is but she also gets me lots of awesome hair treatments so it stays in tip-top shape. Long hair is insanely expensive, beware. I do and don’t recommend. It’s also easy to obsess over. I do enjoy it though because I’m heavy into braided hairstyle right now and you just can’t do that with a pixie cut.
6-8 Months before my big day
I upped my skincare in a big way. I got super into each of my 10 steps. Made sure my skin was optimized for regeneration and moisture. Drank way more water, it was also summer so that may have had something to do with it. As issues came about I didn’t hesitate on those odd blemishes that popped up. I got some blemish stickers to prevent scaring or darken areas. I also never skipped my evening face wash. Especially on the weekends. I’m notorious for skipping my face care on the weekends out of pure laziness. Not anymore! This is also a good time to try out new skincare products. If it causes sensitivity you have more than enough time to heal completely. For example, I added retinol to my routine which I otherwise wouldn’t normally use. I also changed my serum to Clarins Double Serum. I also added Dr. Dennis Gross Extra Strength Alpha Beta Exfoliate packets. These things are amazing. Exuvience also has Performance Peel AP25.
Maintain, maintain, maintain, keep washing, toning, and masking and never, ever miss a day.
3 Months before my big day
I booked my first facial in like 5 years. I’m not a huge facial girl but for my big day, I want to be pampered. So I went ahead and booked the facial I want before my wedding which includes microdermabrasion and a chemical peel. Since I’ve never had microdermabrasion I had zero ideas about how I was going to respond to it all. And since I changed my skincare 6 months before, any problems experienced then should have healed for a test facial as well. Also about 3 months before the big day, I booked an appointment with my aesthetician. I have excess hair on my chin that I’ve lovingly called my soul patch over the year. I had it all lasered away about 3 years ago now. But over time it does creep back. It’s around $170 each treatment and initially, you have to have a series of 6 treatments spaced apart about 4-6 weeks. After those treatments, I only had to go back once a year. And mine was straight up facial beard hair. It’s black, thick, course and I’m not having it on my face. Since I haven’t maintained it in well over a year because of grad school, I need a couple of treatments to get it back in check so I scheduled my first laser hair removal around 3 months before the wedding day. I’m a huge fan but be prepared for the pain. It feels like someone snapping a rubber band on your face. Not pleasant but the worst of the pain is over in a few seconds.
The 3-month mark is also when I started to play around with manicure colors for the big day. I get my nails done once a month. This is something I’ve done for years now. It keeps me from biting my nails and means I actually have nails.
1 Month prior
Nothing has really changed. The only major thing is that three weeks from the wedding I had my last laser hair removal. I still have hair that’s working it’s way out. So following my aesthetician’s advice and doing it 3 weeks out was paramount. I also scheduled my wedding week facial for 3 days prior to my wedding.
2 weeks before
So that’s basically today (10/18). Weird hairs are still falling out from my laser hair removal last week. I should really do an entire post dedicated to that. Texture wise my chin feels like poo but that’s because the hair follicles are pushing themselves out right now. Within the next week, the vast majority of the hair follicles should have worked themselves out.
Problems
This biggest problem I’ve faced is the recurring whiteheads. I can’t get rid of them. Especially around the crook of my chin. I’ve never been able to deal with them besides popping them. That’s really impossible though because they’re back in full force 2 days later. I clean 2x a day, tone, avoid heavy moisturizers in that area and nothing works. I have one of those weird ultrasonic spatula things as well. I actually like it a lot, but for it to get after whiteheads and blackheads it just impossible without really digging into my skin. My fingers do a better job. And if I exfoliated anymore I would have irritated skin left over. If I find anything I’ll let you know or if you have anything that works, HELP!!!!! my black charcoal masks only do so much. Although I did recently get Ulta’s Blueberry and Yogurt clay mask and I rather enjoyed it. Maybe I just need to use my Irish Moor Mask from Peter Thomas Roth a bit more. I dunno. But then if I dry my face out too much in those areas I’ll end up with extra oil production which will make it so much worse. UGHHHHHH the lose-lose situations in skincare.
The next problem I’ve had is getting rid of my old acne scars along my chin line. That’s the biggest reason I starting using a retinol. I’m thinking of getting a script for azelaic acid or retinoids after the wedding. But at this point we’re 2 weeks out and one should not be making major changes to your skin care like azelaic acids, hydroquinones, or retinoids which a) take months to make a difference and b) can irritate the skin for weeks before it gets used to the product.
On a side note: I will be trying out a massive amount of sheet masks because I just dropped nearly $200 on a variety of masks!!!!! So sheet mask nirvana awaits. If only I can remember to take pictures……
