Well that was my last weekend as: Miss Kerrigan…surreal!! I am finding myself feeling attached to my family name at the moment, now that I’m on the final countdown to taking another. There are some nice parallels between Kerrigan and Maginess however, with both surnames being Irish and made up of three syllables (meaning my name is remaining the same length, why this all of a sudden matters I have no idea). I think a big thing for me is that my nicknames’ have always been an extension of my surname: Kegs, Kergo, Kegster or rather unimaginatively Kerrigan, and so I wonder if I will still get called one of the former options?
I can appreciate why some women do not want to take another surname, perhaps they have had career success under their maiden name, or indeed under their married names (Cheryl Cole being a prime example) and so in changing their surname, they may feel they lose this identity they have built up. Although it is quite a big deal for me to take Lee’s surname, I do like the tradition of it and I feel that it can only ever be a good thing, should we be lucky enough, when children come along that their parents share the same family name. In short I need to suck it up!
This weekend was spent doing more bits and bobs for the wedding, the main being a jaunt into town with Lindy (my mum) to select a perfume and lipstick for the big day, which was no easy task.
As a female, we very quickly learn the age-old make-up rule that if you go for a smoky or heavier make up around the eye, lips need to be kept to a paler shade. This is then in contrast to a deep/dark lip colour teamed with a less heavy eye make-up. Being a big fan of smokier eyes, this is the look I have chosen for my bridal make-up and so on Saturday I was seeking out a paler pink lippy (which I find goes better with my skin tone than a nude lip colour. I found a good article for picking the right lipstick for you on Allaboutyou.com so have a read if you get a chance).
Another major consideration for me when selecting a lipstick is that I suffer from very dry lips, especially after applying any kind of product to them. Having purchased a YSL lipstick in duty free when travelling in South America (it was this type of attitude to spending which rendered me penniless on this trip, as you may have read in my previous blog post), I have a real fondness for the thick coating and long-lasting and radiant colour they bring to your lips, whilst still keeping them moisturised. Rather than encouraging my lips to shrivel like a dried apricot, as many lipsticks do, the YSL Rouge Volupte lipstick applies in a moist paste of colour, adding to a luxurious feel when pursing. This thicker coating also stands out well in photographs, which is ideal for your wedding day.
The make-up artist at YSL (in the Glasgow Debenhams store) suggested I try the No1 and the No7 colours, having briefed her on my plan for big eyes and subdued lips. She also advised that if your eye make up has a sparkle to it you should always go for a matte lip, whereas if your eye make-up has no shine, a gloss is best for your lips.
If you have an important event I find that the girls at the beauty counters in department stores offer invaluable advice, you can get a beauty consultation whether you purchase a product or not, so I would always advise using them as a first port of call. This is far better than covering your hands in coloured stripes (which then inevitably smudge onto your sleeve), or trying to test the colour on your lip by taking the colour from the very bottom of the stick with your finger and applying to your lip (not the most hygienic I know but something I see so many ladies, including myself trying to do).
Another hurdle for me when out shopping for a lipstick is how the tester casing colour, can differ from the lipstick colour itself! You think you have landed the jackpot with a pale pink casing and then you roll out a brown lipstick, what the hell happened with the pantone matching of those?
Having confidently selected the No7 YSL lipstick, Lindy and I moved onto the quest for a new perfume and found that this was a far more complicated task. After smelling and saturating both of us with what must of amounted to about 80 different scents, I lost all sense of smell and my focus for my ideal bridal perfume/ cologne. Picking a new perfume for the big day has been important to me for a few reasons. Firstly, you are going to be hugging a lot of people and want them to come away thinking that the bride smells nice; it is nice to treat yourself to a new perfume that will forever remind you of the day and I was also keen to go for something more floral than the perfumes I have been wearing for years. Being a fan of the sweeter rather than spicier scents, I managed to narrow the search down to the following favourites:
Yves Saint Laurent – Supreme Bouquet
Miss Dior – Blooming Bouquet
Dior – Forever and Ever
Jo Malone – Silk Blossom
Of the above the two final contenders were Jo Malone’s Silk Blossom and YSL’s Supreme Bouquet. Supreme Bouquet, which I found to be similar to Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess after it had rested on your skin for about thirty minutes, is and Eau De Parfum. It really did hold its scent on my skin for 6-8 hours (as we were promised it would) and both Lindy and myself fell in love with this perfume…not however with the price tag. At £195 you would have to be feeling pretty flush to justify that spend on an 80ml perfume (I thought Lindy was going to faint when she heard the total) and having been saving and spending for the wedding over the past two years, I am sadly feeling far from flush.
Similar to Supreme Bouquet, Silk Blossom really held its scent on my skin all day. It had more floral undertones to it and so was more in line with the type of scent I had set out for. It is the current limited edition cologne to Jo Malone and so this is likely to mean that it is not a common scent at the wedding and at £82 for the 100ml bottle, it was a far more reasonably priced option.
Before setting out on Saturday, I had been advised to try to purchase a perfume with a matching body lotion with the aim of keeping the scent on my skin for longer during the wedding day. The rule is that Eau De Parfum is more concentrated (in terms of the ratio of ‘perfume oil’ or ‘essential fragrance’ to water and alcohol and is generally between 15%-30% fragrance oil) and so lasts on the skin longer, hence the higher price tags. Whereas Eau De Cologne is lighter (generally made up of 8%-15% fragrance oil) and so evaporates quicker. With Eau De Toilette then being the lightest of all (between 5%-8% fragrance oil) and so will last the least amount of time on your skin. A way to make each of the options last longer is to moisturize (ideally with a lotion or cream from your perfume’s range) before spraying your scent on as it will sink into oiler rather than dry skin better. Essentially the lotion or cream will help to seal in your perfume or cologne.
Like Supreme Bouquet, Silk Blossom did not have a matching body lotion (Jo Malone do not release matching body creams or lotions for their limited edition scents), however the salesgirl in Jo Malone suggested going for a body cream of one of their other signature colognes, which would then mix with Silk Blossom and bring other light tones to the overall scent. I had fallen for their English Pear and Freesia cologne and so this was the option I went for. You can of course simply use an unscented lotion to help your perfume or cologne really sink into your skin.
Finally, I have read that where you spray the fragrance on your body can help with retaining the smell for as long as possible. For example pulse points, areas where the blood vessels are very close to the skin and release more heat, are said to boost the fragrance. These include your wrists, the base of your neck, back of the knees, inside of the elbows, ankles and between your boobs.
It really is funny the things you become fixated upon on the run up to your wedding, things that you may never really thought all of a sudden become important! With only 4 days left, I wonder if any other surprising fixations will pop up, I will keep you posted. x
