Have you thought about any beauty treatments you’ll take care of before your wedding? In particular, DIY beauty?
When you’re planning a wedding, most people think of arts and crafts first when Do It Yourself, or DIY, comes up. If you’re ambitious, DIY clothing or food may come to mind. But what about beauty treatments? When you really think about it, DIY beauty can be a huge time and money saver before your wedding. The downside is that you need to know what you’re doing, because you definitely want to look your best on your wedding day.
This post is all about how to DIY beauty, the right way. If you feel prepared to take care of certain things yourself, it can pay off in the end. You’ll have less time needed to try and nab an appointment, less travel time, and your budget will benefit as well. With a little practice and patience, you can create a pre-wedding beauty plan that will leave you looking and feeling amazing, at a fraction of what a professional would charge.
Read on to learn all about six things you can do yourself as part of your pre-wedding beauty treatments. This post will give you pointers on how to prepare for each treatment, what materials you’ll need to obtain, how much practice you should give yourself, and what to watch out for. It will mention one treatment you should not attempt to do on your own unless you are a professional, because the stakes are just too high. Some things are best left to professionals!
Enjoy!
SIX PRE-WEDDING BEAUTY TREATMENTS YOU CAN DO YOURSELF
DIY BEAUTY #1: MANICURE
Taking care of your own nails is something that many of us have gotten used to doing during the pandemic, so why not carry that on to your wedding?
Prep Nails
While it may seem really simple to just paint your nails, there are some extra special steps you may want to take if you’re doing your own manicure. For a perfect DIY manicure, this article from Glamour magazine says the first step is to remove any existing nail polish. After that, you can clip (if needed), file, and buff nails, followed by prepping cuticles with cuticle remover. After you apply the remover, gently push cuticles back with a wooden cuticle rod.
Exfoliate Hands
Once your nails are prepped, you can use an exfoliant or scrub on your hands to make them super soft. When you are done with that, give your hands a good wash to get rid of anything left on them. Follow up with moisturizer. You may want to use polish remover again at this point to make sure your nails are ready to paint.
Paint Nails
When it comes to painting your nails, you apply a base coat, and let it dry for a few minutes. A base coat is typically a special type of polish that protects your nails and is usually clear. After it’s dry, apply your first coat of color, taking care to apply it from your cuticles all the way to the edge of your nails. Wait a couple of minutes, and then apply a second coat. The trick is to keep the coats very thin in application, and not glop on color.
Once you’re done with the color, carefully finish with a clear top coat. The last step is to touch up any mistakes with a little cotton ball and nail polish remover, being as precise as possible, and then wait a full five minutes before using your hands for anything.
Pre-Wedding Timing: If you plan on doing your own manicure, practice in the months leading up to the wedding, and complete your last manicure a day or two before the wedding.
Materials Needed:
- Nail Polish Remover
- Nail Clippers, File, Buffer
- Cuticle Remover
- Manicure sticks (to push back cuticles)
- Hand scrub (see below to DIY)
- Lotion
- Base Coat
- Nail Color
- Top Coat
- Cotton balls
DIY BEAUTY #2: PEDICURE
Of course, if you’re going to take care of your own manicure, you should also consider doing your own pedicure as well.
Prep Feet
According to this article from Oprah Daily, the first step for a DIY pedicure is to remove any old polish on your toes using nail polish remover and a cotton ball or paper towel. Next, give your feet a good soak in a basin or bath for about five to ten minutes. It will feel great to put a little Epsom salts in there with your feet. Once you’re done, take time to dry your feet and apply any cuticle remover to your cuticles and heels.
Treat Feet
When your feet are prepped, it’s time to trim and file your nails with nail clippers. Then, use a foot file or pumice stone to smooth any calluses. Your feet should be pretty smooth and clean at this point, so it’s the ideal time to apply moisturizer and give your feet some love with a gentle massage. When you’re done with that, wipe off any grease from your toes with a cotton pad and use toe separators or a paper towel to gently push toes away from each other.
Paint Toes
Now you get to actually paint your toes. Just like with a manicure, start with a base coat. After that, apply two thin coats of color, and follow up with a top coat. Once your toes are painted, don’t do anything for at least 15 minutes, though longer is more ideal. Especially avoid putting on any socks or shoes.
Pre-Wedding Timing: If you take care of your own pedicure before your wedding, practice in the months leading up and perform the last one a day or two before the wedding.
Materials Needed:
- Nail Polish Remover
- Cotton Balls
- Epsom salts
- Towel
- Nail clippers
- Nail file
- Foot file or pumice stone
- Moisturizer
- Toe separator (optional)
- Base coat
- Nail polish
- Top coat
DIY BEAUTY #3: FACIAL
Have you ever had a professional facial? They are pretty awesome.
Different from a skincare routine, a facial is a much more intentional way to treat your skin. Typically, if you get a facial, a professional esthetician will take some time and care properly hydrating your face and neck, and putting on and taking off products that will leave your skin soft, clear, and very healthy. While you can’t really create the same experience at home, you can definitely take the steps to make your skin look and feel great.
Clean & Steam Face
To start a DIY facial, you’ll first clean your skin using a cleanser. You may want to use two cleansers, one that is oil based to remove products, and one that is water based to remove any dirt and sweat. Once your skin is really clean, give it a good steam. You can do this safely by putting your face over a bowl of hot water and draping a towel over the back of your head to hold the steam in, or you can soak a towel in hot water and put it directly on your skin. If neither of these sound appealing, think about taking a shower or bath to easily get your skin steamed.
Prep Skin
Next, it’s time to exfoliate. The most gentle way to exfoliate is to use an enzyme or chemical exfoliator instead of a physical scrub. After you exfoliate, you will have open pores and smooth skin, prepping your skin for the next step, a mask. You can use whatever kind of mask you like, but I recommend a clay or charcoal mask, which will help detoxify your pores. Massage in the mask for a few minutes to properly apply it, using wet fingers for easy application. Leave the mask on for about 15 minutes, or whatever is recommended on the mask’s packaging.
Protect Skin
After you remove the mask, it’s time to moisturize using a serum or lotion (or both). When you moisturize, try to really massage it into your skin to help get the blood flowing and muscles happy. Skip the part of a professional facial where they extract gunk from your face. You can cause more damage than good by picking at your skin, and your skin should be looking and feeling pretty great at this point.
This is a great article from Good Housekeeping laying out all the steps.
Pre-Wedding Timing: If you want to do your own at home facial, practice about month before the wedding. Complete the last one a couple of days before the wedding.
Materials Needed:
- Cleanser (maybe one oil based and one water based)
- Bowl of hot water and towel
- Enzyme or chemical exfoliator
- Clay or Charcoal mask
- Serum
- Lotion
DIY BEAUTY #4: SELF TANNER
When it comes to tanning, definitely don’t choose to just lay out in the sun, for obvious reasons.
A “Make Your Own” Option
For a healthy glow on your wedding day, you can opt to buy self tanner at a local store, rather than go to a professional for a spray. According to this article you can even make your own with 8 bags of black tea, 16 ounces of filtered water, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. This recipe seems a lot more natural than what you may find at a store, but I can’t speak to the effectiveness. For this, as with all do it yourself beauty treatments, give yourself some time to practice before your wedding day.
Prep Skin
To have the best application experience for self tanner (whether you made it yourself or bought it), the key is to make sure your skin is very smooth and exfoliated before you start. Using a washcloth for a few minutes in the shower or bath can be all you need. After you exfoliate, moisturize skin to help even out your skin tone.
Application & Care
To apply the self tanner, put your recipe in a spray bottle (or use the bottle that it came in), and spray away, rubbing in with your hands. You may need to do this multiple times. Keep in mind that color can change afterwards, which is why it’s important to test out your application before your wedding day. After you apply tanner, be sure not to get your skin wet right away, as this can cause it to fade.
Pre-Wedding Timing: If you want to apply your own self tanner, practice at least a month before the wedding and apply for the last time a couple of days before the wedding.
Materials Needed:
- Self tanner, either store bought or self made
- Washcloth or exfoliating scrub (or both)
- Moisturizer
- Spray bottle (optional)
DIY BEAUTY #5: HAIR COLOR
Many, many people got used to coloring their own hair during the pandemic, but have you really looked into doing it the right way?
Choose Color
This article from Good Housekeeping has you covered, and I’ll give you a synopsis. The article basically says that you need to pick out the color that you’d like, making note of the color you already have and how drastic the change may be. If you choose something very different from your current color, you may have a different color than expected once you’re done. They suggest that if you have a lot of hair, buy two boxes of dye just in case. Don’t attempt to mix colors unless you are a professional.
Pro-Tips
It’s a best practice to conduct a strand test, or a color test, for a few trimmed or hidden hairs, before you apply color to your whole head. You dye this hair first to see how it will look for the rest of your head. It’s a great way to mitigate the risk of hating a new hair color. It’s also best to wear clothes that can get a little dirty or stained, just in case. Whenever possible, avoid wearing a top that needs to be lifted over your head, and opt for button up or fold over tops (if you wear anything at all).
Application & Care
While following the instructions to die your hair, you can avoid getting any on your skin by applying a little chap stick or lip balm along your hairline. Another thing to note is to dye dry hair to help it better absorb the color. You may also find that putting the color in a bowl and brushing it onto your hair is helpful, rather than squeezing the color right onto your head from the bottle.
There are other tips, such as starting from your roots and working out, wearing a shower cap while you wait for the dye to work, and cleaning up any messes immediately. Keep in mind that your color will fade quicker the more you wash it, so if you dye your hair right before the wedding, be sure to limit getting your hair wet in the days leading up to it.
Pre-Wedding Timing: Practice at least three months before the wedding, with the last color a week or two ahead of the wedding.
Materials Needed:
- Boxed hair color
- Color brush and bowl (optional)
- Make up removing wipes (or cloth with lotion)
- Shower cap
- Mirror
- Disposable gloves
- Clear lip balm
DIY BEAUTY #6: TEETH WHITENING
Everyone wants white teeth, especially before their wedding.
Much like self tanner, when it comes to teeth whitening, you have options. You can buy an at home kit, or you can make it yourself. If you buy a kit at the store, simply follow the instructions on the box. Be sure to give yourself at least a few weeks before the wedding to let it take effect. At home boxes are not as potent as you’d find at your dentist’s office, they are meant to be used over a period of time.
If you’d like to make your own teeth whitener, you can do so by oil pulling, brushing with baking soda, or using hydrogen peroxide. This Healthline article explains how you can do each of these things. Choosing the right foods can also help with keeping or even making your teeth white. Crunchy and raw fruits and vegetables are known to help remove some colors, as well as strawberries and pineapple. On the other side, coffee, red wine, sugar, and dark berries are all known to cause tooth staining. If you go through a whitening regime, brush your teeth if you consume these foods to help reduce their coloring effects.
Pre-Wedding Timing: If you want to whiten your teeth at home before your wedding, start at least 6-8 weeks before the wedding, or longer if you can. Keep up the regime right up until the wedding day.
Materials Needed:
- An at-home teeth whitening kit from a drugstore (optional)
- Natural methods such as baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, use as directed (optional)
ONE PRE-WEDDING BEAUTY TREATMENT TO LEAVE TO A PROFESSIONAL
DIY HAIR WAXING
One pre-wedding DIY beauty treatment you may want to avoid is waxing.
When it comes to waxing, so much can go wrong. Wax can be hot, it can be irritating, and it can be oh so sticky. When your hair is waxed, you open up your skin follicles to all sorts of germs and bacteria. This can make any sensitive areas quite inflamed, which is not something you want to deal with on your wedding day.
To properly wax hair, you’ll need to prep skin, sanitize, and exfoliate. You may need to wax an area more than once in a single session. These steps also need to be done in specific orders, with specific products. There may also be some pro-tips about activity, sun exposure, or temperature of shower water to use before or after a wax. When you leave hair waxing to a professional, they can be sure that the job is done completely, safely, and with minimal irritation.
The other elephant in the room when it comes to waxing, is any waxing done on your face. Now, having red, inflamed skin on your bikini area is one thing, but you definitely don’t want to have this on your eyebrows or lips before your wedding. Plus, when it comes to shaping your eyebrows, you don’t want to go into that as an amateur. Am I right?
Definitely proceed with caution if you want to do your own waxing before your wedding, and if at all possible, leave it to a professional.
This is a great article that will back me up on this.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Alright, friends. No matter your budget and skill set, you can do a lot of pre-wedding DIY beauty treatments by yourself. A little practice, care, and planning can go a long way in saving you time to make appointments and the upcharge of a professional. Plus, it can be fun, something you may continue after the wedding, and shared with others. So, go ahead and treat yourself and get ready for your wedding day!
More From Hummingbird Wedding Advice:
How To Create A Wedding Health & Beauty Plan
Ten Things To Do The Night Before Your Wedding
How To Start A Skincare Routine Before Your Wedding
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