3 Gorgeous Summer Bridal Looks from the Catwalk with Sketch & M

Wedding season is upon us again, and while almost all of you summer brides will have your dresses, décor and details down, one thing you may still be undecided on is your hair and makeup aka “your LOOK”. And we get it: you want to look fresh and fabulous and on-trend, but also timeless and classic and most importantly, still like yourself. It’s enough to give a bride sleepless nights (bags under the eyes? NOT cute). So we’ve asked one of our favourite local hair and makeup geniuses to pop by today and share her expertise – super excited to introduce the very lovely Marisa of Sketch & M! Marisa loves creating natural bridal makeup looks – flawless, glowing complexion, earthy eyeshadow shades, bold lashes and neutral lips – but she also appreciates brides that are a little more experimental. Today she’s showing how some of those high fashion catwalk looks can be beautifully interpreted for modern brides, and sharing some images of her at work, captured by Leanne Love Photography. Take it away, Marisa!

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Glamorous Red Lip Bridal Style

Earlier this week, we featured a bride rocking a chic red lip, and it reminded me just what an immediate glam-maker a rouge or berry lipstick is. If your Big Day dream is to look more like a screen siren than a fairy princess, then this is definitely the style for you! Whether you’re wearing a slinky Art Deco style dress, a vintage lace gown, or something bold and modern, a red lip has that touch of Old Hollywood and just happens to stand out perfectly, a pop of colour against the white of a bridal gown. So this afternoon, I’ve rounded up 20 absolutely amazing glamorous bridal looks, each of them rocking not just a bold red lip, but immaculate makeup and hair. Go on, dahling – be inspired!Read More

Bridal Beauty Timeline

Hello lovelies! When you’re putting together your plans and timelines ahead of your wedding, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s all about those practical things – the bookings, the logistics, the budgets. Or even the creative ones – the palettes, the pretties, the DIYs. But it’s also about you. Unless you’re a supermodel, you probably don’t fall out of bed looking the way you want to on your wedding day, and some of the beauty regimens and prep work need to be started months or weeks in advance, just as much as any dressmaking or stationery ordering. To make it easy for you, as we love to do, we’ve created a printable, tick-off-able timeline just for you! Now, let me be clear. At SBB we believe that the most beautiful bride is one who is the best version of herself. We’ll never tell you that you need to starve yourself, or change your appearance, or even wear a ton of makeup if that isn’t your style. You want to look like YOU – after all, that’s the person your fiance fell in love with, right? So take all of this with a pinch of self-awareness. You do not need to bleach your teeth or shape your eyebrows or get a self-tan before your wedding day. But if you want to, I’ve included those things on the list, so that you can plan ahead. Let’s get planning, shall we?Read More

How to Choose a Wedding Hair & Makeup Artist

In an alternative life, I think I would have loved to be a makeup artist. You wouldn’t know it from my au naturel look most days (the fact that makeup slides down my face in tropical Durbs makes that a necessity), but I used to absolutely love reading about and trying out new looks and products. So when I get the chance to watch an artist at work on a shoot, or better yet be pampered and have my hair and makeup done for me, I love it. It’s amazing to me how gorgeous these talented pros can make all of us look, using their skills to bring out our natural highlights and make brides look like red carpet starlets on the aisle. But for me, one of the best things I’ve seen hair & makeup pros do for brides is give them a sense of relaxation at the time when they need it most – after all, when the nerves are really starting to kick in, it’s their hands you’re putting yourself in. That’s why it’s so important that the person you pick has to be the right one – someone you feel comfortable with, can communicate easily with, and most of all, who you trust to do a great job. Read More

Wedding Hair Inspiration: Long & Loose

We can’t talk beauty this month without talking hair, and since we’re all about the natural beauty in June, I thought it was only appropriate that we looked at some long & loose wedding styles. I’m personally a huge fan of the updo, but in real life, when I talk to my friends, they almost always tell me they’re thinking of a down do, often because their fiance prefers their hair down. And I have to say, after squizzing through many luscious long styles to put this roundup together (as well as having seen many of my friends radiant with natural hair in real life), I’m a bit of a convert – I honestly think brides should look the best version of themselves, and if an updo isn’t ‘you’, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t rock a glammed up version of your favourite style. So here we go – get ready for some top level hairography!Read More

DIY Beauty Gifts for Bridesmaids

I remember when I was little – every Christmas my mom would go to Woolies and pick out little gifts for her girl friends – sniffing all the different flavours of soap and talcum powder (do they even still make this?) and hand cream. I loved helping her, but I didn’t totally get why she would buy them all something similar when she was such a thoughtful gift giver – it seemed like a token gift. Roll on adulthood, and I totally got it. Because when you give someone you love a little something for bath and body, what you’re really giving them is a moment of personal indulgence, an excuse to pamper themselves, a tiny break from the rigours of daily life. Personally, I really love getting little pamper gifts and for a while I’ve been wanting to try making them (because something homemade is always extra special). As it happens, I think these would also make great budget-friendly bridesmaid gifts, especially if you make up a basket for each of your girls to let them know how much you appreciate all the spoiling they’ve been giving you. Here are 15 fab DIY tutorials that will help you do just that.Read More

From Catwalk to Aisle: 10 Key Beauty Trends for 2015

Hello lovelies! This month may be about natural beauty, but we all know that sometimes we need a little extra to enhance that beauty on our wedding day (although, hooray, minimal barefaced makeup is totally a trend now too, which will please you natural brides). The catwalks are always a great place to start looking for the next looks in hair and makeup as well as the fashion itself, and some of the most recent fashion week trends also happen to translate beautifully to brides. Some not so much (I can’t see anyone donning coloured leather strips on their lids or Rodarte-style eyebrow piercings, although you never know). Here are 10 key trends for you to consider for your own Big Day look.Read More

Best of 2014: Bridal Style

Hello lovelies! Yesterday I shared with you our top 20 dresses for the year, and today we’re taking a closer look at bridal style – those little accessories and accents that complete a bride’s big impression beyond the dress itself. And as with their dresses, our brides’ choices have ranged from classical to quirky with everything in between. There has been lots of boho loveliness in particular this year, as well as winter brides in the prettiest capes and coverups. Here are our favourite looks and trends.

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DIY Bridesmaid Hair Roundup

So, as I mentioned this morning, I’m going to a wedding in a couple of weeks, and although I promised myself years ago that I would never do my own hair for another wedding (after that one time at band camp when it was 42 degrees in Stellenbosch and it all went horribly wrong), for various reasons, I’m going to have to. Which mean I’ve been browsing Pinterest and YouTube for tutorials on relaxed, easy updos. And I realised just how much is actually out there now in the way of fabulous DIY hair advice. Now as a bride, you’re still probably going to want to call in the professionals, but maybe the budget doesn’t stretch to having your girls’ hair done too, or maybe they just prefer to do it themselves, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be stuck with everyday hair unless they want to be. Today I’m rounding up fifteen gorgeous styles – many of them really easy – that would be absolutely perfect on bridesmaids. Just click through to the links for each tutorial, and don’t forget to do a practice run!Read More

SouthBound Guide: Rocking Your Hair & Makeup Trial

For those of you planning a summer wedding, now is about the time when hair and makeup start moving up the priority list in terms of decisions to be made and bookings to be confirmed – after all, your look is something that relies heavily on the style of dress you’ve decided on, the jewellery or accessories you’ve picked, and the style or level of formality that you’ve chosen for the wedding as a whole. Now’s also a good time to start locking in that hair and makeup trials, and we’ve got you covered with our top tips for how to make the most of this important pre-wedding event.Read More