Beauty secrets for the big day

The princess wedding, complete with wedding dresses that resemble the multitiered cakes that mark the big day, will never go away, but continuing its rise is the destination wedding, with couples tying the knot in exotic locales, everywhere from castles in Italy to the open air of the beach.

In Hawaii we're luckier than most because we can bring our wedding outdoors any time for a backdrop of blue skies, sandy beaches and lush gardens. Bridal gowns are being adapted to fit in with such locales, as well as into airline overhead bins, by becoming more casual, shrinking in weight and dimension.

"No one wants to bother with a 30-pound gown they have to lug around," said New Zealand bridal designer Jules Bly, who has been creating gowns for Hawaii brides since 2003. She's been visiting the islands every quarter to work with brides in conceiving and customizing their gowns or, increasingly, dresses.

As strange as it seems, there are a number of brides "who don't want to look like a bride," according to Bly, and the new gowns also address that segment of the market.

"Face it, if they were wearing a potato sack they'd still look like the bride, but they don't want a dress that looks heavy. They want to be comfortable. Most of my brides are older, they're more sure of themselves."

Bly, who had her own wedding ceremony here last fall, said that having experienced the big day convinced her that her business is heading in the right direction.

"You spend all this money on one night, and all of a sudden the day is gone. With a big wedding, you never get to talk to everybody, whereas to go away for a week with your family and closest friends is a fresh and wonderful way to do it. You're on vacation, you're with people you love. The next day we went on a picnic and played golf."

Bly's current collection embraces a mix of innocence and 1950s Audrey Hepburn-inspired glamour and elegance in styles ranging from a bubble-hemmed minidress to a figure-hugging A-line dress of silk taffeta with a sheer silk organza overlay on the bodice, featuring hand-appliqué work, Japanese pearls and Swarovski crystals.

The detail-oriented designer also opts for covered buttons rather than zippers in finishing her dresses and gowns, which start at $2,400.

"The back has to be as elegant and sexy as the front because for the first 30 minutes, everyone's going to be looking at your back," she said.

The gown, like the choice of venue, music and flowers, should help to evoke a mood and capture aspects of the couples' personalities. Trying to ascertain a bride's and groom's dreams for the perfect wedding is Bly's initial task. It's often a wake-up call because the gown is just the start of the bride's many considerations.

"Usually, she panics at that point, thinking, 'Omigosh, there's so much to think about,'" Bly said. "It's helpful if she knows the venue, because knowing what sort of wedding she wants will help determine the style of gown. And a lot of details will fall into place based on the gown. A lot of times the whole theme, colors for the wedding, will evolve from the gown."

After 12 years of working with brides, as well as creating makeup looks for editorial, television and other commercial productions, makeup artist Jacque Rojas -- who created the makeup for the models on this page -- has an arsenal of cosmetic fixes at her fingertips, "things I can use to cheat," she said.

"Everybody needs the same thing. They need their makeup to stay on and not melt off their face," she said. So when she's out scouting for new products, she has specific categories of items that are always in demand. That is, products to create the illusion of perfect skin, and long-lasting and waterproof mascaras and lip products.

She said 50 to 60 percent of the brides she works with wear very little makeup. The others wear "choke" makeup. But on their wedding day, their goal is the same, she said. "They want to look like an enhanced version of themselves. They want to be able to recognize themselves, and they don't want people to say, 'Oh, your makeup looks so good.' They want them to say, 'You look so good.'"

Here's a list of some of Rojas' favorite products for using on a bride's big day:

» Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch ($27.50): Makeup primer "fills in pores to smooth your complexion and make it look like you have no pores."

» Kinerase Under Eye Rescue ($75): Its peptide formula smoothes and hydrates the under-eye area. "You'll see improvement in everything in 20 minutes -- dark circles, puffiness, fine lines."

» Dior Diorshow Mascara ($23): Waterproof formula lengthens and thickens lashes.

» DuWop Reverse Lip Liner ($19): Colorless, matte lip pencil is designed to be applied just outside the lip line, to plump up fine lines and lock lip color in place.

» Make Up for Ever Aqua Lip ($16): Waterproof lip liner pencil. It's the lip pencil of choice for France's Aquatic Ballet team.

» Make Up for Ever Mat Velvet + ($34): Shine controlling, oil-free, water-resistant, complete-coverage liquid foundation hides imperfections, evens out skin tone, with a non-oily powdered matte finish. The company also offers Full Cover concealer ($30) "good for covering scars and tattoos," Rojas said. "I have quite a few brides who ask about covering tattoos."

» MAC Refined Golden bronzer ($20) or Nars Laguna bronzing powder ($28): "They both add pretty color with a slight shimmer that doesn't look like you're trying to bronze out," said Rojas.

For those who don't like to use makeup at all, a touch of bronzer might be all that's needed to perk up the face. And in photography, she said, bronzer prevents individuals from looking white or washed out.

"Brush it over your cheeks, forehead, on your neck and along the jaw line to make it look thinner," Rojas said. "It works out real nice, even on a daily basis. It softens everything. I would say, put bronzer all over."

---