For most women, their wedding day is the biggest moment of their lives. It’s the main event that drives their fantasies from childhood dreams. It is fair to say that women spend more time thinking about their wedding day than finding their true love, and Disney fairytales have created high expectations of the day itself.
It’s a cherished day, so you want everything to be perfect. You spend so much effort fussing over every detail: the flower displays, seating arrangements, venue, and, let’s not forget, the dress!
The dress is always the focal point because you are the queen of the show and the centrepiece. After all, when those doors swing open, and you head down the aisle, all eyes are on you. And rightly so, it’s your big day and you’ve earned it.
With so much to focus on leading up to your special day, it is easy to neglect your skin. The stress of keeping everything under control can also take its toll. Most women reserve their beauty plan for the night before and the morning of the wedding. It normally consists of a makeup artist and a hairstylist, who work wonders to make you look your best.
Opulent Aesthetics, which operates from its cosy studio in Purley, Croydon, believes that the best way to look your best on your big day is to take a long-term view of your skincare routine. It will ensure that your skin has a radiant glow even before your makeup has been applied, so you not only look fantastic but feel amazing too.
This guide will help you plan your skincare routine, so your wedding will look and feel like a princess fairytale that you will be happy to remember.
When to start
As with most natural health and beauty regimes, starting early is best. Starting 12 months before your big day is ideal because it gives your skin the best chance to adapt and improve.
Remember, skincare is a marathon, not a sprint. True and lasting change is gradual and takes time, so the earlier you start, the better. This is especially true if you have skin conditions that need addressing or have sensitive skin that needs additional care and downtime.
If you have only 3-6 months before your wedding, don’t panic. You can still make a notable difference in your skin quality in that time. But, there is no substitute for playing the long game.
Developing the perfect routine
For best results, hire a professional aesthetician like Sadie from Opulent Aesthetics. Sadie will tailor your treatment plan around your skin’s unique needs. Everyone has a different skin type with varying qualities and imperfections, and this needs to be considered when planning a routine.
Your key treatments will include:
- Liquid exfoliation
- Microneedling with exosomes
- Skin boosters
- Polynucleotide treatments
- Aftercare and maintenance
- Anti-wrinkle injections (if necessary)
9-12 Months before
A liquid exfoliation, also known as a ‘chemical peel’, gently removes the outer layer of your skin using a mild acidic formula. It exposes a new layer of skin that is either free from or has less imperfections, providing you with a good foundation to work with healthier skin for the remainder of your skincare routine. Consider it a skin reset!
Facial peels encourage collagen production by stimulating your skin’s natural healing response. By starting this treatment far in advance, you can likely fit several of them in before your big day to ensure that your skin looks fresh. Normally, you would wait 2-4 weeks before your next one, but they are not required so frequently unless you have an underlying skin condition.
Your aftercare and maintenance routine will be applied throughout. Opulent Aesthetics recommends using a high-quality vitamin C serum, hyaluronic acid serum, and a retinol cream between treatments. They can normally be applied before bed and in rotation. We will discuss these in more detail later.
Sun-block is also very important, no matter the weather. Using a protective cream with a high SPF will ensure your skin is safeguarded from the sun’s harmful rays, which is a leading cause of ageing.
2-3 Weeks after your liquid exfoliation, have a microneedling treatment with exosomes. The microneedling will stimulate your skin’s healing response in the deeper superficial layers of your skin compared to a chemical peel, while the exosomes will increase signalling deep in your skin’s cells to promote accelerated collagen and elastin production.
Microneedling is a great way to reduce scars, and fine lines, and improve skin quality more generally. Much like a chemical peel, you can have several of these treatments before your big day to ensure your skin looks magnetic and beautiful. Opulent Aesthetics recommends having 4-6 sessions, each one 4-6 weeks apart.
Skin boosters are injectable ‘feeders’ that provide your skin with the natural compounds they need to regenerate at an accelerated pace. They mainly consist of hyaluronic acid and amino acids – the building blocks for proteins like collagen and elastin. They are a natural alternative to anti-wrinkle treatments and improve your skin quality gradually over time.
By starting early, you could have several treatments leading up to your special day, ensuring that your skin looks youthful and radiant for those happy wedding snaps. Skin boosters normally require a series of 2-3 treatments for optimum results, and the results last 4-6 months. By maintaining the treatment, your skin will gradually improve in quality.
Opulent Aesthetics provides a range of skin booster treatments that each serve a different purpose for your beauty goals. Skin boosters are great for improving puffiness around your eyes – to combat those sleepless nights as you prepare for your wedding, to tighten skin around the face, forehead, and neck. They can even be applied to your hands, so those special pictures of you wearing your wedding ring can look their best.
Polynucleotides are another effective treatment that ought to be included in your regime. They provide an injectable form of nucleotides – chains of DNA and RNA that act as ‘bio-stimulators’ for collagen and elastin production. They also enhance your skin’s connective tissue – fibroblasts, which ensures it stays tight and plump.
Polynucleotides, like skin boosters, also increase your skin’s hydration level considerably, which is very important for skin quality. You normally require 2-3 sessions to see the best results, which typically last 4-6 months.
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Must read: Anti-Wrinkle Treatments, A Beginners Guide
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Aftercare and maintenance
A good retinol cream will help reduce visible fine lines and wrinkles while boosting collagen production. They are effective at treating mild and persistent cases of acne too. They do this by reducing inflammation in the skin. Retinol creams are a derivative of vitamin A. They are very effective at evening your skin’s complexion and pigmentation giving you a smoother skin tone.
Retinol creams can cause mild irritation and dryness, particularly in the beginning. It is a good idea to follow the 1-2-3 rule; in week one apply it once per week, in week two, twice, and in week three, thrice. After you have developed some tolerance, you can consider applying it every other day, with either a vitamin C or hyaluronic acid serum on the alternative days.
Retinol creams can increase your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight, so it is best to apply it before bed and use a high SPF sunblock during the day.
Anti-wrinkle treatments
For those with more pronounced signs of ageing, Opulent Aesthetics provides anti-wrinkle injections that relax facial muscles to smooth out prominent wrinkles and folds in the skin. It is recommended that you have these treatments at least four weeks in advance because it takes 2 weeks for the effect to reach its peak.
Even more advisable, begin the treatments several months ahead, so you can gauge how you look before the big day and make any adjustments, and then repeat as you near the main event.
Skin fillers (dermal fillers) are also a viable alternative as they are effective at increasing facial volume and a skilled clinician like Sadie can improve your facial symmetry.
Final thoughts
As you have read, most of the recommended treatments work gradually over time and require several sessions for optimum results. That’s because they work to improve your actual skin quality rather than just your appearance.
This is why starting early – long before your wedding day, is really important if you want to look the best you possibly can. They say you only get married once, and every woman dreams of being a fairytale princess, so give yourself the Royal treatment by investing in your skincare
