The countdown to 2014 is on, so let's wrap up a year of obsessive beauty blogging (and obsessive wedding planning—anyone?) by revisiting some of the best wedding hair, makeup, skin, and nail tricks we've come across in 2013.
1. Make sure your face matches your body—if you're exfoliating often above the neck and not wearing sunscreen on your body daily, you might be mismatched. Wearing luminous makeup products that reflect the camera's flash can exacerbate this problem. (See one example here!)
2. For a smooth and flawless decolletage in your wedding gown, dust on Laura Mercier Mineral Illuminating Power in Candelight, like makeup artist Talia Shobrook did on the models at the Jenny Packham fall 2014 show.
3. Use Klorane Eye Smoothing Patches to depuff your eyes on your wedding morning, pre-makeup.
4. Don't apply your mascara (or individual false lashes) evenly all over—instead, be strategic. If you want a doll-like wide-eyed look, emphasize the lashes at the center of your eye more (with more mascara and/or longer false lashes). If you want a sexy shape, more like a cat-eye, do up the lashes at the outer corners more.
5. Be sure to review and/or fully memorize our 10 tricks for looking spectacular in your wedding photos.
6. One high-impact-yet-natural blush shade for brides is Giorgio Armani Blushing Fabric in fuchsia, as seen here on Christina Hendricks. And here are three more perfect wedding blushes to consider.
7. A perfect choice if you're not sure whether to do subtle or statement lipstick—Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lipcolor in Taffetas Rose, as seen on Anne Hathaway.
8. Not feeling traditional when it comes to your wedding manicure? (If you are, here are our favorite neutral and nude nail polish colors for brides.) How about making your fingernails or toenails your something(s) blue, like the models at Oscar de la Renta's spring 2013 show, who wore the lovely pale-blue Oscar de la Renta Nail Lacquer in Larimar.
9. Spray hairpins with dry shampoo before using them in updos; the starch in the dry shampoo sticks to the hairpins and creates a good kind of friction with the hair so they will not slip out or loosen. "This also keeps you from having to use too much hairspray to keep everything in place, which could lead to stiffness," celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend told us.
10. Doing your own makeup? Make foundation appear extra polished by applying with a dampened BeautyBlender sponge.