Makeup Services By Erothots, Bridal, Event And Lessons
Matched to your undertone in daylight, tested against flash before the day, and applied with a brush kit that is cleaned between every single client. Makeup that photographs the way it looks in the mirror.
We will not apply makeup over an active cold sore, an eye infection, sunburn, or broken or weeping skin. Lip and eye products are the easiest route for anything contagious to travel between clients, and no amount of care with a brush changes that. If it flares up close to your date, call us and we will work around it.
Tell us at booking if you have sensitive or reactive skin, a known allergy to any cosmetic ingredient, or if you have had a facial, peel or laser treatment in the two weeks before. We can patch test in advance, and for bridal we always recommend it.
The one appointment where getting it wrong is not recoverable, because the photographs last considerably longer than the day does. It is also the only makeup service that includes a full trial, and there are good reasons for that.
A bridal booking is two appointments. The trial happens four to six weeks before, runs the full ninety minutes, and finishes with photographs taken under flash so you can see exactly what the camera will see rather than what the mirror shows.
Then on the day, the look is rebuilt from notes and photographs taken at the trial, with longevity as the priority rather than the finish that looked best under salon lighting. Fourteen hours, tears, hugging, weather and a great many photographs all change what the right product is.
We can work at the salon or travel to you. Most people prefer on site, because getting ready where you are staying removes a car journey from the most compressed part of the morning.
Trial$85, ninety minutes, four to six weeks before
Day Of$150, ninety minutes, look rebuilt from trial notes
Bridal Party$65 per person, forty five minutes each
On SiteAvailable, travel quoted at booking
IncludedFlash test photos, lash application, touch up kit
Eight bookings covering everything from a Friday night out to a full wedding party. Every one of them includes the undertone match and the kit standards described further down this page.
Evening$60
Prom And Graduation
A full face built to survive a long night and a great many photographs. Popular in pairs and groups, and we will book adjacent slots so nobody is sitting around waiting.
Evening$65
Event Makeup
Dinners, parties, birthdays and anything where you want to look like yourself on a very good day. Sixty minutes, and you choose how far it goes from natural to full.
Bridal$65
Bridal Party
Bridesmaids, mothers and anyone else in the getting ready room. Forty five minutes each, coordinated to a written run sheet so the morning does not compress at the end.
Bridal$85
Bridal Trial
Ninety minutes, four to six weeks ahead. We build the look, photograph it under flash, and write down every product so the day itself is reproduction rather than improvisation.
Lesson$95
One To One Lesson
Ninety minutes using your own products, with you doing the applying and us correcting. You leave with a written routine and an honest list of what in your bag is not working.
Camera$120
Photoshoot And Editorial
Built for the camera rather than the room, with a matte, flash safe base and definition that survives being lit. Includes staying for touch ups if the shoot needs it.
Bridal$150
Bridal Makeup
The day itself. Ninety minutes, rebuilt from the trial notes, weighted entirely toward longevity. Lashes and a touch up kit are both included in the price.
Add On$15
Lashes
Strip lashes at $15 or individual clusters at $20, applied and shaped to your eye. Included at no extra charge with any bridal booking.
A lash lift instead. If your wedding or event is more than a fortnight away, a lash lift at $85 gives you six to eight weeks of curl with nothing to apply on the day and nothing that can lift at the corner in the heat. Plenty of brides book that instead of strips.
Wedding mornings do not go wrong because of makeup. They go wrong because of arithmetic. Here is a worked example for a bride and three bridesmaids with a two o'clock ceremony, and we write you a version of this with your real names and times on it.
08:00
Artist Arrives And Sets Up
Twenty minutes before the first face. We need a table, a chair and a window, and we will ask you in advance which room has the best natural light rather than guessing on the morning.
08:20
Bridesmaid One
Forty five minutes each, and the first slot always runs slightly long because everybody is still arriving and settling. We build that into the plan rather than pretending it will not happen.
09:05
Bridesmaid Two
Anyone who is also having hair done runs in parallel on the other chair, which is why hair and makeup being under one roof genuinely shortens the morning.
09:50
Bridesmaid Three
Bridesmaids go before the bride. Always. It means the bride's face is the freshest in the room when the photographer starts, and it gives us the whole back end of the morning if anything overruns.
10:35
Mother Of The Bride
Forty five minutes. Frequently the person most likely to say they do not need long, and equally likely to be the one who wants a proper conversation about it.
11:20
The Bride
Ninety minutes, rebuilt from the trial notes and photographs. Longer than everyone else because it is done in layers with setting time between them, which is what makes it last fourteen hours.
12:50
Buffer, Deliberately Empty
Thirty minutes with nothing in it. Something always happens on a wedding morning, and this is the half hour that absorbs it. If nothing happens, everybody gets to sit down and eat something.
13:20
Dress, Final Check, Photographs
We stay until the dress is on for a last look under natural light, then hand over the touch up kit and show whoever is carrying it exactly what to do with it.
The arithmetic that catches people out. Four faces at forty five minutes each is three hours, and that is before anyone has eaten, before hair, and before the photographer arrives wanting getting ready shots. Work backward from the ceremony, add a buffer, then add thirty minutes more. Nobody has ever regretted being ready early.
Makeup That Survives A Camera
Section 04
There is a specific and very common way that beautiful makeup goes wrong in photographs, and almost nobody warns brides about it until they see the pictures.
Certain mineral sunscreen ingredients, particularly titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, bounce light straight back at a camera flash. They are in a great many foundations, primers, powders and setting products, usually as an SPF claim on the front of the bottle. In daylight nothing looks unusual. Under a photographer's flash, the face reads noticeably paler and grayer than the neck, and it cannot be corrected afterwards without a great deal of work.
This is why the bridal trial ends with photographs taken under flash rather than just a look in the mirror. If anything is casting, we see it six weeks out and change the product, rather than discovering it in the gallery three months later.
Every Trial Finishes With A Flash Test
Camera 01
Flash Safe Base
Foundation and powder chosen without the reflective mineral filters that cause the cast. We keep separate products for photography work for exactly this reason.
Camera 02
Matched At The Jaw
Shade tested along the jaw and down onto the neck in daylight, never on the back of the hand. A camera shows a mismatch between face and neck far more clearly than a mirror does.
Camera 03
Definition Built Up
Cameras flatten features, so what reads as slightly too much in the room usually reads as correct in the photographs. Knowing exactly how far to take that is the skill.
Camera 04
Shine Controlled, Not Killed
Completely flat skin photographs as lifeless. We control shine where the camera catches it and leave light on the high points, which is what makes skin look like skin.
Worth telling your photographer. Ask what lighting they are using. Natural light, off camera flash and a heavily lit reception all want slightly different things from a base, and if we know in advance we can plan for the one that matters most to you.
Brushes Washed And Sanitized Between Every Client
What Is On The Brush
Section 05 / Kit Standards
Makeup hygiene is the thing nobody asks about and everybody should. A brush that went across somebody's eye an hour ago, a lipstick applied straight from the bullet, a mascara wand dipped back into the tube. All three are routine in a great many places and all three move things between faces.
Brushes are washed between clients. Not wiped on a towel. Washed, sanitized and dried, with a second full kit in rotation so there is always a clean set ready.
Nothing is double dipped. Product is decanted onto a sanitized palette and taken from there. The tube, pot or pan never touches your face and never touches a used brush.
Lips and eyes get disposables. A fresh spatula, wand or applicator every time, used once and binned. These are the two places where anything contagious actually travels.
Cream products are sanitized. The surface of a cream or balm is scraped back and wiped before it goes anywhere near a palette.
Lashes are applied with tweezers. Never fingers, and adhesive is dispensed onto a disposable surface rather than straight from the tube onto the band.
Nothing goes on broken skin. Cold sores, weeping spots, styes or eye infections mean we stop and reschedule. It protects you and it protects the next person in the chair.
A wedding is a bad time to find out where a cold sore came from.
Choosing A Look You Will Still Like
Section 06 / Six Questions
Six things we work through at the consultation. The last one is the question that saves people from photographs they do not recognize themselves in.
01
Where Will It Be Seen
A dinner in low light and a wedding shot on a bright afternoon want completely different bases. Tell us the setting and the lighting, not just the occasion.
02
How Long Does It Need To Last
Four hours and fourteen hours are different jobs. Longevity costs some of the dewiness people want, and knowing which matters more to you decides the whole approach.
03
What Is Your Skin Doing
Oily, dry, dehydrated or reactive changes the primer, the base and whether we set heavily or barely at all. This is why skin prep in the weeks before matters so much.
04
Your Undertone, Not Your Shade
Two people can be the same depth and need completely different foundations. We match along the jaw and onto the neck in daylight, which is the only place it can be judged honestly.
05
What Are You Wearing
A warm ivory dress and a bright white one sit differently against skin, and a strong dress color will fight a strong lip. Bring a photograph of the outfit to the trial.
06
Is This Actually You
The most important question and the one most often skipped. A look copied from a photograph of somebody with a different face rarely translates. We will steer you toward the version that suits yours.
What you get here that a chair in a department store or a rushed morning appointment cannot offer.
01
Tested Under Flash
Every bridal trial ends with photographs taken with flash. Casting products are found six weeks out rather than in the gallery afterwards, when nothing can be done.
02
Written Down, Not Remembered
Every product, shade and placement recorded at the trial. The day itself is reproduction from notes rather than trying to recall a face from six weeks ago.
03
A Real Run Sheet
Written timings with your names on them and a deliberate empty buffer. Wedding mornings fail on arithmetic, and this is the arithmetic done properly in advance.
04
Kit Cleaned Between Clients
Washed brushes, decanted product, disposables on lips and eyes. Not a claim on a website but the reason we can work on a full bridal party in one morning safely.
05
Hair Under The Same Roof
Hair and makeup running in parallel on two chairs genuinely shortens a wedding morning, and it means one conversation about timings instead of two.
06
Honest About The Look
If a reference photograph will not translate onto your face, we say so at the trial and offer the version that will. That is the entire point of having a trial.
What Usually Goes Wrong Elsewhere
Section 08 / Six Complaints
Six things people describe about makeup done somewhere else. Two are technical, two are about time, and two are the kind that only show up in photographs.
The Flashback Nobody Warned About
Reflective mineral filters in the base or setting powder. Fine in the mirror, noticeably pale and gray under a photographer's flash, and discovered months later in the gallery.
Here InsteadFlash test photographs at every bridal trial, and separate flash safe products for camera work.
Matched On The Back Of The Hand
The skin there is a different color from the face and a different color again from the neck. It is the fastest way to a jawline you can see in every photograph.
Here InsteadMatched along the jaw and down onto the neck, in daylight, every time.
No Trial, Or A Rushed One
A twenty minute trial in a busy salon on a Saturday, with nothing written down. The day itself then becomes a second attempt rather than a repeat performance.
Here InsteadNinety minutes, four to six weeks ahead, with every product and placement recorded.
A Morning With No Buffer
Slots booked back to back right up to the ceremony. One late arrival and the bride is being finished in a rush while photographs are already happening around her.
Here InsteadA written run sheet with a deliberate empty half hour before the dress goes on.
Product Straight From The Tube
Lipstick applied from the bullet, mascara wands double dipped, brushes wiped rather than washed. Routine in many places and the reason things travel between faces.
Here InsteadEverything decanted onto a sanitized palette, disposables on lips and eyes, brushes washed between clients.
Somebody Else's Face
A saved reference reproduced exactly, on features it was never designed for. The client looks unlike themselves and cannot explain why the photographs feel wrong.
Here InsteadWe adapt a reference to your features and say honestly when something will not translate.
Makeup Prices
Section 09 / Price Guide
Starting prices including the consultation, undertone matching and lash application where listed. Travel for on site bookings is quoted at the time so you know the full figure before committing.
Makeup Services Price Guide
Service
From
Time
Notes
Strip Lashes
$15
Adds 10 minutes
Free with bridal
Cluster Lashes
$20
Adds 15 minutes
Free with bridal
Touch Up Kit
$25
Prepared for you
Free with bridal
Prom And Graduation
$60
55 minutes
Group slots available
Event Makeup
$65
60 minutes
Natural to full
Bridal Party, Per Person
$65
45 minutes each
Run sheet included
Bridal Trial
$85
90 minutes
Flash test photos included
One To One Lesson
$95
90 minutes
Your own products
Photoshoot And Editorial
$120
75 minutes
Touch ups on set
Bridal Makeup, Day Of
$150
90 minutes
Lashes and kit included
What a full bridal booking usually comes to. Trial at $85 plus the day at $150 is $235 for the bride. Add three bridesmaids and a mother of the bride at $65 each and the total is $495 for five faces, lashes and kits included. We will put the whole thing in writing before you book anything.
Makeup sits on skin. Every hour spent on the skin in the weeks before does more for the result than any product applied on the day, and the timeline below is the one we give every bride.
6 WEEKS
Last Facial, And The Trial
Book your final facial around now, and the makeup trial in the same window. Never book a first ever facial closer than this to the day, because extraction can bring congestion to the surface for a few days afterwards.
4 WEEKS
Stop Introducing New Products
Whatever your routine is, it is now fixed. This is not the month to try a retinol, a new cleanser or anything a friend recommended, because reactions take time to appear and time to settle.
2 WEEKS
No Peels, Lasers Or Injectables
Anything that resurfaces or swells needs a fortnight to settle. Freshly treated skin also takes makeup differently, so the look from your trial will not reproduce reliably over it.
1 WEEK
Brows, Lashes And Tan
Brow shaping five to seven days ahead. Any lash lift at least a week. If you are having a tan, do it two days before at the latest and tell us the shade, because it changes the foundation match entirely.
2 DAYS
Exfoliate Lips, Then Stop
Gently, then balm twice a day from here. Dry lips are the single most common thing that limits what we can do with a lip color, and it takes two days to fix rather than two minutes.
THE DAY
Clean Face, Moisturizer Only
No makeup, no SPF in your own products, no heavy oils or thick creams. Moisturize and let it absorb properly. We will do everything else, including sun protection that we know will not cast.
Who Will Do Your Makeup
Section 11 / The Team
You can request an artist by name when you book. For bridal, the person who does your trial is the person who does your day, without exception.
Lead Makeup Artist
Nadia Okonkwo
Nadia runs all the bridal and editorial work. She is the person who introduced the flash test at trials, after one too many brides came back upset about photographs that could no longer be fixed. She is also completely direct about when a saved reference will not translate onto your face, which is uncomfortable for about ten seconds and saves the entire booking.
Bridal
Editorial
Undertone Matching
Lessons
Founder And CEO
Tia McNamara
Tia founded Erothots seven years ago and is fully qualified and insured. She does not do makeup herself, but she set the standards on this page: brushes washed between clients, nothing applied from the tube, a written run sheet for every wedding, and the artist who does your trial doing your day. If something is not right, she wants to hear it directly.
7 Years In Business
Fully Qualified
Fully Insured
Makeup Questions
Section 12 / Twelve Answers
How Much Does Makeup Cost
Prom and graduation from $60, event makeup from $65, bridal party from $65 per person, a bridal trial at $85, a one to one lesson at $95, photoshoot work at $120 and bridal makeup on the day at $150. Lashes and a touch up kit are included in bridal and are $15 to $25 otherwise.
Is A Trial Included In The Bridal Price
The trial is booked and priced separately at $85, with the day itself at $150. We keep them separate so you are never committed to the day before you have seen the work, and so the trial stands on its own if you decide we are not the right fit.
How Long Does The Appointment Take
Event makeup is sixty minutes, bridal party members are forty five minutes each, and both the bridal trial and the wedding day are ninety minutes. Bridal takes longer because it is built in layers with setting time between them, which is what makes it last fourteen hours.
Do You Travel To The Venue
Yes, and most wedding clients prefer it, because getting ready where you are staying removes a car journey from the most compressed part of the morning. Travel is quoted when you book so the full figure is agreed in writing before you commit.
Will My Makeup Look White In Photographs
Not if we have tested it, which is exactly why every bridal trial ends with photographs taken under flash. Certain mineral sunscreen filters, particularly titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, reflect flash straight back and make the face read pale and gray against the neck. We use flash safe products and check the result six weeks out.
How Long Will It Last
Bridal makeup is built for fourteen hours, including tears, hugging and weather. Event makeup comfortably covers an evening. Longevity does cost some of the dewy finish people often want, so we ask at the consultation which matters more to you and build accordingly.
Do You Use Your Products Or Mine
Ours for every application, since the kit is built and maintained for exactly this. The one exception is the one to one lesson, which uses your own products on purpose, because the point is teaching you to get the most out of what you already own.
How Do You Clean Your Brushes
Washed, sanitized and dried between clients, with a second full kit in rotation so a clean set is always ready. Product is decanted onto a sanitized palette rather than taken from the tube, and lips and eyes get a fresh disposable applicator every time.
Can You Match My Skin Tone
Yes, and it is matched along the jaw and down onto the neck in daylight rather than on the back of the hand, which is a different color from both. If you are having a tan before the event, tell us the shade at the trial, because it changes the match entirely.
Do You Do Bridal Party Makeup
Yes, at $65 per person for forty five minutes each. We write you a run sheet with real names and times on it, with bridesmaids scheduled before the bride and a deliberate empty half hour before the dress goes on.
When Should I Book My Trial
Four to six weeks before the wedding. Close enough that your skin and hair are in their final state, and far enough out that there is time to change something if the flash test shows a problem. Book the date itself as early as you can, since summer Saturdays go a long way ahead.
Can I Have A Makeup Lesson
Yes, ninety minutes at $95, using your own products. You do the applying and we correct as you go, which is the only way it actually sticks. You leave with a written routine and an honest assessment of what in your bag is worth keeping.
Get In Touch
Book Your Makeup Appointment
Tell us the date, the occasion and how many faces. For weddings we will send back a written quote and a draft run sheet before you commit to anything.
