Flushed with the success of my first ‘live’ last week, I sat down this week with the gorgeous Simona Janek.  Simona is an incredible hair & make-up artist & someone I always love working with.

 Here’s the video.  Hope you find it useful.

 

Transcript

Meggan Brummer 0:23
Hello and welcome everybody my name is Megan Brummer I’m very excited to be here with Simona Janek tonight. She is a professional hair and makeup artist and she’s going to share some amazing tips for all brides out there with us tonight. If you are watching on replay type hashtag replay in the chatbox, let us know that you’re there watching later. And if you’re watching live do leave a comment for us. Let us know if you’re an engaged couple. Let me know if you’re already married, whatever it may be. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Meggan Brummer and I am a Sydney marriage celebrant. I have been also working as a professional writer for about 20 years. And I used to write for Wellbeing magazine. I think most of you Australians will know Wellbeing magazine, those of you who are into health and wellbeing certainly will. These days, I’m only writing not only I’m writing love stories for lots and lots of couples, which is so much fun. And over to Simona. Simona is a beautiful woman who I met working on a shoot together, and she is really inspirational. I just thought it’d be so much fun to interview her to get her to share those amazing tips. Simona, Would you like to get started with tip number one?

Simona Janek 1:42
Sure. Thanks for having me. My tip number one is I wanted to talk about how you define your hair and makeup for your wedding day. How do you research? How do you have references with pictures to show you hair and makeup artist. You know, having hair and makeup that you love on the day is so important because it gives you confidence to walk down that aisle and just enjoy yourself and end up with beautiful photos. So these are the questions that I asked my brides when they come for a hair and makeup trial with me. And the first thing is, do you want to look like yourself just a more polished version of you? Or do you want to be glammed up and look quite striking and quite different to how you normally do in everyday or when you go out. Some brides you know wear hardly any makeup and they want to keep it very natural on the day. And others happy to be quite transformed and be very glamorous. So these are you know, you just need to decide which camp Do you sit in. I hope that makes sense.

Meggan Brummer 2:37
That makes sense – I suppose the thing to be aware of really is that you don’t want to be dressed in a certain way and not have your makeup matching. You know, if you’re going for something more natural, you want to look more natural on your face. If you’re going for something more, what’s the word? Dramatic with your clothing, you want your makeup to match that right?

Simona Janek 2:58
Exactly, so the hair and makeup needs to complement the dress, or you know, make you look more striking. If your dress is quite simple, you sort of need to work out what balance you want and what you’re going to be comfortable with. You know, one thing to work out is how much makeup Do you wear everyday? Do you like it quite soft or natural that will sort of help you decide which way you’re going to swing. Really good thing to do is obviously look at pictures because a visual way is the best way to show your hair and makeup artist. This is what I like this is what I’m attracted to. So start collecting on Pinterest have a separate board for your makeup because then you can sort of look at it all together and just go yep, this is sort of the one look that upkeep pinning over and over and separate one for hair. So that you can really get into you know, the different textures of hair and different hairstyles that you’re hoping to have. The other thing that I like to do is maybe look at what celebrity or what actress you feel you’ve got similar features to because then you can google them and look at all the different looks that they’ve won on the red carpet or you know, in movies, and that gives you different ideas of well, I could sort of look this way or I could play with my eyes and keep my lips simple. Or I could do a really strong lip and keep my eyes nice and soft. So it just gives you more references to show to your hair and makeup artist at the trial. So visuals are really the best way to communicate what you want and what you like and also for you to start to see a collated story of what you’re attracted to.

Meggan Brummer 4:34
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It’s like building a vision board really, isn’t it? It’s like, whatever you love most, put it all together. It’s much easier to communicate in a picture than 1000 words. So when someone, a bride, shows that to you, you know exactly what page they’re on and it’s so much easier for you to work with them.

Simona Janek 4:51
Yeah, and so, you know, with the hair, it’s important to look at someone that’s got the same hair colour. For example, if you’re blonde, blonde hair when it’s styled It’s got you know a few different colours in it. Usually, blonde hair is not one solid colour. So it shows up texture and movement through the hair much more than someone with dark hair and more solid hair colour. It’s more about the shape and the silhouette that you’re creating with the hairstyle. So those are things to keep in mind. You know, if you’ve got a dress that’s quite busy and quite ornate, maybe you want to keep the hair simple, just to sort of offset the look and not go for too much business. Again, if you’re wearing a beautiful big ballgown that’s really full and big, your hairstyle is going to have to compliment that silhouette and your hairstyle will need to be maybe a little bit fuller and bigger to complete the look. Then you’ve also got you know culture weddings like Indian weddings, the girls wear red and gold so it’s a really strong look strong colour. And the hair and makeup definitely needs to complement that you to make sure that you don’t look washed out so beautiful, bold colours, which is the traditional makeup look for Indian weddings anyway.

I love those Indian weddings the women always look so incredible, don’t they? They absolutely do. So. Yeah, those are just sort of things to consider when getting your ideas together. Something that I’m big on with my trials is also planning this goes for the hair is planning for wet weather or windy weather, you know, maybe Ideally, you want to wear your hair in beautiful beach waves and have it all out. But what if it’s windy and raining is your hair gonna hold up in those kind of weather conditions, work out a style that you’d be happy to also wear if you need to go into Plan B. So then on the day, you’re not stressed out and you’re going Yep, I know, I can’t wear my hair out, it’s going to look like this. So I’m really big on that. So really, there are sort of three main styles and categories that most brides that I find fall into, you know, one is more the classic simple look where the makeup is sort of clean neutral, your eyes have been enhanced. So your lips, the hair might be in a simple shinian or a French roll or you might want to wear it high in a bun. Then you’ve got sort of the boho beachy more eclectic bride where they might want to bronzy sort of glowy look like you’ve been sunkissed and the makeup is still very fresh and natural. The hair definitely has more texture and more movement, it looks put together much more effortlessly, you might have a few twists or braids in it. You know it’s got more of a carefree sort of feel. And then you’ve got the glamorous sort of red carpet look and you know that’s bigger lashes, maybe a beautiful flicked cat eyeliner. You might be going for a bolder leap or making doing a smoky eye with more of a mood lip. But everything is much more amped up and much more glamorous. And the Hair, you know you might be wearing it. pulled back in a beautiful style or gorgeous big waves brushed out with vintage waves. Yeh, something much more, that makes a statement.

Meggan Brummer 8:01
What’s really popular these days Simona?

Simona Janek 8:05
What’s really popular is some hair out a lot more rather than tucked away. Definitely texture in the hair and not so perfectly put together so it looks a little bit more effortless bit more textured. And the makeup has gone… I feel like it’s been dulled down a little it’s a little bit more subtle. The eyes have gone a little smokier, rather than you know away from the sort of cat flicked liner. So yeah, those are the sort of trends. Especially now for winter weddings. I think a beautiful, darker smoky eye doesn’t have to be black and be beautiful wine colours looks really flattering for a winter wedding.

Meggan Brummer 8:47
Sounds amazing. I can really picture it when you speak your description, really effective put it that way. Before Simona shares her next tip with us, I just wanted to share with you all that I have an amazing free guide on some of my most favourite wedding venues in Sydney. This is after many years of being a celebrant, and I’m just going to post that link to that free guide in the chatbox below so that you can grab hold of it. Over to you again please Simona for your next tip.

Simona Janek 9:22
Yes, so it’s finding your hair and makeup artists. Now if you know first of all, ask your friends ask your colleagues. Nothing’s better than it word of mouth recommendation. Someone that’s used their services and they’re happy. If no one in your circles been married and you haven’t been a bridesmaid, ask your photographer that you’ve booked for sure they have worked with some amazing hair and makeup artists and they’ll be able to give you some recommendations of people that are professional, do this all the time, are nice to deal with and run on time. If you don’t have a photographer yet start looking on a directory like easy weddings where professionals list their services. You know there are people that work in the industry and have been for a long time. They’ve been doing it over and over. The weddings, don’t stress them out, you want someone that’s going to stay nice and calm and get you ready for your big day.

Meggan Brummer 10:09
Yeah, Simona and I both know amazing photographers, so DM us, jump onto our Insta pages and send us a message. And we’ll put through a few recommendations.

Simona Janek 10:20
Yeah. And then once you’ve found a few or been recommended a few, you know, obviously, look at their work, give them a call, have a chat, see if you have a rapore. That’s the most important thing you want someone that you know, gonna want to hang around for four or five hours in the morning of your wedding. And then of course, do a trial is absolutely key to have a hair and makeup trial. Try and have it in an early part of the day, so that you can wear your hair and makeup all through the day and see how it lasts. See how you like it. Because when girls come for a trial, you know, they’re usually very casually dressed and all of a sudden, they’ve got this glamorous or, you know, much more glamorous look than they used to. And this sort of doesn’t fit together with jeans and T-shirts. So you’ve got to use your creative imagination and think, Okay, I’m going to be wearing this amazing wedding gown. And it’s all the puzzles, the pieces of the puzzle are going to fit together. And so you know, if you’re someone that has never had the hair makeup done or seldom has it done. It’s, the more you have it done, the more you get used to it. So you know, the longer you can wear your hair and makeup, the more you’re going to get used to the way you look, have some photos taken look back at it. And then you can evaluate and give your makeup artist some feedback, I often have brides saying to me, Look, I loved it. But maybe I just want to go a little stronger. I know I said I don’t want too much. But actually, I want a little bit more on the eye, or let’s go for a bolder lip. And there’s a little tweaks if you’ve got good communication. There’s a little tweaks that you can do on the day, you don’t need to do another trial. You just allow, you know, a bit of a time buffer on the day to sort of tweak things. But generally, one trial would be enough. Absolutely. Unless, yes, unless I have someone that’s drastically changed their hair or you know, really changed and just change their mind maybe because they did the trial a year out from the wedding. And then they’ve gone. Actually, I want something different now. So it’s more for them that they feel comfortable of what they’re going to get on the day. And sometimes it’s just a matter of chatting things through, you know, not necessarily having to have another trial, but having good communication with your hair and makeup artist and maybe emailing some pictures through and going Hey, do you think I need another trial? Or do you think we can just do this on the day? So it depends what you’re comfortable with?

Meggan Brummer 12:34
Yeah, communication is key, isn’t it? I mean, literally, everything in life, right communication is what makes such a difference.

Simona Janek 12:42
Yeah. And then so my last tip is the wedding day preparations. So the planning of the timing is the most crucial thing you know, playing your timing, well check with the bride when the photographer is arriving. This usually indicates the time to have hair and makeup finished. Yes, they want to do shots of makeup going on. But those are just sort of pretend shots of the lipstick being touched up. You mostly don’t want to put out you know, photos in your album with your hair and makeup not done. So that’s absolutely crucial is finishing when the photographer arrives and then hanging around for a little bit to do those touch-up shots. Follow the instructions from your hair and makeup artist, especially in regards to washing the hair and share this with your bridal party. So often we turn up and we said you know, have clean dry hair and people go I washed it three days ago, it’ll be fine. Well, it’s not really fine. Because, you know, then they have to go wash their hair, we’ve got to dry it again. So waste time. Generally, we want clean dry hair, because then you can mess it up with product and it’s easier to create volume. So really have a good chat about what kind of hair your bridal party has, you know, how are they expecting to wear it so that we allow your hair or makeup artist can estimate how much time they’re going to need to get everyone ready on time.

Meggan Brummer 14:02
I’m going to interrupt you there Simona, because Simona just sent me through this amazing guide I really enjoyed I really enjoyed reading through it. And it’s got lots and lots of free tips for how to get ready on your day for your hair and makeup. And I found something quite quirky and interesting and I was wondering if you can explain it to us. Simona was saying that it’s a good idea to condition your hair from the middle of the strand down to the ends, but not to condition the roots is that did I read that correctly Simona?

Simona Janek 14:36
You absolutely did. So that applies to most people. If your hair is over-processed with colour, you can condition your hair all the way from root to tip. But most people you know we want to build usually some volume in the hair and if the hair is too slippery and too silky, it’s much harder at the roots. So washing your hair I like my clients to wash the hair twice. Just like you go to the hairdresser, they do really good shampoo, rinse, really good shampoo and rinse again. The key is actually rinsing all the product out so you don’t have any build-up there. And then do your conditioning, comb through and see if you’ve got long hair, rinse it out, and you’ve got beautiful clean hair to then dry off and be styled. You know, if you carry on, or if you if you’ve got course here that’s, you know, better washed the day before, this is what you can discuss with your makeup artist at the trial. And then they might say, yeah, wash it the day before, that’s fine, because your hair texture will be fine once it’s been slept on. And you know, so it’s really good communication and working this out and passing this on to your bridal party. Because it’s a little bit of a pain point for me for people to have clean hair.

Meggan Brummer 15:46
Maybe they could get that guide from you and share that with all their bridesmaids. Right? Absolutely. That’s the recommended procedure. Right? And how can the lovely brides watching us now how can they get hold of that free guide from you? Could they just dm you on Insta?

Simona Janek 16:03
Absolutely DM me with your email address and I’ll send one out to you. What is your Insta handle? It is @Simonajanek with a J and Okay, I’m just gonna pop that in the chatbox…Simona Janek. if you go to my website instead, you can also link through to my Instagram, or you can just email me through my website, either way is fine.

Meggan Brummer 16:29
and you can have a sneaky peek at all the lovely, lovely faces that she has prepared. If you have you know, go to her Insta page. It’s really beautiful. Um, where are we with the tips have we got one more? One more.

Simona Janek 16:46
Generally, I like my Brides to have, you know, clean skin, follow the guide on what you can do before for your skin to make it be at its best condition. And don’t apply sunscreen even if you plan your weddings in summer and your skin burns and you plan to wear sunscreen. Discuss with the makeup artist or let them apply the sunscreen for you because some sunscreens work better under makeup and others are a real nightmare. They start to roll and it creates a bit of a mess. So that’s also something to discuss. My other tip is try and have everything organised on the day, have the dresses hung up, steamed, your accessories laid out, everything’s ready for your photographer to be photographed. You’re not running around when the photographer arrives going, I don’t know where I’ve put that. So have it placed somewhere nicely. So they’ve got room to do those beautiful shots for you. And then just relax. Have a great day. Let the pros you’ve hired do their job. And enjoy your wedding day. Because it goes quick.

Meggan Brummer 17:42
Awesome. Thanks. Do you want to come over and get my hair and makeup done by you? Simona? You should! That’d be so fun. Oh, yeah. Simona also does lessons. So I think you said $250 for a lesson. Yeah,

Simona Janek 17:58
Its a personal lesson tailored to exactly what you want to learn, you know, teaching you how to use the products you already have. And then if you need to add anything into your little makeup kit, I suggest some products that you might want to add. But um, yeah, I just try and teach you good basic routines so that you know the correct steps with which to apply the makeup and you know how to do a quick, fresh face on for maybe work for daytime work, and then how to turn it into more of an evening weekend look.

Meggan Brummer 18:26
Fantastic. Fantastic. If any of you watching have any questions, just feel free to type those into the chat box now because we’re going to be wrapping up. And we will just be answering all your questions now. I’m just checking the chatbox. We’ve got Oh Haley, great tips. Nice. And pleasure, Haley, really nice to have you here with us on live. I am going to just check those one more time. If people are mostly saying thanks. Thanks. Great tips, great tips. Lots of comments coming in, but no questions, actually. And I’m going to say goodbye to Simona now, but do stay with me because I’ve got something great to share with you Simona. Thanks so much. Pleasure. Thanks for having me. I’m really, really lovely having you. And I’m definitely coming for that session, and there’ll be heaps of fun. Thank you. And so just to let you know that coming out really soon, I’m going to be interviewing one of Sydney’s top wedding planners, very excited to interview her. She’s an amazing woman. And I’m also going to be having an interview with one of Sydney’s best venues. So to stay in the loop, just follow me on Insta, I’m going to post my Insta link right now in that chatbox for you. So make it super easy. Just follow me on Insta. And I will post whenever I’m doing more of these lives so that you can come and join us. But thanks so much for joining us, everybody. It’s been super fun, and have a beautiful evening and we’ll catch up again soon. Bye.

If you’re interested in speaking to Simona about hair & makeup for your wedding, you can contact her at: https://simonajanek.com.au/

10 Best Wedding Venues in Sydney, Australia

As Sydney’s leading wedding celebrant, I’ve been a part of hundreds of wedding ceremonies, which means I’ve been to, and experienced my fair share of wedding venues in Sydney. And while I get to experience it from the outside and see all the magic and glory come...

Can You Get Married In an Airbnb?

As a marriage celebrant, one of the questions I get asked often is if couples can get married in an Airbnb. Well, the answer is a resounding “yes!”. In fact, I’ve already helped dozens of happy couples get hitched in various Airbnb venues, from luxury beach houses...

4 of Sydney’s Best Harbourside Wedding Venues

Sydney Harbour is the most beautiful harbour in the world and there are plenty of fabulous wedding venues dotted around it's shores capitalising on its stunning views and central location. As a local marriage celebrant, I’ve had the privilege of marrying hundreds of...

How to Start Planning a Wedding in 2025

How to Start Planning Your Wedding I'm going with a couple of assumptions here... 1 - Your wedding will be your first and only experience of planning a big event, perhaps of managing any project and 2 - You're unsure how to get started and your head is starting to...

Benefits of a Sydney winter wedding

There's plenty of upside to choosing the winter months for your Sydney wedding. We’re lucky enough to be in a part of the world where the winter weather doesn’t really get in the way of plans. Unlike our northern hemisphere counterparts, we’re not plagued by sub-zero...

7 Best places to Elope on Sydney Harbour (North Shore, Kirribilli And Surrounds)

Sydney's Lower North Shore (Blues Point to Cremorne Point) For couples seeking an intimate elopement style wedding to tie the knot, Sydney's iconic skyline and enchanting harbour offer the perfect backdrop for an unforgettable, romantic wedding elopement. As a...

Guide To Eloping In Australia

Is 2025 Set To Become The Year Of The Elopement? According to the 2025 Australian Wedding Industry Report, which collected data from 4000 couples, 69% reported that cost of living issues had impacted their wedding budget.  In addition, 30% reported extending their...

Guide To Completing Your NOIM

If you're getting married in Australia, you are going to encounter a form called the 'NOIM'. Read on to learn what it is, why it's so important and how to complete it correctly.Author: Meggan Brummer If we haven’t met before - I am an award-winning Marriage Celebrant...

Guide To Applying For A Shortening Of Time (In Australia)

If you're a couple who wants to get married in Australia, you need to complete and send your celebrant a form called the 'NOIM', at least 1 month before your wedding day.     In some situations, you may not have a month. If that's you, then read on, because you may be...

5 Best Questions To Ask When Meeting A Marriage Celebrant

What do you ask your potential marriage celebrants when meeting them? Are you feeling lost around what to ask marriage celebrants to see if they're a good fit for your wedding?   Well don't worry, below is a simple overview of the hiring process together with the best...