Makeup Artist &
Hair Stylist in Dubai

A Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Who Comes to You

I have worked in Dubai for over a decade. Before that I built and ran my own agency in Toronto, and I trained in New York and Toronto before that. I do hair and makeup — both, by the same pair of hands. On a wedding morning that means one person in your suite rather than two, one schedule instead of two, and a look that was designed as a whole rather than assembled by committee. Most of my work is bridal. The rest is editorial, campaign and broadcast: BVLGARI Resort, IWC, Jaeger, Eden Park Paris and Sofitel Dubai. Beauty for Women’s Health Middle East and AHLAN!. Runway and lookbook for Zayan The Label and Ansab Jahangri Studio. Broadcast for CBC and NBC, and festival work at TIFF, DIFF and Tribeca. I am mobile, always. I come to your hotel suite, your villa or your family home, anywhere in Dubai, and out to Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah for the weekends that end up there. There is no salon to travel to and no appointment slot to fit around — the chair comes to your room. At-home and hotel service.

Makeup That Survives THE Dubai WEATHER

This is the question I am asked most, and it is the right question. A look that holds beautifully in a London church will slide off your face at an outdoor ceremony in Dubai in June. Forty-plus degrees, humidity off the water, and three hours between the first photograph and the first dance. Product that was not chosen for this climate does not last, and no amount of touching up rescues it once it has gone. Airbrush foundation is usually the answer. It sits on the skin as a fine layer rather than a film, it does not slide when the humidity rises, and it photographs as skin rather than as makeup. I set it for the conditions you are actually getting married in — an outdoor ceremony on the beach is a different build from an air-conditioned ballroom — and I leave a small touch-up kit with whoever is holding your bag, with instructions that take ten seconds. If your ceremony is outdoors between May and September, tell me when we first speak. It changes what I bring.

Trials — Including for Brides Who Land Three Days Before

Your wedding morning is not the moment to try something new. A trial is where we find out that the smoky eye you saved on Instagram is not the one that suits your face, and where I learn how your skin behaves before it matters. Bring your dress if you can. If you cannot, send photographs of it, of your hair accessory, of your veil, and of two or three looks you like and one you do not — knowing what you want to avoid is often more useful than knowing what you want. Flying in for a destination wedding? Most of my destination brides cannot get to a trial in person, so we do it differently: a video consultation before you travel, reference images both ways, a written plan, and extra time built into the wedding morning so nothing is rushed. If you arrive a day or two early, I will come to you then instead. It works — I have been doing it this way for years. Bridal hair and makeup.

What Dubai Brides Actually Ask Me For

Two looks in one day. Common here and rarely mentioned elsewhere. A softer ceremony look and a stronger reception look, with a change that takes 30 minutes rather than pulling you out of your own party for an hour. Airbrushing over tattoos. If your family is conservative, or the dress shows ink you would rather it did not, this is straightforward and it holds all night. Nobody advertises it and a great many brides need it. Just ask. Hair that works with what you are wearing on it. A veil, a comb, a heavy headpiece, a shayla — each one changes what the hair underneath has to do. Send me a photograph of it before the trial. A full depth range in the kit. Dubai is not one complexion and I do not carry one set of shades. Undertone matching is done in daylight, on your face, not guessed from a photograph. The rest of the bridal party. Mother, sisters, bridesmaids — 4 people is comfortable for me alone; beyond that I bring a second artist so nobody is still in a robe when the cars arrive.