Thursday Toast Time – A Toast to 10.11 Makeup!

Makeup artist Erica Beukelman was so nervous at her own wedding she styled all of her bridesmaids’ hair and makeup.

“It was calming to me,” she insists. “I said ‚Äòyou sit down,’ ‚Äòyou sit down,’ … I’m doing your makeup!”
The gesture should come as no surprise from the 10.11 Makeup business owner, who at age six taught herself how to French braid on a Barbie doll.
“My favorite game to play when I was little was ‚Äòhaircutter’ with my grandfather. I’d make him sit inside my cabbage patch house and pretend to cut his hair,” Erica laughs. “I also loved to put makeup on him and my mom.”
Erica recently transformed her passion from a part-time to a successful fulltime venture.
“Instead of it being on the side, I wanted to do what I loved … it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said.
She intertwined this passion with her self-described “quasi-obsession” with weddings to create a makeup business unlike most in the industry‚Äîone that’s tailored to weddings.
“I haven’t done a wedding where I haven’t started crying,” she confesses, “whether it’s being there when the father sees [the bride] for the first time or for the reveal.”
It’s these moments and her investment in her brides that will make her the only stylist you’ll want to trust for your big day.
“I never take more than one event in a day‚ÄîI can always accommodate or account for situations that happen in the wedding,” Erica said.

This accommodation includes making sure you literally won’t have to lift a finger.

“I’m completely mobile. I will come to the bride so she’s comfortable in her element; she doesn’t have to come to my studio,” she said.

Let’s review: you’re covered for emergency touch-ups, you’re comfortable‚Äîand you’re also guaranteed gorgeous. Erica has all of her brides come in for a consultation before their wedding so that each can see how their hair and makeup will actually look. She encourages each client to bring “as many pictures as possible” to the meeting‚Äîphotos, old magazine styles, inspiration.

“It’s 100% about the bride and not what I want to communicate,” Erica said. “I like to enhance natural beauty and then depending on the theme or the color scheme or the feel they’re going for‚Äîromantic or fun, whimsical or soft‚ÄîI ask them for descriptor words of looks they’re thinking or how they want to feel that day.”

Through this process, Erica focuses on keeping you, you.

“I make sure a bride still feels like herself. A girl who never wears makeup shouldn’t cake it on [on her big day],” she said.

Her genuine concern for her brides makes them more than one-time clients.

“That’s what I love about my work‚Äîthe friendships you create and the relationships you establish … we’ll meet back up for coffee and stay in contact,” the self-proclaimed coffee addict said.

Bonus: you’re guaranteed to look better than Barbie on your wedding day.