Today's Bride-At-35 Beauty Blast!!

Part of being a bride is looking freaking awesome on your wedding day, and that doesn't change when you're north of 35.  We asked fabulous Charlotte-based stylist Caron (just Caron, because she has it like that), her thoughts. Caron has been in the beauty business for 22 years, working nationally as a stylist and as a national educator for a global beauty manufacturer.  She's recently opened Noir, a salon that specializes in beautiful hair color and eyebrow styling.  In January, Noir will be opening the Wedding Suite, a place exclusively for wedding parties to get beautified on the big day, either in the salon or at your wedding site (stylists will even travel to your destination wedding! We want to come too!! Okay, back to the point...).

Here's what Caron had to say about ageless beauty....

On Who's Taking the Plunge:

"I am seeing brides in 2 age groups; either very young or older than me. Lately, I am seeing more women in their  late-30s to 60's, some first timers and some getting remarried. The remarried ones are finding the courage to get married again after being bound to a bad marriage, but they are now bound by what's "appropriate", either because of what people are telling them, or because they don't see themsleves in magazines.  But I saw one bride whose grandson walked her down the aisle."

On Doing You:

"I had one client in her 40's with very fine hair, and she wanted to
grow it out so she could wear her hair up for her wedding because that's what people told her to do. This is a woman who (was choosing on her wedding day) to go barefoot, walking down the hallway of the home that she owned with her fiance', but when I asked her why she wanted to wear her hair up, she didn't know why. I told her to cut her hair and be herself, so on her wedding day she wore a short bob and a strapless gown and that is (supposed to be) a no-no at 46. She said that it was the best thing she could have done. It's because it wasn't a mask. It was her walking into the next part of her life.

Women grow their hair out for a year and cut it after their honeymoon. You can do what you want with your hair; showcase it; it is an asset; don't hide it. You don't have to work through a head of shellack on your wedding night."

On Doing It Yourself, but With Some Help....

"The biggest mistake that people make is doing their own make-up without a professional lesson; there are ways to do it without breaking your bank or your heart- you need your guidance."

On Embracing The Beauty That You Are RIGHT NOW:

"#1 advice- don't focus or be so hard on what you look like now as opposed to how you looked the first time (you got married) or what you would have looked if you got married when you were younger. Where you are now is more beautiful than where you were at 22 because in your maturity because you know who you are,  and that produces a beauty that no make-up or hairdressing is going to accomplish."

On True Radiance:
"A radiant bride is in 2 ways:  I know of a recent young bride; (when you are young) you can be happy because you are young and getting married; everything was in place. Everything went well. But the 46 year old bride I worked with was beautiful and was in her own hallway that she owned; her eyes were open. She wasn't blinded by the perfection. You can't top that day. (At that age) you see the possibilities and not the limitations. When you see a woman walk with grace and poise it's a different kind of amazing."