She said “I don’t” to her wedding day glam.
A bride revealed that she washed off her professionally applied makeup just 20 minutes ahead of her first look in a scenario she called a “fever dream.”
Lauren Avery, whose account is now private, took to TikTok to share footage of removing and reapplying her wedding glam in a video that reached millions of viewers and sparked a heated debate among brides and makeup artists.
“Core memory: getting my makeup done for my wedding & I hated it so much I decided to wash it off and redo it myself,” she wrote on the clip, in which she can be heard uttering that she “can’t wait to make a TikTok” about the situation.
She can be seen washing away the cosmetic products with water over a sink while a friend holds back her already curled hair. Later, she can be seen reapplying the product to her face.
In the comments, Daily Mail reported, Avery had asked for a “natural glowy, blushy, bronzy” look and instead claimed that the end result was “very powdery” and “very pale.” She claimed that the artist, who she did not name, did not show her the look until after it was complete and “it was not at all what I wanted” and “just didn’t feel like me.”
The video, posted just days ago, went über viral — reaching 21 million views and eliciting mixed responses from other users and makeup artists, including Avery’s.
One creator and bridal makeup artist said there was no reason for Avery to post the TikTok months after her wedding “other than to bash the makeup artist and to hate on her makeup.”
“It’s one thing that she needed to do that to feel better but she could’ve moved in silence. Saying ‘I can’t wait to make a TikTok [about] this’ is giving mean girl,” one user commented.
“As a fellow bridal [makeup artist] I don’t care what they do as long as they pay me! Wash it off I don’t care,” quipped someone else.
“This bride who washed off all her makeup before the ceremony is a classic example of mean girl behavior based entirely on her over-eagerness to post about it later,” wrote another user on TikTok.
“You can’t ‘feel bad’ enough to not say anything but feel completely fine about roasting the entire experience behind the scenes.”
Kandra Jones, who owns the California bridal cosmetology business Twirly Shears and did Avery’s wedding glam, made her TikTok debut with a response to the viral video.
In Jones’ clip, which now has over 55 million views, she said shakily that she was “shocked” to see that Avery was unhappy with her work.
“There were no indicators that she was unhappy, honestly,” explained Jones, who has been a bridal makeup and hair artist for more than 20 years.
In her tenure working with brides, she’s learned to communicate with clients and read body language in order to tell whether or not they’re satisfied with the service.
When working with Avery, whose wedding was in August, Jones “had no idea” anything was wrong because it seemed that the bride was “happy.”
According to Jones, Avery had a trial appointment ahead of her big day and requested a few changes to her makeup, which Jones said she amended when applying her makeup on her wedding day.
“Her washing off her makeup doesn’t really bother me. I mean, it’s her money down the drain,” Jones said.
Rather, what “hurt” Jones was that Avery seemed “so sweet” and “easy to work with.” Instead, “the character of the bride that I thought is not what was there.”
Jones received an outpouring of support in her comments section as people commended her for her “great response” and called her work on Avery “flawless.”
But in a message to any future brides online, Jones encouraged them to speak up if they are unhappy with the results — or just not hire a makeup artist at all if DIY is preferred.
“Brides, if you’re getting married, you don’t have to hire a makeup artist,” she noted.
“If you love the way that you do your own makeup, then do it on your wedding day.”
