To be fair, due to COVID anxiety and scheduling challenges, I was unable to schedule a trial of my bridal HMU (I live out of state). I went with Gloss based on reviews and photos.
My frustration began via email, after I had paid my deposit.
...On January 18, I sent a list of services my bridesmaids wanted to add to my bridal appointment.
I heard back from the owner’s assistant on January 31, but she didn’t have the correct number of services, so I immediately responded back to her with corrections and questions about updated invoicing and deposits.
I never received a response, so I took the initiative to follow up on March 1.
I did receive a response to my March 1 follow-up email. I was told the second email from January 31 was not received. The March 1 response from Gloss still didn’t include confirmation the correct services had been added, nor did it include answers to my invoicing questions from January. So, I responded back with the same questions.
Seeing as my wedding was two months away, and Gloss’ schedule fills up quickly, I was flustered to not have the information I needed. I was also concerned my responses to my initial thread weren’t going through, so the next day, I started a brand new thread recapping my need for service confirmation and my still unanswered invoicing questions.
The new thread immediately prompted a response to my original thread, which I interpreted as sassy. “We received both emails, and we have a respone time of 24-72 hours, especially now that it is wedding season, so it is not necessary to send more emails since we already got this one.” I did end up speaking to the owner on the phone shortly after receiving this email, and I apologized profusely for bothering her. In reality, when I was collectively giving her business over $1k, I should have been able to ask as many questions as I wanted without being scolded. I also shouldn’t have had to follow up on an email a month after sending it.
On to the wedding. My artists were very kind, but unfortunately, that doesn’t make up for the disappointment of dropping nearly $400 of my own hard-earned money to be upset with the outcome.
My eye makeup looked solid, aside from my eyeliner running almost immediately and needing a touch up before I ever even left the bridal suite. It was under my eyes again after the ceremony. By the end of the evening, I also had issues with my airbrush makeup not matching the rest of my body, but I’ll admit some fault, since I had never previously tried airbrush application.
My hair was another story. I showed my artist a photo of hair similar in length to mine, featuring simple “Old Hollywood” waves. I should have been wary when she said something to the effect of, “I’ll get you something similar, but not quite exact, so it’s unique to you.” After curling my hair and letting it set, my 22” extensions were up to my shoulders in ringlets. The stylist kept discouraging me from brushing out the curl too much, insisting my hair “would fall throughout the night,” but my hair will hold curl for days. After going back and forth on the curl for what seemed like forever, and not feeling “heard,” my bridesmaids had to attack my hair with my flat iron to tame the ringlets so I could get down the aisle on time. The panic derailed all of my pre-wedding portraits, and I didn’t ever have a chance to make them up later, which still makes me sick, especially after spending thousands of dollars on a photographer and videographer.