Makeup By Karen Lee Hair and Makeup Team

Karen is hands-down the best hair and makeup artist you could ever ask for, especially for Asian hair and makeup. She has nailed the art of soft, smoky, yet natural glam that makes you look like the absolute best version of yourself. I had been following her for years on social media after seeing many of my acquaintances use her services for weddings and special events. I hired her for both my engagement shoot and wedding day and it was the best decision I ever made. She answered all my questions before each appointment, and is quick, cheerful, and very helpful. At the appointments, she glanced at hair and makeup styles that I had saved on my phone and replicated them in a way that best suited my facial structure. On the morning of my wedding, Karen and her assistant, Dani, arrived bright and early despite traveling all the way down to San Diego, where my wedding was located. Her rates are so reasonable (on par with most artists’ friends and family discounted price) that the nominal travel fee was worth it. My bridal party was somewhat large (bride, five bridesmaids, two mothers) and each person had her own preferred hair and makeup style. Karen and Dani flawlessly executed each look, from natural makeup to intense glam, with updos, braids, curls, textured hair, extensions, etc. Despite all the different requests, Karen and Dani were extremely efficient and finished right on time. My mother, who almost never wears makeup, refused to wear false lashes until Karen showed her how easy and painless they could be. Two of my bridesmaids are hair and makeup artists who do wedding hair/makeup and are extremely particular about getting their own hair and makeup done. Both of them were beyond impressed with Karen and her team, and I have heard nothing but gushing compliments from all of the bridesmaids and mothers since the wedding. Our wedding pictures just came back and everyone still looked flawless by the end of the night, despite the 18-hour day, sticky humidity, and nonstop dancing. I will not hesitate to hire Karen again for any special event and highly recommend her to everyone!

I adore Karen! She is so good at what she does and was a pleasure to work with. Karen did an amazing job with hair and makeup and made me feel and look beautiful. She was so accommodating and flexible with my makeup trial, engagement photos, and with my entire bridal party on my wedding day. From the beginning was great to work with - professional and truly the best. Thank you Karen!

Karen did my hair and makeup for both two different occasions- my Chinese wedding in May and my American wedding in October 2017. For the Chinese, I was looking for an up-do with no veil look and for the American I was looking for a more whimsical braided look with veil and flowers. She was spot on with both of the looks that I presented her through a picture and replicated it exactly as I imagined. The makeup was consistent for both occasions-not overly smokey and very natural each of the times, as I requested. I received so many compliments about both my hair and makeup. I was glowing throughout the entire day and didn't need to do much or any touching up at all by the end of the night. She, also, did some of my bridemaid's hair and makeup, whom all were happy with everything they got done. We were all glowing all day. She is very attentive and responsive to emails/text. She is patient and shows up on time. Sh gets straight into it, which is very important where no time should be wasted.

I had a fantastic experience with Karen! I first had her do my hair/makeup for my engagement shoot, which was the first time I had ever had my hair or makeup professionally done. I had brought some example photos of what I was looking for, and Karen made the end result better than I had hoped for. As someone who doesn't know much about hair/makeup, I appreciated how helpful Karen was in guiding me through the whole process. I then went back to her for the wedding trial; we tried one hairstyle up and one down. I had always thought I would do my hair down, because that's what I tend to be most comfortable with, but I was so delightfully surprised with the loose updo that Karen did for me, that I ended up choosing that for the actual wedding day. On that day, Karen and Pennie arrived at my apartment right on time to do my hair/makeup as well as that for six other ladies. They were friendly yet focused, and they finished right on time. My hair and makeup stayed in place for the entire day, and I got so many compliments on the hairstyle in particular. Karen's prices were so much better than many of the vendors I had initially read about, and yet her quality is top-notch. I would absolutely recommend her to others!