About this vendor
Based in Washington, DC, Paolina Rios is an experienced hairstylist and makeup artist who offers wedding beauty services. Adept at seamlessly accentuating her clients’ natural beauty, this licensed stylist adores helping brides-to-be achieve their hair and makeup goals. She uses traditional techniques and top-quality products to give her clients truly flawless looks.
Following a career in the corporate world, Paolina Rios decided to redirect her talents toward hair and makeup in 2010. After graduating from Paul Mitchell The School, she worked at a series of salons where she developed her beauty skills. Her talents didn’t go unnoticed, and she landed a hair and makeup job at CNN. Known for her specialty in bridal beauty, she has trained with some of the industry’s leading professionals, like celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic (Kim's Kardashian's makeup artist) and Danessa Myricks. Her illustrious clientele boasts high-profile names like President Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and Nancy Pelosi.
Paolina Rios will delight in giving you a look that showcases your inner and outer beauty. During your consultations, you can tell her about your dream hair and makeup, and she will endeavor to bring your vision to life. In addition to weddings, she provides hair and makeup services for photoshoots, production work, and corporate executive headshots.
Details
Beauty
- Hair Stylists
- Hair Trials Available
- Makeup
- Airbrushed Makeup
- Eyelash Extensions
- Makeup Artists
Business Attributes
- Hispanic or Latinx-owned Business
- Woman-owned Business
Awards and Affiliations
2022 'Best of Weddings'
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.010 reviews
I loved working with Paolina to put together my glamorous wedding look! We did a trial beforehand, where we talked through what I liked. Paolina took time to understand my preferen...
ces and offered input to help guide my decision making.
She is a very responsive to email and calls -- a huge help for a busy bride. I highly recommend working with her.
Paolina was truly such a blessing to work with! She stepped in last minute and made my wedding hair dreams come true after I had an absolute nightmare situation with another hair d...
esigner. It worked out perfectly though because she was absolutely incredible! My hair turned out better than I could have ever dreamed and I loved spending the morning of my wedding with her! Would hire OVER and OVER again! She's perfection <3
After experiencing a nightmare of a hair and makeup trial from another vendor, I was desperate to find someone who did quality work. I found Paolina through a friend of a friend an...
d I am so glad that I did.
Paolina is incredibly personable and doesn't make you feel weird about making specific requests. The day we did my trial, I started tearing up because not only was her work amazing but I felt so beautiful and couldn't wait for my wedding. For her services, It was just me getting hair and makeup done (no bridesmaids) and it took about 1.5 - 2 hours to get everything done.
Fast forward to my wedding, Paolina was punctual and remembered everything we talked about from our trial months back. I looked like myself on my wedding day and she accentuated my natural features. She is a perfectionist which is amazing. She was even adjusting my hair and makeup as I was walking out the door to make sure my hair laid properly!
My wedding photos turned out amazing and my husband even commented on how awesome my hair and makeup looked. I highly recommend her. Not only does she do awesome work but she is overall a sweet woman with a kind heart. She genuinely cares about her clients and she also has a really interesting makeup background working in TV! Hire her, you will not regret it!
Absolutely adored Paolina. She gave me the wedding look of my dreams.
I contacted Paolina for a wedding trial and for the day of hair and makeup; I have never had a professional stylist for an event before and went by reviews and google searches. I w...
as concerned by just never having had someone else do a look for me, and I wanted a very natural look. Paolina very much delivered --- she was so professional, on time, personable, and exactly what I wanted. Also a very good price and value. My look was perfect and I can truly say every single person at the wedding complimented me on my hair and makeup. If I have any kind of formal event to attend, I will always request Paolina! She also recommended some products to use for the wedding and chose a great lip color, way better than what I had envisioned. She's the best.
I worked with Paolina Rios for my family photoshoot. There is so much I can gush about from her punctuality from start to finish. To how responsive she was throughout the entire ti...
meline leading up to the day of makeup application. The biggest impact on me was Paolina helped me look like an elevated version of myself and that’s what’s I wanted. She nailed it! And the look she gave was all my own. Lastly, what makes Paolina different from other artists is her collaborative style. She works with you while doing your makeup application, if there is something you like to try she will give you her honest opinion yet still allowing you your say. Book this artist you won’t be disappointed.
I had a photoshoot scheduled and wanted my hair and make up done professionally. I noticed Paolina had glowing reviews, so I contacted her. She responded to my inquiry in a timely ...
manner. It's great she specializes in both hair and make up, makes things much easier! She was very accommodating as I required her services early in the morning. Pricing is reasonable. Paolina arrived on time, was organized and very personable. I showed her photos of the look I was going for. I was very happy with the end results and looked beautiful for the pictures. Hair and make up lasted all day and I received many compliments. Would highly recommend choosing Paolina for any hair and/or make up needs.
Paolina has a lovely set up her brushes and products were clean and new looking. She was punctual and prepared when I arrived, listened to my preferences and executed my vision pe...
rfectly. I loved my makeup and it stayed on, and looking freshly done, from 11:30am to 11:30pm. I highly recommend Paolina for any of your big event makeup needs.
Paolina and her team were an absolute joy to work with! They made us all feel relaxed and beautiful on my wedding day. Would absolutely recommend them to anyone.
Paolina is a fantastic stylist. She did my hair and make-up for two wedding events, and I could not have been more pleased with her services. I do not know much about styling my ow...
n hair or doing my own make-up, so I was worried I wouldn’t feel like myself all “done up”. Paolina is very knowledgeable and was able to give me two unique looks that made me feel both confident and comfortable. She also did hairstyles for all of my bridesmaids herself…which was quite a feat of time management! It has been a while since my wedding day, but looking back at the photographs I am so pleased I was able to find a stylist like Paolina who helped me look beautiful, while still looking and feeling like myself.
Contact
Fairfax, DC
Beauty