In the second installment of our bridal makeup series, I’m bringing you an insight into my own wedding culture, the Indonesian bridal. I interviewed Pini Emilda, owner of Pinirias, a bridal studio in Bandung, who has been in the business of Indonesian Bridal makeup artist for 15+ years.

In case you’re not familiar with Indonesian weddings, I will start with a short introduction to Indonesian wedding culture, and then we’ll go to the makeup section.

The short intro to the Indonesian Weddings

While I am fully aware that Indonesia consists of so many different traditional cultures, it is still safe to say that Indonesian weddings tend to be on the extravagant side. Weddings are considered a once in a lifetime event in which you’re allowed to splurge and be queen for a day. Usually financed and held by the parents of the bride, therefore mostly translated and held for the prestige of the bride’s family. If they are a well-off upper-middle-class family, the invitation list could easily get to the thousands and will be held in a huge function room.

There will be at least two ceremonies:

The Akad Nikah

The wedding ceremony itself, usually it is held in the bride’s home, or in a religious place (mosque or church). The guest invites are typically limited to family and close friends, and typically the bride and groom will wear white.

As an example of attire here, I’m linking to one of the most high-profile celebrity Indonesian weddings in 2017, Raisa. Makeup was done by Marlene Hariman, also a very sought after Indonesian makeup artist.

The Reception

Typically, the bride and groom, and both sets of parents would be on a pelaminan, sort of a stage where guests come to greet, congratulate, and take pictures of them (and themselves). It’s almost like being on a throne as the king and queen and have everyone come and give you blessings :D.

Pelaminan: the "stage" of where the bride & groom, and both sides of parents will be to receive greetings.
Pelaminan: the “stage” of where the bride & groom, and both sides of parents will be to receive greetings.

And here is a picture of myself in my bridal attire from waaay back!

Me at my own wedding in a traditional Indonesian combined with Moslem attire. Yes, we have live orchids since I wasn’t keen on having cut flowers.

Indonesian Bridal Makeup

As you might slowly get the idea of the scale of the Indonesian wedding ceremonies, it made sense that the idea of doing your own makeup would be completely unheard of. That’s because what will go into it is not just the makeup of the bride, but there are also the intricate hairdos/hijabs, getting into the outfit, etc.

In short, compared to what Dorit said about natural nature of bridal makeup in Western Europe (Germany), Indonesian bridal is on the opposite spectrum of makeup.

The Typical Bridal Makeup and Attire

Unlike the white dresses of western weddings, Indonesian bridal has many more choices in colors. While the traditional attire usually leans towards burgundy red, green, or even velvet black, some modern brides could also choose a bit more subdued shades of pastels or gold.

Here is a modernized Indonesian Javanese bridal look.

The key here is not about looking natural, but more of looking like your best self. Pini said, in traditional customs, the word is “pangling”. There’s no direct translation of “pangling” in English, but it meant to not really looking like your everyday self, but a more refined, glorious, glamorous version of you, that people will look at you in awe of how pretty you looked like. Like the tale of the Cinderella at the ball.

Pini explained that the process could easily take more than two hours. From cleaning the skin, mixing and blending the perfect foundation, applying makeup, getting the hairdo or the hijab done, and dressing up in the traditional bridal clothes.

Pini also explained further that there is a distinction between a makeup artist (we called this a MUA) and a true Indonesian bridal makeup artist (we called this a perias pengantin). The latter means their job doesn’t finish the moment the bride walked out the dressing room, but they will stay until the end of the event, and also ready for doing touch-ups.

No wonder all the brides look so picture perfect!

My hunch was Indonesians are easily swayed by trends and social media. I asked Pini about this, and whether this is reflected in the more traditional trends of bridal.

“Social media presence is definitely important. My clients usually checked out my Instagram profile (@pinirias) and decided from there. So the pictures I have there should be on point and reflects best what I do. I want to live up to their expectations and more.”

When asked about the trends, she said, “Definitely! You can see things changing from the traditional makeup, to an Arabic inspired makeup with more smokey eyes look, to a more natural looking Western look, and these days the trend geared towards the Korean beauty look.”

On point with all the world K-beauty trend out there.

She added, “You can definitely see this more prominently in the eyebrow shapes. There was a time when the eyebrow is a thin line, and now it’s gearing towards a bigger eyebrow shape.”

Also on trend? Colored contact lenses!

Makeup Conceptions and Requirements

“A perfect complexion is key,” said Pini. “In order to achieve that, we would mix and blend 3-4 different foundations, seal it with Aqua Seal from Makeup Forever to achieve a perfect skin-like waterproof color.”

When asked about her brand preferences on foundations, she added, “Shu Uemura and Makeup Forever. Both are great in achieving this skin-like texture, while still felt light on the skin.”

She then confessed to a secret technique she developed in her 15+ years experience as a makeup artist. “With this technique, the foundation will look perfect on the skin,” said Pini. “It’s all about a different pressure you should apply the makeup with. Not just with the foundation, but also with the powder and the eyebrows.”

I’m now super curious to learn more about it. Which comes down to…

Makeup Hacks for Day-To-Day Life

Pini offered a beauty class for day-to-day makeup, I was lucky enough to get a supercharged private lesson from her. I learned a lot in the few hours I spent (plus a lot of geeking out about makeup).

She underlined the importance of picking the correct shade for your skin tone and gave me an example of how a quick contouring could have a long way to go. She preferred to use a non-powder one for a more natural look (Fenty Beauty’s Match Stix is a great one, I wrote about mine here).

Her technique of applying foundation though, it’s not really something one can easily understand unless you’re in a class with her. It’s basically using your fingers in a pressing motion all over your face with different pressure depending on the parts of your face. Also for the brows. The result? Flawless!

The result after taking Pini's Beauty Class
My new makeup look as a result of taking Pini’s Beauty Class

And with that, I’d like to wrap it up. Thank you very much, Pini, for sharing your knowledge with us ❤.

With Pini Emilda, the inspiring and passionate owner of pinirias
With Pini Emilda, the inspiring and passionate owner of pinirias

Would you like to share your story on your bridal culture? Are you a bridal makeup artist? Tell us more!