Written By Melissa Reardon
Photographs By Lucy Cuneo
A transplant from Virginia, Weston “Wes” McAfee vividly remembers the first time he saw his future bride-to-be. Charleston native Dana Elaine...
Three top-of-the line cosmetics shops open throughout the Lowcountry, showering brides with new looks, products, & services
Bluemercury
255 King St.; (843) 724-6767; Bluemercury.com
The staff at Bluemercury is as kind as the King Street shop is sleek. And that’s saying a lot. The chic sliver of a space is all clean lines, polished wood, and glass shelves loaded with potions, creams, and powders carrying the promise of radiance, perfect hair, and flawless skin. Step in, and you’re offered samples and invitations to after-hour primp parties. Bluemercury may be a national chain, but they sure know how to treat patrons in true Charleston form. Brides and their attendants head here for skin care regimes long before the wedding, and day-of for in-store makeup application.
Lines of Note: Bobbi Brown, Kiehl’s, Laura Mercier, NARS, Molton Brown, Mustela, Rosebud, Trish McEvoy, and more
The Cos Bar
201 King St.; (843) 793-1776; CosBar.com
Graced with perhaps the best light of any shop in Charleston—divine for studying a new look—The Cos Bar at King and Fulton streets offers luxury skin care, cosmetics, and fragrance for women and men. And while the small national chain specializes in
fancy, the crew there still has their feet on the ground. Case in point: “Haven’t been eating organic and doing Pilates?” asks makeup artist Andrew C. Petersen. “We have night-before emergency kit luxury masks from Bulgari Oxygen and Natura Bissé that you can do in your hotel suite to erase a multitude of sins.” Post triage, brides can either hire Andrew and crew to do their makeup or they can work one-on-one with a staff member to learn how to apply their own makeup for the Big Day. At press time, The Cos Bar’s bridal suite (a separate area with champagne, treats, and more) was nearly finished.
Lines of Note: Bobbi Brown, Bulgari, CHANEL, Clé de Peau, Guerlain, La Bella Donna, La Mer, La Prarie, Trish McEvoy, Yves Saint Laurent, and more
Sephora
Coastal Grand Mall, 1800 Coastal Grand Cr., Myrtle Beach; (843) 839-0088; Northwoods Mall, 2150 Northwoods Blvd., North Charleston; (843) 824-8113; Sephora.com
The world’s leading luxury products conglomerate, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has included Sephora in its portfolio since 1997. And a few years ago, in what may seem like an unlikely marriage, JC Penney opened its doors to the makeup mecca, and now hundreds of the department stores house small-scale Sephoras. South Carolina scored two such mini-mes (one in North Charleston’s Northwoods Mall and one in Myrtle Beach’s Coastal Grand Mall), which means brides now not only have access to hard-to-come-by lines, but they can also score a free 10-minute express service, during which the pros show you how to bring out your best look in no time flat.
Lines of Note: bareMinerals, Benefit Cosmetics, Dr. Perricone, LORAC, Murad, NARS, Philosophy, Smashbox, Stila, Tarte, Urban Decay, and more
