Polished Makeup & Hair: 10 Questions with Samantha Loesch

Hair & Makeup Artist - Samantha Loesch

Business: Polished Makeup & Hair
Location: Houston, Texas TX
Experience: 11 Years
Profile: Polished Makeup & Hair
Website: houstonbridalmakeup.com

1. Introduction: What's your story?

Hi there, my name is Samantha Loesch, I am the founder and lead airbrush makeup artist for Polished Makeup & Hair in Houston, TX. Our teams' niche is the natural bride who doesn't typically wear makeup on a daily basis. We pride ourselves on creating beautiful, natural airbrush makeup looks and lovely timeless hairstyles. Our goal is for our brides to look at their wedding photos 20+ years from now and not only love the way they look but also remember how amazing they felt on that special day.

I started doing makeup almost 12 years ago as a therapeutic escape, I enjoyed the paint-like aspect of makeup, the creativity, and freedom I felt was addicting. Having no idea where makeup would take me in the future, I now can say I have traveled the world to places like Spain, Thailand, Lithuania, and all over the US doing what a love! Teaching makeup classes and beautifying women for photo sessions and weddings have been a dream come true. As of now, I have grown my team of artists to an amazing team of 10 and still growing!

In my first 5-6 years of doing makeup, I focused on all types of photography makeup, then I switched my focus to weddings, and wow do I love it! The feeling of helping a bride and her close friends/family feel the best they've ever felt is an amazing indescribable feeling, I honestly feel like that is one of my missions on earth! Helping women feel confident, special, and beautiful is our teams' specialty and we love every minute of it. Getting to share a huge milestone with different brides is such a treat and I can't wait to meet the brides we get to beautify in the near future!

2. What's your experience as a bridal hair & makeup artist? How many brides are in there in your portfolio?

Being in the beauty industry since 2010, we’ve had our fair share of beautiful brides. We have worked with tons of marvelous women on their wedding days in Houston, its surrounding cities, and have also had the pleasure of traveling to places like Florida and New Orleans for destination weddings.

Our team’s specialty is paying attention to detail, listening, and creating a personal relationship with our brides and my personal favorite, airbrush makeup! There’s nothing like an amazing airbrush application that lasts 15+ hours on your wedding day, even through all the sweat and wedding day emotions.

Currently, we have a total of 73 weddings under our belt for the year 2021. We had a total of 34 in the year 2020 and 39 brides in the year 2019. I would say we have easily hit the 200-bride mark in the past 6 years.

3. What are the different packages that you offer and which one is your most popular package?

We offer different all-inclusive packages that include everything a bride and her bridal party would need on the wedding day and pre-wedding events. Our packages start at $750, all packages and a la carte rates can be found on our website. A 50% retainer and booking contract is due at the time of booking to reserve your wedding date.

All of our packages include the following:
- Bridal hair and airbrush makeup trial in our studio
- Wedding day bridal hair, airbrush makeup, and lashes
- Bridal touch up kit to keep our bride looking fresh all day and night
- Hair, airbrush makeup, and lashes for guests/ bridal party
- Lip touch up kit for the bridal party
- Wedding day travel of up to 40 miles from our studio (if your location is farther, travel fees are $2 per mile after the initial 40 miles)

Depending on how large your bridal party is and what timeframe we are given will depend on how many artists we bring along. If there is a limited time to get ready, we can bring along extra team members for $150 per additional artist.

Our team can also stay on-site for touch up's for a fee of $150 per hour, per artist.

4. Do you have a team of assistants or will you be the only artist that day? What will happen if you're sick or have an emergency on the wedding day?

We have a talented team of 10 artists that work with our brides. So depending on when a bride books with us, will depend on which artist will take care of her and her bridal party. We make sure that whoever does the bridal trial will also work on the wedding day. The number of artists assigned to a wedding will depend on how much time we are given.

You can call me our bridal booking liaison, we like to make it as easy as possible for our brides so I take care of the booking process and pre-wedding details like creating timelines and answering any questions leading up to the wedding day. I'll also reach out to your wedding planner and photographer to make sure we are all on the same page for the big day.

We all hate emergencies, but if anything were to happen luckily we have an amazing team that supports each other and will be able to step into action if needed.

5. Do you charge a travel fee? For what distance? What does that cover?

We charge a travel fee for any services done outside of our studio.
Our minimum travel fee is $35.
Travel fees are $1 per mile for 1 artist.
$2 per mile for 2 artists.
$3 per mile for 3+ artists.

So, if 5 team members will be taking care of you on your wedding day, the travel fee will be $3 per mile from our studio to the bride's location.

All travel, daily food allocation, hotel, and service expenses are taken care of by the bride for destination weddings. We travel worldwide.

6. Can the bride book a wedding makeup trial appointment and will you also do a trial before the wedding?

Of course! We are happy to book a bridal trial with a bride before she books her wedding day with us, that's a great way to see if we are a great fit for each other. Most trials are done at our studio, travel is available for an additional fee. It's a great idea to book a trial on a day you might be taking photos, attending a party, or trying on your wedding dress.

7. What beauty products do you use and would you be open to the bride using her own make-up?

Our team uses a variety of professional brands in our kit such as Temptu, Diniar, Ben Nye, Graftobian, RCMA, Scott Barnes, Make Up For Ever, Makeup By Mario, Benefit, Dose of Colors, Cinema Secrets, Kryolan, Inglot, NARS and so much more. We customize what we use on each bride and client based on what their desires and skincare needs are because no face is the same!

We prefer to stick to our own products since we know the lasting power of our application, but there can be exceptions if requested by a bride. For example, I had a bride that was obsessed with her Giorgio Armani Silk Foundation and another that wanted to use her go-to lipstick, so we opted in to use those on the big day.

8. How can you make the bride's wedding makeup last and look good in photos?

Lasting power is all in the products and layers! Starting out with cleansing and prepping the skin with moisturizer is the key to a flawless and hydrated makeup application. Our team uses a multitude of water-resistant products such as airbrush makeup, water-resistant setting powder, setting sprays, mascara's, everything is meant to last through all those wedding day emotions, even your eyebrows can be waterproof!

Makeup tends to look a bit softer on camera than in person. Let's say you rarely wear makeup and want a very natural makeup look, that might not show up on camera the way you thought, it might look like you have nothing on. Finding that sweet spot where you love the look in person and on camera is key. Have an open mind, our version of a natural makeup look might be a bit more than what you are used to but I can promise you will love it both on and off camera, you'll probably catch yourself staring every time you walk past a mirror thinking "I look amazing".

9. How long will makeup take on the day and how long will you be staying for on the day?

Our bridal makeup applications take an hour, all other makeup applications such as the bridal party, moms, and family members take 45 minutes or less. Our team will stay on-site for the amount of time shown on the custom timeline given to each bride.

Team members can stay on-site for touch-ups after the services for $150 per hour, per artist.

10. What is your cancellation and/or refund policy?

After submitting the 50% retainer and booking contract, a 7-day grace period is given where deductions can be made. After the 7-day grace period, no deductions or cancellations can be made. The grace period does not apply to any weddings that are booked within two months of the event date. Additional services can be requested at any time and can be added as long as we have enough time in the schedule for the extra service(s).

If the client removes services after the Grace Period, the full amount of the contract price will still be due. If the client cancels the entire contract, a $100 cancellation fee is due at the time of cancellation and no refunds will be given.
If we are forced to cancel services our client will receive a refund all on payments made for uncompleted services. No refunds are given for completed services such as a bridal trial.

In a situation where an act of God occurs, such as a hurricane, pandemic, flooding, etc. we will give the option of rescheduling within 12 months of the original wedding date or a full refund for uncompleted services.