Giao Nguyen Makeup Artistry & Hair Design

Giao is the best! Seriously the best! For a few reasons. 1. She is super resonsive to emails and calls2. She is AMAZINGLY talented!3. She is fair with her pricing4. She listens and does what you want but better5. She is a kind, nice, wonderful personI am seriously so so happy that I had the opportunity to work with Giao for my weddings. She treated me like royalty! She provided hair and makeup services for my bridesmaids, sisters in law, flower girls, and mothers. She came on time (actually earlier than me) and went right to work with her assistance to ensure we would all be ready on time. We had so much fun the day of the wedding, she listened to what everyone wanted and did just that! Everyone looked so amazing that all of my guests wanted to know who the makeup/hair artist was. As for me, she made me look AMAZING! I had done a trial with her and it was so fun and then the day of the wedding I just looked gorgeous. She also knows how to do makeup for photos so the photos came out great too. She also created a custom hair piece for me that she gifted me! So sweet of her!I would ABSOLUTELY recommend her and I hope I have the chance to work with her again!

Giao is an incredibly sweet and talented woman. My husband and I along with our bridal party all enjoyed working with her. On special occasions, I hope to go back to Giao for more hair and makeup sessions!Trial: As a cost saving measure, Giao suggested I schedule my engagement photo session on the same day. I was pleased she made the suggestion rather than waiting for me to request it. I requested a soft and romantic chignon, which required curling all my hair and then lots of pinning/tucking. I have very soft, fine, and straight Asian hair that I do not color, perm, or blow dry. Such hair does not hold curls well but Giao is extremely skilled and managed to get it to behave. I wanted some loosely curled strands in the front but did not have any bangs for this look. Giao volunteered to cut my hair and upon my acceptance, she took out the chignon, straightened all my hair, and gave me bangs. She also took care to add layers to the side-front so that the bangs integrated in with the rest of my long hair. My new haircut looked amazing and based on the fluidity of Giao’s movements during the haircut, it was clear she was skilled in cutting hair as well. (At work, everyone complemented me on my new hairstyle, guys included)When doing my makeup, Giao also shaped my eyebrows. I spent approximately 3 hours with her that day. This is NOT because she is slow. Rather, she had done a lot of beautification on me (curled, styled, straightened, cut my hair and then did makeup). She really went beyond the services included in a hair and makeup trial!Wedding Day: I had gone with heavier makeup for the engagement photo session and requested a lighter look for the wedding day since I would be interacting with guests. Giao was able to accommodate my request with no problem. She airbrushed my shoulders and upper back as I had a few pimple scars and tan lines. She also let me substitute false lash strips with individual false lashes to achieve a more natural look. Hair and makeup took about 2 hours and 15 minutes (very efficient considering the time it takes to glue individual false lashes). I had Giao do hair and makeup for my bridesmaids. She did eyebrow shaping for both of them. One BM had straight, thick, slightly above shoulder length hair, but Giao had no problem pulling it up into a lovely updo. Each BM took about 1 hour and 10 minutes.Giao also lightly airbrushed my then fiancée to give him an even skin tone. It looked natural and he had no problems with it despite having oily skin.Total prep time for 1 Bride + 2 Bridesmaids + 1 Fiancée was around 4.5 hours. Giao’s efficiency was very important to me as I had a very packed day. In addition, considering I could not really sleep the night before, the later I had to wake up, the better!Touchup: On the trial day, my makeup lasted more than ten hours with no problems. As a result, I did not request Giao to stick around for touchups. After the wedding, everyone’s makeup and hair was intact. This is impressive as we had an outdoor wedding in the August heat! My bridesmaids and I were all dancing (lots of jumping up and down) but none of us had a hair crisis.

I first met Giao back in August, 2009 when she did my good friend's hair and makeup for her wedding. Giao made my friend look absolutely stunning! I booked Giao to do hair and makeup for my wedding shortly after that, along with her husband Thai as our photographer. This decision came almost two whole years before my actual wedding, but I am sure glad I did. Giao did an amazing job for my trial, e-session, and wedding day. I am not the type of girl who wears makeup everyday, so I was very pleased with Giao's work. She skillfully enhanced my features, but did not make me look over-done at all as I had experienced in several other makeup trials. I received numerous compliments from my friends and relatives on how beautiful I looked on my wedding day. All thanks to Giao! Giao also knows very well how to do Asian makeup, which is not easy to find. My husband even commented at the e-session, "Hey, you look more Japanese!" He was also very impressed with how I looked at the wedding. He said that Giao made me look more beautiful than I have ever looked before. Some of my relatives also commented that at first they didn't recognize me and that I looked like a model. As for may hair, I did not really have a very specific vision for what I wanted, but Giao was great in helping me find a look that was absolutely perfect! It was clean, elegant, and held throughout the whole day. Giao also skillfully placed a crystal headband I had and helped position my veil nicely. Giao was also there the whole day to touch up my makeup and hair as needed which was so helpful and kept me looking fresh. Giao also served as another photographer with her husband Thai which was awesome. Giao and Thai are definitely a great team. I recommend Giao highly for anyone who is looking for a sweet, friendly, and amazingly talented hair and makeup artist. You will be thrilled with her work. Thanks for everything Giao!!!

Working with and getting to know Giao was one of the best experiences during my wedding preparation process, not to mention the actual day of the wedding. Although it took a little time for her to respond to my initial inquiry for availability and pricing (I later found out she was technically on maternity leave so VERY justified), she was very quick to respond to all of my Emails thereafter.She is very detail oriented and really listens to the bride's needs and desires. She makes every effort to fulfill every bride's dream... she truly made me look and feel like a princess on my wedding day.She's so accommodating and truly has the bride's best interest in mind. For example, on the date of my trial, we started by discussing my ideas and then she took pictures of me. She then started curling my hair and when she was about half way done, the topic of E-sessions came up and I asked for her opinion about getting hair and makeup done for it. She honestly answered that she usually recommends they schedule the shoot on the same day of the hair/makeup trial. I expressed a little disappointment since if I had known that earlier, I would have done that also... but, without a moment of hesitation, she said, "well, that's no problem, all I did was curl your hair so far so we can just reschedule the trial for when you have you E-session." I honestly was shocked that she was willing to do that for me, especially because, she again was still technically on maternity leave. To take it a step further, she even finished curling my hair so I didn't have to go home and fix it myself. Now, if that doesn't exemplify professionalism and accommodation, I don't know what does.The day of the wedding was no exception to the high level of quality care and meticulousness. She arrived promptly at the scheduled time with her assistant (Cindy, who also by the way is great). It did take a little longer then expected to finish all the hair and makeup for myself and my entire bridal party including mothers on both sides, but I prefer that than finishing up on time for less quality.I highly highly highly recommend Giao with the utmost enthusiasm without reservation. You won't regret working with her!!!

Giao did a WONDERFUL job on my makeup and hair for an aftershoot for Thai Mai Photography. I actually got married in Southern California and I wasn't fond of my makeup artist and Giao surpassed all of my expectations.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND GIAO FOR BRIDAL HAIR AND MAKEUP!!1. She will make you look like a movie star. (flawless and beautiful)2. She is very FAST and efficient (only took 1.5 hrs whereas my wedding day artist took 3 hrs).3. She is the sweetest person to work with!

Giao was great to work with in getting my hair & makeup done for the wedding & engagement session. She is a really sweet person. I would suggest of bringing pictures of how you would like your hair & makeup done on wedding day. Also, purchase clip-in hair extensions in advance if you would hair to have your hair down.

I had found Giao on other wedding websites whom many brides raved about. I was eager to meet her and fell in LOVE on our first trial run. I couldn't have asked more from Giao, she was sincere, personable, and detail oriented. After my first trial, I had changed my mind about my look and Giao gladly let me come in for a second trial! She wanted to make sure that I was happy with my makeup and hair! The day of our wedding, she was punctual and even with all the chaos that was surrounded by us she was calm and collective. Giao had exceeded all my expectations for my makeup and hair artist and made me feel beautiful on my wedding day.

GIAO IS AWESOME!!! SUPER TALENTED AND SUPER SWEET!!Giao did my make-up and hair for my wedding back in july 2010. I am so glad I found her, because she did an amazing job! She is extremely talented and it shows in her work. Thanks to Giao, I felt so beautiful on my wedding day. She arrived to my suite right on schedule with her two assistants. My six bridesmaids and I were all finished right on time. Everyone looked so perfect and beautiful. She had an excellent team. Giao is a very sweet person and is great at what she does. She will also give you her honest opinion about anything. I felt so confident with her by my side the entire day. I will definitely recommend her to everyone I know.My husband and I hired Thai Mai Photography, Giao's husband, to photograph our wedding as well. He is super talented too. The both of them make such a great team. I love these guys!

I just wrote a review about Giao's husband, who was also my wedding photographer (Thai Mai Photography), and I've gotta say...these two make an AMAZING team. If you're looking for a photographer and a hair/makeup artist, look no further than Thai and Giao!But anyway, this review is about Giao. I had my trial and wedding day hair/makeup done by her, and I was soooo pleased with the results! Giao definitely knows what she's doing...I can only describe her work as magic in the making. But not only is her work phenomenal, Giao herself is a wonderful person to work with. She was so friendly and open with me during the trial, and i could tell she really loves what she does and genuinely cares about her clients. On the wedding day, Giao came promptly at 5:30am to our hotel, got straight to work on me, and transformed me into a beautiful bride! She was really meticulous and took her time working on me, yet still stayed true to her time estimate (and if you've been in a wedding before, you know how hard it is to stay on schedule!). I was also totally floored by Giao's attentiveness throughout the rest of the day. She stayed for the reception and all of my dress changes (I think i changed dresses three or four times that day), and did touch ups after each change. Not only that, but she kept reminding me to drink water and stay hydrated, she gave some helpful reminders to my bridesmaids, and even worked with the photographers on getting some portrait shots of me during some down time! Giao really gave 110% of herself to us on our wedding day, i feel like i lucked out tremendously with her. She so sweet and caring, and totally went above and beyond all my expectations...I can't thank her enough!

Giao was great.I don't know how to express my thanks to her and her work.For the trial I did bring some pictures with me but I wasn't sure what I liked.So I had two trials and made up my mind the day before my wedding day(May,29,2010).On my wedding day Giao did a great job.I had big cold sore on my lip but nobody noticed it. And after the wedding everybody said that I was so beautiful.She is really easy going and make you feel comfortable on your big day.Thank you, Giao.

Giao is absolutely amazing and worthy of every great review she receives! I found Giao through the lovely ladies of PW and I'm so glad I did. Giao does great work. She's extremely responsive and professional, and just a lovely person in general.I thought she did a great job during the trial, but her work on the actual day of the wedding blew me away. I've never felt so pretty. Giao and her assistant did a beautiful job on all the ladies (my MOH, Mom, and 5 bridesmaids) and finished everyone in a timely fashion. We had so much fun getting ready that morning and I can't thank Giao enough for the great job she did.

Giao and her assistants are amazing!! Before our wedding, we met with her and her husband Thai to do our engagement session, and we absolutely loved how our pictures turned out. They are one talented couple!On our wedding day, her and her assistants arrived early and were extremely professional and kind. They brought a ton of makeup and other supplies! I had asked them to do the makeup and hair of all of my bridesmaids, and my mom, an aunt and grandmothers, and they did a beautiful job on everyone. I thought it might be a little chaotic, but they were so calm and sweet and it was actually really just a fun and casual morning. We finished right on schedule, and everyone looked so beautiful! Giao even stayed all day to touch-up my makeup and fix my hair throughout the night. Her and Thai are such a lovely couple, and it was great to spend the day with them!Giao also made a beautiful headpiece for me, and I got so many compliments on it throughout the evening. She is truly talented and so creative and I couldn't have asked for more. Thanks Giao!

Giao does wonderful work. I was extremely pleased with her hair and make-up services. She made me feel so at ease on my Big Day with all the hussle and bussle going on. She's very easy to talk to and her work is just flawless. I would definitely recommend her services.

I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding and she hired Giao to do her hair/makeup as well as the bridesmaids' and Moms'. Since the bride was gracious enough to pay for it, I can't speak for pricing. What I can speak about is how talented Giao is as a hair and makeup artist and about how versatile she is.I thought she did a wonderful job with the bride. The bride looked very elegant and the makeup lasted throughout the day. The bride, along with the rest of the bridesmaids, chose a clean, classic look that Giao had no trouble executing. What was amazing was that when I asked for a glam/retro look (a totally different style) Giao had no trouble executing that as well. I had an idea in mind for the look I wanted but didn't know exactly how to communicate it. Somehow, Giao knew exactly what I was striving for and by the time she was done it was everything I had wanted plus more!I have major issues with undereye circles and bags, Giao made those disappear. She did a fine job giving me the 30s finger wave hairstyle. For makeup, she totally hit the glam/retro look on the spot with the blush, the red lipstick, and most importantly the winged eye makeup (think loooong lashes at the outer corner). Giao was able to execute multiple styles suiting different ladies' needs all in the same day, which is a big plus for any bride who needs an artist for her bridesmaids as well.All in all, I had a great experience and think Giao is talented and wonderful. The only minor callout I have is this: our bridesmaid dresses were turquoise, but for some reason Giao's assistant decided to apply purple eyeshadow on one of the bridesmaids. That girl was not exactly thrilled about it, but I didn't think it looked bad.

Giao is friendly, professional, and great at her job. I'd had my make-up and hair done a number of times before I began searching for a make-up and hair stylist for my own wedding. Although I'm Asian, I have a darker skin tone, and found that this was a problem for most make-up artists. They would either put on too much make-up or not enough. This was not a problem for Giao. She was able to match my skin tone perfectly, and highight my features (especially my eyes), without making me look like a totally different person.One of the reasons I chose Giao was that she had experience working with women of all different skin tones and hair types. This was particularly important to me, since she and her assistant would also be doing hair and make-up for my five bridesmaids, who had different skin tones and different hair lengths. She and her assistant did a fantastic job giving each girl what she requested from finger wave, to loose chignons, to half-dos.I was particularly impressed with Giao's ability to work with people under stress. Giao and her assistant were doing hair and make-up for eight people (the two moms in addition to me and my bridesmaid). Although we were running short on time, Giao did not rush their work on any of the girls. Moreover, she did a great job of keeping the moms occupied and happy.Giao is wonderful hair stylist and make-up artist and a wonderful person!

I was referred to Giao from a co-worker of mine who absolutely raved about her hand-made hairpieces and hair styling abilities.Giao was extremely friendly when I first met her and gave wonderful advice on what would work for my hair for my wedding. I felt very comfortable with her abilities after my hair trial.I had a group of 9 that needed their hair done for my wedding. Giao, along with an assistant, was extremely efficient in getting everyone's hair done on time. She started by setting everyone's hair first and then one by one started styling. It was a great strategy which helped keep my bridesmaids hair intact for the remainder of the day. I was absolutely amazed on how stable my hair was throughout the day. It was practically picture perfect all the way to the very last moments of the reception. One suggestion I can make is to make sure that Giao is the one that gives the final approval/styling of your girls. Her assistant was extremely helpful but not as talented as her. Giao will be the one to make sure that everyone will look their best.I also ordered a hair piece from her as well. I gave her an idea of what I wanted and she went with it. It was exactly what I imagined it would be and it went perfectly with my gown.Giao is very professional and will do her best to make you look like a queen on your special day. I continue to recommend her to all my friends since my wedding.This review is only based on her hair styling abilities but I am sure she is just as talented in her make-up abilities as well.

I just got married recently at Ruby Hill Golf Club, and Giao was my hairstylist/makeup artist extraordinare! She was and is amazing. I cannot express how lucky and satisfied w/the quality of her work and her flexibility w/my last minute changes.Although I had been pretty good at all the wedding planning details, the one thing I completely forgot to buy was a hairpiece. I know that sounds crazy but I simply overlooked that one major detail. Luckily, Giao was kind and flexible enough to make me a beautiful and spectacular hairpiece last minute. Typically she requires her clients to give her ample notice. I told her a 2 weeks prior to the big date, and she was still able to create something amazing and elaborate a week prior.All of my bridesmaids loved her! She made everyone feel comfortable and special. She heard everyone's hair requests and simply listened. These days, vendors don't always listen to their clients and instead, make decisions contrary to a client's needs or wants. Giao is not like that. She hears you completely and gives you what you want---just on a more upscale level :)She also works extremely well under pressure and never loses her cool. When a girlfriend of mine got married, she used Giao as her hairstylist, and I (as one of the Bridesmaids) used her for my hair as well. I remember another bridesmaid had decided to use a friend to do her hair and to make a long story short, it didn't turn out the way she wanted it. Again, last minute, my friend asked Giao to fix her hair (even though we were running short on time) and she gracefully and skillfully used her hairstyling magic to make a miracle. Her hair turned out beautifully, all b/c of Giao.I know ppl say this all the time about their vendors, but seriously, Giao is the most approachable, welcoming and thoughtful vendor I have ever worked with. YOU would be silly not to book her right away. She's great at what she does (she created a wonderful low-side chignon and a natural yet stunning makeup look for me, btw)and is such an amazing human being. I was extremely foruntate to find her as quickly as I did. Do not be surprised if she becomes famous one day, for her amazing skills and great personality. She's simply amazing.happily married,Barbara

First of all Giao is a wonderful, warm lady. She always made me feel welcome and comfortable. My hair trial was at her house, which could have been uncomfortable but wasn't in the slightest. At my wedding, her and her assistant were friendly and speedy! I was afraid that we would run over time because we added another person to get their hair done, but we were right on time. As an added bonus, Giao gave me a gorgeous hair flower (she sells them on etsy.com) that I was going to order long before I even knew she did hair and makeup.When I started looking for hair and makeup artists I was in shock at how expensive they were. I was beginning to think I couldn't afford one... then I found Giao. Her on-site pricing is stellar. Yes, she will come to your hotel or venue for prep and for a fair price. She does a great job too. I have never looked or felt more beautiful. A lot of hair stylists/MUA will charge you a fee of $100 or more for a trial but Giao only asked a small fee for materials and a bit of her time.She showed up on time and ready to go! We got 7 people ready in 4 hours and they all looked wonderful. She made my mother look better than I've ever seen her. One of my bridesmaids is kind of a "diva" and they had to do her hair twice because she didn't like it the first try... they responded very quickly and politely and she turned out gorgeous. My hair and makeup was flawless and stayed on an up the entire day and even through the after party which lasted until 3am. I would recommend Giao to anyone looking for a skilled hairstylist and/or makeup artist. I'm 100% happy with my decision to use her for my wedding.

Giao is 5 stars all the way! If I can give her more stars, I would. She was one of the best choices I made for my wedding. Giao is very flexible and patient, especially since I kept making changes up until the day of. I was very pleased with my overall look and how she made over my bridesmaids. I received many compliments and I owe it to her. Not only is she the best at what she does, she offers reasonable rates which is great for a bride on a budget. I recommend Giao to brides looking for someone with experience and knows makeup and hair! Thank you, Giao!

Giao is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!! I cannot tell you enough how great she was to work with!I've never been one to wear a lot of makeup. I blame it on my sensitive skin (the real truth - I really don't know how to put on makeup!) So at my trial with Giao, I told her I didn't want anything too dramatic. That I wanted the natural look, I didn't want to cake on the makeup (My husband (we eloped on 8/8/08 and September 26th is our wedding reception celebration) shared the same sentiments). She told me that natural wouldn't show up in pictures. She assured me that she would make me look great without having too much makeup on...BOY SHE WAS RIGHT!!! And my hair, it was amazing too! I loved it! Giao is very talented! She's very easy to work with, very sweet, soft spoken, she cracks jokes to make you smile and laugh during the shoot. We had a great time...9 hours of fun. Yes, NINE hours...I'm sure they were exhausted but they wanted us to be happy :-)Giao is WORTH EVERY PENNY! I can't say enough good things about her! I am 1000% satisfied with my decision :-) The hubby is happy too! I'm a stickler when it comes to service - I can be really anal with regards to my expectations, but i truly cannot think of one negative thing to say about Giao. If i could give 10 stars, I would! I will gladly recommend Giao's services to all of my friends and family.I hope all you brides reading this will give Giao the opportunity to make your big day a special and memorable one. If any brides would like to contact me with questions, please feel free to do so! Check out Giao's site: http://www.giaonguyen.com for hair, makeup and custom bridal hair pieces!Check out Thai Mai's Photography: http://thaimaiphotogra... to see his and Giao's talented work!Best of luck to all the brides!Stephanie :-)UPDATE 10/19/09:Just had my wedding on 9/26/09...I was a BEAUTIFUL bride! All thanks to the wonderful work and talent of Giao. She made sure I was camera ready ALL day! I loved my makeup and my hair for morning and evening. And I absolutely loved the custom headpieces she had designed for me and my sisters. Thank you Giao for my wonderful gift :-)