Giao Nguyen Makeup and Hair Artistry

Worth every penny and then some! Giao did an amazing job with me and my bridal party with her hair and makeup artistry. We all looked and felt gorgeous the day of my wedding. Leading up to the day, she was very responsive, professional, organized, and knowledgeable. She really listened to what you wanted and made great suggestions. She also made a beautiful one of a kind handmade headpiece for me which I can now use as a keepsake. But what I won’t forget is how she comforted me the day of the wedding when things were going wrong. Can’t thank Giao enough for her excellent skills and caring nature! Would highly recommend her to anyone.

Just finished our hair and makeup for a wedding today. Giao worked on the bride and 3 bridesmaid s. She was very time efficient and friendly! She made sure we were all satisfied with her work as she went along. Asked us what our usual style is, absolutely great! I also love how she goes for the natural look but if you prefer she can also darken it up. I love how she does hair though. You can see she clearly has a passion for what she does. Each person she worked on was like her very own masterpiece. She works with you to complete the makeup that you want.
Not only that, but she also went above and beyond ! My boyfriends dress shirt sleeve was too long and she took it upon herself to sew it up for him to make sure it fits ! Can’t rave about her enough !!
I would highly recommend her. If you’re looking for someone to help you on your big day, go to Giao !

So many of my friends have used Giao as their wedding makeup artist that I’ve literally count (but most closely, she did my sister’s beautiful wedding makeup last year). Giao is awesome. From Day 1, she was professional and super easy to work with. We set up our first trial over email and she was personable and friendly when I got there. Her home studio is adorable and so welcoming. Afterward, she worked with me to define exactly what I wanted and let me do a 2^nd trial for free (!!!). Then, on my wedding day, she came right on time and created the best look I’ve ever had! I loved everything about my hair & makeup. Thanks, Giao, for making my wedding makeup dreams come true!

This review is way over due! I got married in July 2014 and my experience finding a make-​up artist for my wedding and engagement photos was quite a challenge. I was looking for someone that offers the style I was looking and most important, someone that can fits my personality. My cousin used Gaio for her wedding. I came across her portfolio and I like how all her brides had a classic and elegant style.
From my initial contact with Giao, she was very easy going, friendly and accommodating with the scheduling. I actually signed a contract before my trial because my gut tells me she will be right for me.
For my trial, I used my hair and make-​up for my engagement photos, when I first met Giao at 8am on a saturday morning at her studio, she was very friendly and welcoming. I found her very easy going and humble. She gave me good insights on what fits my face and the type of make-​up on my wedding day. At that time, my hair was not long enough so she gave me suggestions few months on how to maintain my hair before the big day.
Before the wedding day, I remained in contact with her about random questions about hair and make-​up. I sent her pictures of styles I like and what I have seen on the web and Pinterest. What I like about Giao was that she listens to what I was looking for and was able to create the style I wanted. On my wedding day, she was very punctual, especially at 5am in the morning before the Tea Ceremony! She was punctual for my touch-​up in the afternoon before the Reception. She was able to have me ready before my husband showed up for the doorbell games.
Overall, I received many compliments on my hair and make-​up. I LOVE how she created the side bun for me! (See pictures). What I like about Giao was that she was easy going, friendly and always remained in contact before the wedding. She’s very responsive in her emails too as well. Although her rates has gone up and she can be a bit more than average than other make-​up artists, but she’s worth the investment. I highly recommend her. I will consider her for future events if I ever need my make-​up and hair done. Highly recommend!

If you’re looking for someone who you can trust with your hair and make-​up then Giao is the one. Omg! I love her work and her personality so much. I picked her at the first time i saw her and talked to her. She’s professional, calm, caring, sweet and amazing. To be honest i want to give her 10 stars because she deserves it. I got married last Saturday and she did my make-​up and my hair. Omg! I love it. My family love it and all my friends love it. I personally want to thank Giao for your amazing work. There will be no word to describe how much i appreciate you, your love you kindness c. Giao. It won’t be enough by saying thank you to you, but please know that from the bottom of my heart i love you and want to thank you for everything that you had done for me on my special day. I love you c. Giao
And to all the girls out there… Yes! Yes! Yes! I would like recommend you all come to see Giao if you need you hair and your make-​up done

First of all, I wanted to say thank chi Giao for all of your hardwork and effort. We all had an amazing experiece working with you on Saturday. I felt so bad for letting you wait for us for almost an hour. Thank you very much for your patient understanding. I really really appreciated that.
For everyone else who is looking for a professional makeup artist, Giao will be my best recommendation. She is professional, calm, listening, and really honest with feedbacks. She takes every job personal and does it with love. One other thing that made me love working with her is that she is really caring, attentive and responsive. I don’t think her price is expensive. Trust me you will be surprised with what she can offer. You get what you paid for, and it will be more than worth it.
Overall, Giao is really professional, attentive, caring, responsive and honest. The bride and I love her and her work. I will definitely go back. Thank you, chi Giao.

I don’t even know where to start raving about Giao! I started emailing her during October 2014 about my June 2015 wedding. Upon researching her, I knew how special she was so I had to get a head start and book her! Emailing her was so easy. She responded promptly and always very clear about anything I asked about. I could tell through emails that she would be a sweet lady and someone I would want to have on my wedding day.
Just this morning was my trial. I was 15 mins late and she greeted me at the door with smiles and a warm hug like we’ve known each other forever. I knew from the start it was going to be a good fit! Not only is she so sweet, she also listens to see what I wanted. She gave me her opinion, but she let me have the final say in what I want. I appreciate that so much! Her skills are beyond incredible. She made me look glamorous BUT still like myself! She is so talented with both hair and makeup. I can’t rave enough about her .
Future brides, I know her prices are more than the average Bay Area hair and makeup artist, but she is worth it!!! She is definitely someone you want on your side getting you ready on your wedding day.

Highly recommend Giao to all brides-​to-​be looking for an amazing makeup artist. She’s very attentive, responsive, accommodating and simply talented. Set-​up a trial session with Giao and see it for yourself. I had a simple civil ceremony at SF City Hall. Loved my make-​up and hair! Thanks for dolling me up on my special day Giao!

this review is based on customer service, not makeup services.
i emailed her 3 times and ~3 weeks later still no response. she came as highly recommended so i really wanted to check her out but now im thinking maybe its out of business?

Giao is amazing, and I couldn’t have made a better decision for hair and makeup on my wedding day. I live in New York but got married in Napa, and had the daunting task of finding a local hair/​makeup artist from across the country. Due to time constraints, I did not have time to fly to California to do trials and meet with makeup artists in person before booking. I knew this was dicey, as I’ve had some friends who researched carefully and were still less than fully satisfied with their hair and makeup on their wedding day.
Based on a recommendation from my wedding planner and the excellent reviews and photos I saw of her work (on Unilocal and on her website), I decided to take the plunge and hire her without doing a trial or meeting her in person. Luckily, it was an excellent decision — everything I’d read about her in her reviews was absolutely true! Giao is extremely professional, easy to work with, and super talented. When I finally made it out to the Bay Area a few months before my wedding, my trial went without a hitch. She listened to me carefully and gave me exactly what I wanted. She knows what works for you and her work is beautiful.
On my wedding day, she arrived early with her assistant and worked very efficiently (and calmly) to get myself and my seven bridesmaids ready. One of my bridesmaids even asked for a hair re-​do because she changed her mind and they happily accommodated. We did not feel rushed and got ready with plenty of time. Giao really did a beautiful job and made me feel gorgeous on my big day. She left me with blotting papers and the lip color/​gloss she used on me to make sure I could do touch-​ups and keep my makeup fresh. My hair and makeup held up well all day and evening, and I didn’t have to worry about either throughout my entire event.
I couldn’t have been happier with Giao and her work, and I can’t recommend her enough!

My fiancé was stress out about finding a good make up artist so I search for it on Unilocal.I saw Giao’s website and all her clients and they look really nice. When she did her trial my fiancé was please that she did a really good job. She also gave us a good deal about comming for a touch up in case some thing went wrong during our wedding day. So we made an appointment with her at 4:30pm to meet at the hotel to do the touch up. But we were so caught up in taking pictures we didn’t have time for a touch up. It was getting close to 4:15pm that I called her to cancel the appointment and I felt bad because she was already on her way to us. So she understands and just left it the way it is. Then all of sudden 15 mins later my fiancé say call her back I really need the touch up. I was like omg Giao’s gonna be piss driving back and forth. As things were already hetic for us already I called her back saying to meet us up at 5:30pm at the restaurant. For some reason there was some miss communication that she was there an hour early when we were still taking pictures plus she couldn’t find the place where to meet us. So I didn’t want her to wait for us again so I had to Cancel Giao again saying sorry so many times to wasting her time. When were done with the pictures we head to the restaurant and my fiancé said I wish Giao was here. And believe it or not Giao was right there at the restaurant waiting for you to see if we still need her. I mean this makeup aritist don’t give up. To me personally she does whatever she can for us no matter what the situation comes down to when we really need her. She is very nice, honest, very reliable and her work is very good. You wont find another make up artist like her that will work with any schedule you give her. Shes the best and I recommend any one that wants a good make up artist like Giao.
Thank you so much Giao for making our wedding the best it can ever be. Your the Best.

I had a hard time picking a hair-​make-​up artist for my wedding because there were so many artists with good reviews and I couldn’t afford to do a trial with ALL of them. I found Giao to have a great portfolio and I didn’t have to break my wallet in order to have her as my artist.
Giao is in extremely high demand — I had to do my trial very early on in order for her not to be booked for my wedding date. Luckily, I had a friend’s wedding to go to one weekend so I had her do a trial for me that day — I got a lot of compliments on my hair and make-​up (especially from a friend who’s VERY much into hair & make-​up) so I decided to book her!
I had my 2^nd trial with Giao for my engagement photoshoot a couple of months later and I really loved how I turned out then as well. Throughout the whole planning process, Giao made many suggestions since I have absolutely NO idea about these kinds of things… and I ended up loving everything that she recommended! I also had to make a lot of last-​minute requests for my bridal party and mom’s on both sides since everyone was very indecisive about what to do with their own hair/​make-​up, and Giao was very gracious and accommodated all of our needs by having an assistant on the day of!
On the day of my wedding, I knew I had NOTHING to worry about because I’ve seen the magic Giao was able to perform with my face and hair that I would NEVER in a million years even begin to imagine can happen.
I was (and still am) completely IN LOVE with the hair and make-​up that Giao did for my wedding — I don’t think I’ll ever look as beautiful as I did on my wedding day and it’s all thanks to Giao! =)

As I had to plan my Sonoma wedding from Singapore, I was recommended to Giao by a friend who had her wedding make-​up done by her. My make up trial was scheduled only a week before my wedding when I arrived in the US, and I found it really useful as Giao was very patient and tried a few different looks after taking into account my thoughts. She is also really talented and handmade a pretty flower headpiece for me based on a few email exchanges that we had.
On the day of the wedding, she arrived promptly and I was pleased with how she did my make-​up and hairstyle as it was not overdone and natural as I had preferred (since I don’t’ usually wear a lot of makeup). On the day of the wedding, the wind was a little crazy as our wedding ceremony was held outdoors on a hill, but my hairstyle still managed to stay in place and my make up lasted throughout the night as well!

Giao did my hair and makeup for my graduation pictures, & let’s just say that I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else! She is beyond TALENTED!
To be honest — I’m pretty picky. So when I say Giao is really easy to work with, I mean it.
— Professionalism: She encourages you to discuss preferences/​opinions/​feedback during the process so I felt totally comfortable with telling her what works & doesn’t work for me. By using honest communication, Giao surely puts your satisfaction first.
— Confidence. Along with being super talented, Giao is also extremely knowledgeable. She takes your envisions & spins it into reality.
— Pricing: I am a college student, & obviously I’m no millionaire. Her pricing is extremely reasonable for the quality of service provided and the high satisfaction level I experienced.
Meanwhile, for reference, here’s the run down of what I wanted:
— Makeup: I wanted a smokey eye look & some contouring done. Not too heavy yet not too light, only just enough to bring out my natural features. I also did not want the makeup to make my eyes look smaller or more slanted.
— Hair: I wanted soft yet polished curls.
All in all, the outcome was exactly how I wanted it — picture perfect! Book her — you will not regret it! Giao, I cannot thank you enough for how amazing my graduation portraits turned out!

Giao did my hair and makeup for my engagement video, and I also booked her for my mother, mother-​in-​law and me on the wedding day.
Giao is very easy to work with. She listened to all your ideas and understood all your concern (like I don’t like lip color, I mean any color, but I do want to look like wearing makeup). I was pleased with my hair and how durable my makeup was (I cried a lot on my wedding, but nothing got messed up)
Giao is very talented. She made hair pieces herself. I was so lucky to wear one of her handmade hair piece (and it got sold to some luckier bride just after my wedding :))
I know it is very stressful to find the right wedding makeup artiest, but Giao is the one, you will never regret.

I retained Giao to do my hair and make-​up for my maternity shoot and couldn’t have been happier with the experience. Giao is professional, talented, and kind-​hearted. All Giao needed to see was a photo I had on one of my Pinterest boards, and she was good to go. I was very pleased with my make-​up, which I thought showed up beautifully in photos while still looking natural, and with my hair, which I am fairly finicky with (I was especially happy that my hair held up despite how windy it was during the shoot). I also just had a lot of fun chatting with her while she worked her magic — she is so sweet and easy to talk to! A bonus on top of what great work she does! Thanks, Giao!

I’m so behind in writing this review b/​c I’m such a procrastinator. And normally, I’d just lazy out of even writing the review at all but Giao was so incredible that no matter how late this review is, I just had to set the time aside to write it.
It’s gonna be a long one — but I hope you read it to the end.
My husband (then fiancé) wanted a beautiful wedding but wanted to spend as little as possible without compromising on the important things. Of course, to me, my make up was important! I searched for DAYS. and debated for DAYS. Checked out price list after price list. Created Excel worksheet to get me to a grand total and compare one make up artist to another. Some offered some cheaper options but their type of work (umm. the not so good type) just wasn’t what I was looking for. Then I found Giao, the perfect blend of beautiful work and reasonable pricing. I was SOOOO relieved. Yet worried too, because hey, you never know what she might do for you vs what’s on those pictures right?
But then I met Giao. Super professional. Very confident in her work. I felt comfortable enough to point out what I liked and didn’t like (cause let’s be honest, everyone’s different and she doesn’t read minds). She knew immediately what I was referring to and what I had in mind. I didn’t have to go crazy explaining my vision. I’m not normally a make up person so I’m not so good with the lingo but like I said, she just knew.
I did a trial run with her (hair AND makeup) and used it for my engagement photo session. I asked for some tweeks here and there for the actual wedding. Again, she knew exactly what I meant. And let’s face it, when you’re planning a wedding, you stress about everything and you wonder if it will really be what you envisioned on the day of. But I didn’t have to give another thought to Giao. I trusted she knew what I wanted and trusted her professionalism to arrive at the right place and at the right time.
Oh that reminds me! She even had another (local) wedding in the morning. Mine was in Monterey and I asked her to arrive by 12, I think? She, without ANY hesitation, said «no problem» — she arrived earlier at the other wedding and STILL got to me on time — EARLY, in fact.
And this is the part that matters — she did a BEAUTIFUL job. So so beautiful. All of my bridesmaids. Their hair, their makeup. One of my girls had short hair and Giao put curls in it. Tight curls. We were a little worried cause hey, it looked scary. But Giao, in her wisdom and her experience had done that on purpose b/​c she knew the wedding was still hours away and the curls would loosen in time for the ceremony. And she was absolutely right. By the time the ceremony arrived, her hair was perfect and she (my bridesmaid) loved it.
As for what she did for me. I really have no words. She gave me more than I even knew I wanted. What I had ALWAYS imagined I’d look like on my wedding day, is how I looked. It was soft and beautiful. My hair was up and loose and romantic. The best part — I still looked like me. I felt like me. I didn’t worry about my make up all night. AT. ALL.
Lastly, I have to mention the hair piece she MADE for me. Hand made and beautiful. I showed her a picture of my dress and she knew what to do. No, it’s not free (and why should it be??) but it wasn’t expensive and WELL worth the price. It added the perfect unique touch.
Giao — thank you so much for the work you did and the time you spent with us. I feel so so lucky that I found you. So. So. Lucky.

My friend booked Giao and two of her assistants for her wedding day. Giao’s team was able to do hair and makeup for nine people in a reasonable about of time without sacrificing the quality of their work. Giao was extremely nice about having us in her personal studio at home, and her team was just as nice. Though we were all really tired from being up really early, they were still so friendly and easy to talk to. The woman doing our makeup was also kind enough to give us random tips for everyday skin/​facial routines.
The hair and makeup stayed on ALL day, right through the evening reception. The only «touch-​up» needed was blotting paper to take away the shine. Of course, the bride looked absolutely stunning on her wedding day, so if you’re considering a wedding makeup/​hair artist, Giao is definitely a person worth looking into.
OH! Can’t forget to mention that she does exquisite work with headpieces, Swarovski crystals and all!

I was fortunate to have met Giao through a good friend of mine. Giao worked with me with my trial (which led to my engagement session) & wedding day. She is one of the most sweetest people you’ll ever meet & I wished I had her creative talent. Like other reviewers, her husband, Thai Mai, was our photographer. :)
I would suggest bringing pictures to show Giao how you would like to have your look be. Also, allow at least 2.5 months if you would like to have extensions. I ordered mine through eBay & it would have been cheaper to have ordered it earlier.

Giao did a phenomenal job with my bridal hair & makeup; I felt beautiful alllllll day long. :)
Initially, I was not «sold» on my look during the trial because I was worried that my makeup was too heavy… so worried in fact that I booked two trials. In reality, I looked super natural, but was feeling unsure for no good reason at all. Giao warned me that if we go too light, I would look washed out in my wedding photographs. On the day of, she handled my wedding nerves well, and applied the makeup steadily until we reached a certain «darkness» I was comfortable with.
Looking back, I should have trusted the professional from the get-​go. She was right of course – once the day came and I had my hair done and my gown on, I really needed more makeup than I am normally accustomed to in order to look the part of the bride.
Giao is amazing at what she does. I was so (unnecessarily) concerned about my makeup that I didn’t even realize what a great job she did with my hair – so many people kept complimenting my up-​do. Giao knows what’s modern, in-​style and what suits you. She is comfortable to be around and a pleasure to work with! I highly recommend her services.
I will be posting my pics once I figure out how to do so… I’m a Unilocal newbie!

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
) 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.