As someone who doesn't have children, I often forget the time constraints of women who are juggling motherhood, full-time jobs and the quest to achieve spring's "hottest new look."
Honestly, my hat's off to all of you. Sometimes I struggle to get everything I need done in a day and I don't have little ones under foot (unless you count my two rambunctious kitties, SoHo and Hudson).
So, in honor of the moms who are always asking me to, "Pare it back," here's a post for you. Just a side note: I will be using REAL mommies in the near future for makeovers. My beautiful freckled-faced, fiery-haired friend, Kristen, has agreed to be the first mommy makeover. I'm also trying to get the hang of the whole video blogging so you can actually see the steps I'll do with her.
But we'll see how that works out. I can be technologically challenged at times.
Okay, back to this post.
In the picture above, I am wearing a full face of makeup: gel face primer, mineral foundation, under eye concealer, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, blush and lipstick. It sounds like a lot, but honestly it took me ten minutes.
But I realize I've been doing this for a long time. I could make up an entire Miss America pageant in 35 minutes.
This makeup is my "going out" for fun face (not my formal wedding face). I would never do a full face of makeup to, say, run to Wegman's for a salmon steak. But if I was going downtown with some friends, I'd spruce up. I might even do a navy blue smokey eye if I was feeling it.
Now for my everyday, but polished look. Drum roll, please...An under eye concealer, a stroke of black mascara and a colored lip balm applied on the way out the door. This is my recommended "Mommy friendly look." Three products in three minutes.
The list of products I used, however, may not be the list you'd use. My skin is really healthy and I don't have to wear foundation, but I need concealer. My eyes (I think) are my best feature, (Kelley, if you're reading this, I already know you think my lips are my best feature, no comments) so I like to toss on a little mascara to bring them out more.
You may feel foundation is a must for your skin, but you have stunning blue eyes (like my friend, Erin), so you can skip the mascara. The eye color speaks volumes.
A lot of my customers stare at me like I'm crazy if I say I don't need to wear blush. "Blush is everything," according to my customer, Sarah. "I need blush and bronzer or I look like a ghost. Lipstick helps, too."
So Sarah's three products are blush, bronzer and lipstick. I'd venture to say most new mommies need under eye concealer as one of their three products. All of those late night feedings can show up in the morning as dark circles.
Take a few minutes (while the little one's asleep) and look at your face. Really look at it and decide which three products would give your face the most polish within three minutes. That's the challenge. Keep it to three minutes.
If you're a mommy and you take this challenge, I'd love to see your Three Products in Three Minutes look. And if you're comfy with it, I'd like permission to display them here on the blog for other readers to see.
Send clear digital jpeg or gif files no larger than 200KB to makeuptheory@verizon.net Cell phone pictures don't translate well.
