Managing Madness, Motherhood, and a Morning Make-Up Routine!

Today's post has been brought to us by my cousin Ellery from Mom's Life Made Easy. (Ok, if you want to be really technical, Ellery is my husband's cousin. But, I luvs her and claim her as my own.) Ellery lives in the San Diego area and has 3 kids under the age of 5. She somehow manages to blog, live a normal life and always make it look really, really easy. Like having 3 little ones didn't phase her at all. And she still looks perfect and relaxed. It's rather inspiring, really.

Watch for more posts from Ellery in the future as I've forced enlisted her to write a few sunless tanner reviews! I've embraced the pale, but she loves being tan and has definite opinions about what makes a great sunless tanner.



I have often been asked, "how in the world do you look so put together in the morning?"  This saying is usually said with an expression of pure shock and awe as if this Mommy had never heard of such a thing! My response, "it is called managing the chaos and prioritizing." 

Now I understand that not every Mommy feels it is important to put on make-up every morning, and oh how I wish that were me...but with the purple acne scars and the dark under-eye circles I find I am asked "are you feeling ok?" when I go without! I also know that if I take 15 minutes to do my hair and makeup in the morning, I will feel better about myself all day long.

So for all of you out there who want to do your makeup daily, but don't think you have the time-you do, and here is how I do it with 3 kids.

I try to get in the shower before the kids wake up, and just do the fastest shampoo and conditioning I can do (I love Pureology Hydrate, and have tried so many others over the years but keep going back).  My hair is super fine and pretty thin and Pureology works wonders on it! 

After the shower I quickly put moisturizer on my face (ROC) and my eyes (ROC eye treatment), and my body (I only use Amlactin for my eczema).  I quickly brush my wet hair and put in some Tigi Smoothing Lusterizer.  This stuff works great to smooth without any greasiness showing! Great for fine hair.

Then I let it all dry as I am doing my morning routine of waking the kids (ages 4, 3, and 10 months), giving them milk, feeding them, and dressing them.  Help from the hubby before he goes to work makes this move along smoothly.

After the kids are ready to go, I get a chance to dress (clothes and shoes I laid out the night before), and finish my hair and makeup.  I must admit that the hair usually consists of a pony-tail, but the make-up I never go without!

I really like to use a concealer that goes on super quick and with no drying time.  I like full coverage so that I do not have to spend too much time with concealer.  Right now I like the Make Up For Ever HD foundation, or the MAC Studio Tech (depending upon my mood).  After the quick application of foundation with a brush, I use concealer on my upper eye.  I like the MAC paint pot in Painterly.  It covers all of the darkness I have from lack of sleep and does not allow my shadow to cake up.  Next, I use a regular concealer with a brush to quickly go over every purple spot I have and my dark under eye circles.  For this I use MAC Studio Finish Concealer that matches my foundation exactly.  I use my finger to quickly smooth it out.  Now that I have my "face" on (in about 5 minutes), I am ready for the eye shadows.  I must admit that as much as I love makeup, I tend to stick with the exact same color choices every morning because they are so quick and easy. 

I apply my eyeshadow in two steps, a white powder for under my brow bone and in the corner of my eye lids (I like MAC Crystal Avalanche).  I then put a little pink over my entire lid (MAC Girlie).  After shadow comes a quick eyeliner in brown so that I look more awake.  I like the MAC eyeliner in coffee because it goes on very smoothly with one application, and is not as harsh as a black eyeliner.  I then use a quick application of mascara, and quick lip gloss or neutral lipstick shade (total time at about 10 minutes).  Then most days I am done...but if I can find another second I love to finish off with my eyebrows.

I used to do my brows with an angled brush and some powder (MAC Omega) and just fill it in, but now I found a faster way.  I use my stencil from Anastasia's brow collection, which I bought after having my brows done there so I could upkeep them at home.  I lay the stencil over my entire brow, line up the lines for the center, and apply the powder with a rounded head brush over the entire thing.  The stencil comes off with a perfectly formed brow underneath-and only took about 3 seconds. 

Total elapsed time is 15 minutes; more if I did my hair :)

Now I am done, and ready to start the day feeling better about myself. 

As my hubby says, "a happy mommy makes a happy home!"

Mom's Life Made Easy