The art of multitasking is one we spend much of our time striving to master. Didn’t it feel like our moms were just the best at it? My mother cooked a delicious Cuban feast nightly while driving this type A overachiever to Junior Honor Society meetings and ballet rehearsals all the while sporting a killer wavy bob. She was always a beacon of stable serene love—and really good hair.
It can be a huge challenge to find time for yourself when juggling work, parenting and you. In honor of our beautiful mothers, we sat down with two new moms and asked them to share their thoughts on motherhood and how it’s affected their beauty routines. First up is Jane Marie, a co-editor of the very cool women’s website The Hairpin, followed by YouBeauty’s own resident makeup guru Emily Kate Warren.
Jane Marie gives makeup advice at Rookie Magazine and talks marriage at Cosmo.
Do you even have time for any sort of beauty routine with a 10 month old? Tell me about it.
Not really. It’s actually something I had to talk to my husband about recently, that I need more time for self care. When you’re dating, you can kind of hide all the maintenance—facials and mani/pedis—but when you have a baby and you’re not out in the world working right away, it’s really hard to “sneak” off for that stuff. It was a vulnerable thing to do, to admit to him all the time and money I spend on that kind of thing—”I DID NOT WAKE UP LIKE THIS!”—but alas, for better or worse, it is important to me to feel good about my appearance. I did try to take my daughter with me for pedicures in the beginning, but she was a real screamer for months. As far as my daily beauty routine at home, I just weaned my daughter and can get back on retinoids and all that good nighttime stuff you can’t use when you’re pregnant. During the day, I put on tinted moisturizer with SPF as soon as I wake up and add a little blush. If I’m lucky, I get to pencil in my brows and apply mascara.
The time you can dedicate to yourself diminishes when you become a mom. Have you discovered any tricks to make the most of the little time you do have?
Well, one thing I’ve started doing is booking blowouts. I know! In the beginning, I would wash it but then get distracted with the little lady, and then it dried all wonky. So, I started booking cheap blowouts nearby every other week, and I take that hour to have a glass of wine and read a book. With dry shampoo, I can get a week out of the style. Ooh, and I also get 15-minute chair massages whenever I see one of those stands out in the world—even if it’s in public at the grocery store or whatever.I also started using Stila Convertible Color blush and lip color combo product so that I can swipe some color onto my face pretty easily when I’m seeming wan.
I started using a lot of Weleda organic products when I was pregnant and on my own baby, and have incorporated those products into my daily routine. Has your beauty arsenal undergone any similar makeover?
I use this awesome nighttime baby wash on my daughter in the bath. It’s from CVS, and it smells so good I’ve considered using it myself in the shower.
But really, the major changes for me have been my skincare and makeup. I had a set routine for years of an anti-acne face wash, Retin-A, and a night cream, all of which had to go out the window when I got knocked up due to questionable ingredients. And I’m not even someone who really pays attention to that stuff. So I was basically using nothing until I stopped breastfeeding and then suddenly my skin was different. Older, dryer, duller. So a few weeks ago, I went into a real Hollywood-type med spa and asked for the big guns. I’m back on Retin-A but now I’m using a non-foaming cleanser called iS Clinical Cleansing Complex. So far, I really like it. And I also had to get an eye cream for the oldness that appeared in the two years I was ignoring my face. SkinMedica TNS Eye Repair is the one I’m using. As for makeup, I totally overhauled my makeup stash as soon as I had more than five minutes to spend at Sephora. I just didn’t wear that much of it for my most pregnant months and the newborn part, so by the time I was interested again, it was all crusty and not in season. I got new foundation, blush, mascara, brow pencil, eyeliner, eyeshadow stick, and tons of fake eyelashes.
Tell me about your hair. How often can you get it cut and colored? Do you have a go-to style that you find yourself returning to? Key products?
So, I went to get a new driver’s license last year and realized I’ve had the same hairdo for about 10 years now. I was like TIME FOR A CHANGE! but being an NYC transplant in LA, it’s been tough to find a place out here that I trust and love. I had a few bad experiences when I first got here. After the baby came, I was like eff it, I’m just gonna spend all of my savings and go to Sally Hershberger and try to feel beautiful again. It’s kind of amazing, you come out of this cocoon of pregnancy and newbornness and you’re still kinda chubby and you just don’t recognize yourself and you’re desperate to DO SOMETHING about it. I can totally understand why a lot of women chop their hair off—they say it’s because they don’t have time to take care of their hair, but I think it’s also that it’s the easiest major change to make. And you just really, really want to feel different and better.
So, I went to Sally Hershberger and I changed it sliiiightly, but it’s always a version of a French New Wave brunette with bangs. Right now there are some balayage highlights and the ends are a little blunter and not so mermaidy, but it’s essentially the hair I’ve worn since my mid-twenties.
How did lack of sleep affect your skin and hair, if at all? It makes me look like crap all of the time? LOL. Seriously, I look tired and over it, and I am. I’m a little puffy every morning in the eye area and I just cannot be bothered to do much with my hair other than nothing or putting it up in a clip. Which is why I have the style I do—fringy, face-framing bangs are ideal for making clipped-up hair look like a “style.”
Emily Kate Warren
Emily is a celebrity makeup artist and YouBeauty’s Makeup Expert.
Do you even have time for any sort of beauty routine with a toddler? Tell me about it.
My beauty routine is remembering to brush my teeth most days. But for work I have a five minute makeup plan because I have to get her ready before heading off and there’s very little time between when she wakes up and breakfast and juggling with my husband. I talk about this product all the time but it’s because it’s awesome: Dermalogica Skin Perfect Primer SPF 30 means I don’t have to do anything else (foundation, sunscreen, etc.). So I just use that to combine several steps into one.
I started using a lot of Weleda organic products when I was pregnant and on my own baby and have incorporated those products into my daily routine. Has your beauty arsenal undergone any similar makeover?
I think I did the reverse, where I used the good stuff at first and then cheaped out. We are all the way now, baby. It’s $5.99/body wash as opposed to $20, so I moved on.
Tell me about your hair. How often can you get it cut and colored? Do you have a go-to style that you find yourself returning to? Key products?
I just chopped off a zillion inches, but that’s the first time I’d had a real hair cut in ages. I color it maybe once or twice a year. I don’t mind a bit of roots, but I hate my grays. My go-to hairstyle is a ponytail so I asked for bangs and short front layers so that my pony doesn’t look so incredibly lazy. I fasten it low then pull the roots out at the crown for a messy top area but the rest is pretty smooth.
What’s in your mommy bag (if anything) that is beauty oriented?
Brilliantine for flyaways, Tresemme travel hairspray and a Tarte matte lip stain that I use constantly to try to look presentable!
How did lack of sleep affect your skin and hair, if at all?
Lack of sleep hasn’t been an issue with us because we got lucky with a good sleeper. I swear it’s because we watched Happiest Baby on the Block DVD (the book is long and boring—the movie is crucial!). We followed his instructions to a T and had good luck very early on.
