New Mom, New Beauty Routine

On February 2nd, 2016 my husband and I welcomed our firstborn son, Adrian Alexander, into the world. I'm still getting used to calling myself a mother, let alone getting used to figuring out a whole new routine and new chapter of my life.

The older I've gotten, I'll admit, the less effort I've put into making myself up but I do still LOVE makeup, trying new products, and reviewing the things I do try. I love putting makeup on friends and family, and REALLY enjoy when I have a good half hour to spend alone being creative on my own self. Now that I'm a new mom I've caught myself in the mirror several times looking almost frumpy and I've tried to think of things I could do for myself while I'm home with my son to still make me feel good about myself and not completely unkempt. It's more for my own self than anyone else. With a newborn, most days are spent at home being completely consumed by taking care of the baby. 

For all you moms out there, you know how quickly your life can go from being all about doing whatever you want to, to running around taking care of your family with little time for yourself. For those of you who are looking for ways to still take care of yourself, while taking care of baby this is for you. It's all about balance. I put these in order of what I find most crucial for myself to feel better during the day. Hopefully some of these make you feel good too!

1.) Scrub a Dub- Ask you partner, a friend or family member to come and help you out for 20 minutes so you can get a shower or a nice bath in. I have found that this alone makes me feel 1,000 times better. My son is only 5 weeks old but I have been spit up on, peed on and pooed on many times already so just a simple shower feels like a relief. People always forewarned me that it'd be so hard to shower when a baby came and I used to think they were crazy. They aren't. 

2.) Skincare- when I'm able to squeeze in a quick shower, I like to quickly wash my face with Noxema and as soon as I get out of the shower I quickly put on one pump of my Shiseido Ibuki Protective Moisterizer SPF 15 and my Shiseido Eye Contour Cream. 

3.) H2O- I recommend filling a large water bottle to keep with you all day or just to keep filling up water, the more hydrated you are, the  more awake you are and if you're chugging lots of coffee, like I've been, coffee only dehydrates you so you'll need to replenish. 

4.) Chapstick- I love my Pomegranite Burt's Bee's lip balm because I have found my lips to be much more chapped since I've had my baby. I keep one right by my bed so when I wake up in the middle of the night to feed the baby, I can swipe some on before we both go back to sleep so my lips can restore over night. I also love vaseline as well for my lips. 

5.) Lotion- keep a big bottle of lotion around so that when you have a minute and are sitting on the couch you can give yourself a quick rub down from head to toe. I really like Cetaphil lotion.

6.) Perfume- Every day that I left for work prior to the baby, I always spritzed some perfume on. For some reason spraying perfume on myself seems like a great way to finalize my whole look for the day and makes me feel pretty even without makeup on. I really like Daisy Eau So Fresh and Arlésienne Eau de Toilette by L'OCCITANE because they're both fresh, light and clean smelling. 

7.) Get outside or go the gym- This one is a little harder since it's hard to get away from the baby but if the weather's nice out, take your baby for a walk in their stroller or their carrier. If you have a gym membership and are able to get away for a bit, go to the gym and exercise. Exercise helps everything and is a great way to burn off some stress and help you to sleep better (when you get a chance to that is.)

8.) Sleep when the baby sleeps- the first few weeks of having my baby home, I attempted to be the perfect house wife. I was cleaning, doing laundry and trying to cook meals and take care of the baby all at once and quickly got burned out. Now, depending on how much sleep I got I'll do more or less chores during the day and nap when the baby naps. That has made a huge difference in my energy levels and crabbiness. This also helps your skin to restore itself when you get as much rest as possible. 

Having people in your life to help you and support you helps make these a little easier but most of these are quick things you can do or keep in mind when running around with your children. Hope you enjoyed reading these 7 tips to a refined beauty routine for those moms out there who need to keep themselves in mind too. 

IPSY Product Reviews- February Glam Bag

Hi everyone! Can't believe we are at the end of February already. Seems like it will be Spring before we know it!

If you read last month's blog, you now know I have a subscription to IPSY's monthly beauty bags and since I haven't purchased anything full sized or new myself in such a long time I'm going to review what I got in this month's bag!

First and foremost, the 5 deluxe products I received this month came in this really cute, pixelated, envelope bag.

In this months bag I received a perfume roller ball, a gel coat nail polish, a lip & hand scrub, a face primer and a blush stick. 

Perfume Roller Ball

I received a mini roller ball perfume from Jor'el Park called Eau so Divine. The same is pretty big and came in a 8.8 ml roller ball which is a pretty significant size for a sample so I was pretty impressed by that. At first smell, this perfume smells like something a mature woman would wear. The notes consist of golden amber, sandalwood, sensual incense, Egyptian myrrh, pink grapefruit, blackcurrant buds, lily of the valley, star jasmine, rose petals, ylang-ylang, cardamom,  and Madagascar vanilla. This perfume is sulfate free, gluten free and paraben free. After a couple minutes once the notes settle my skin seems to pull out the lily significantly. I myself, am not a fan of lily's but those of you who are would probably love this. Overall I wouldn't purchase this as it's not my the type of perfume I like. The 8.8 ml sample I received typically costs $23.00 and the 1.7 ounce is $53.00. 

Pink Gel Coat

One of my favorite items from this month's bag was the Pink Gel Coat which is like a nail strengthener/top coat by Perfect Formula . The tips of my nails have been peeling a lot over the last year or so and it's been very annoying to me. I put this on my nails a week ago and my nails haven't peeled at all and the gel coat has remained in tact. I like that it brightened my nails and made them look really pretty and glossy without a nail polish color on. These gel coats come in a variety of neutral colors and I'd recommend them to anyone who needs a good nail strengthener in their life. The only downfall is they are $30.00 a piece, which is a bit expensive for a nail polish.

Lip & Hand Scrub

My second favorite item from this bag is now sitting by my kitchen sink. I was introduced to Jersey Shore Cosmetics previously from IPSY because I got one of their Mongongo Lip Conditioners which is absolutely awesome and one of my favorite chapsticks. It seems most of the cosmetic & beauty companies that IPSY works with are rooted in similar beliefs to have all natural ingredients in their products and I'm a huge fan of that. Jersey Shore Cosmetics does just that. Where better to find your ingredients for your skin than nature. This lip and hand polish is currently $30.00 for a set of 2 on their website but it typically $50.00. All you need is a pea sized amount of this polish on wet hands or damp lips and after massaging on either your lips or hands it leaves almost an oily residue that isn't overwhelming and is just moisturizing enough that you don't have to wipe any excess off. 

Face Primer

I rarely find time to do a full face of makeup but if I do and know I'll be using my foundation, I like to pull on one of my samples of face primers. In this month's bag I received Smashbox's New Photo Finish Primer Oil.  I'm not going to lie, when I heard the word "oil" at the end of this product name I was pretty turned off. I can't help but think greasy when I think of oil based products. This primer has almost a citrusy smell to it and is quick absorbing. The reason this is a good primer is because in winter (especially if you live in the midwest) your skin will tend to be drier so if you use an oil primer rather than a cream based, your makeup might end up sitting better. I have yet to try this primer with a full face of makeup but I was happy with how quick it absorbed into my skin, was happy with the smell and it left my skin feeling soft. Smashbox is known for their primer's as many famous makeup artists use them on the stars/models for photoshoots. I'd say if you're big into face primers this would be a great one for drier skin and during winter weather and I'd recommend it to you. For me however, I'll probably pass since I rarely wear a full face of makeup.

Blush Stick

Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm a huge bronzer person and very rarely wear blush but this product left me intrigued. Upon first impression of this Trestique product I thought it was a lipstick so that was a bit confusing until I read the back of the product that it was a blush stick. I tried it on and it is a very buildable blush and a pretty color in Bora Bora Coral.  I expected the product to be creamier feeling but it seemed to go on rather dry. I feel like the color faded off my face fast so all in all I would purchase this product but I do like that you can throw it in your purse if you need a touch up of color during the day. This blush stick costs $28.00 (typically goes for $34.00 but it's on sale. 

I really enjoyed this month's bag and am looking forward to March's Glam Bag! 

Hope you enjoyed my review!