When I first moved to our new neighborhood, there was something very strange.  There was a sea of stay at home moms and not a pair of yoga pants in sight.  And they were wearing makeup.  I had found my people!

It’s very common in my area for women to put on at least a little makeup before going out to playdates or to run their errands.  As for me?  I do wear it almost daily for me.  It makes me feel like I have things somewhat under control when I can take that five minutes in the morning to “put on my face”.  (But not styling my hair.  That struggle’s never going to happen.)

So do you have five minutes to glam yourself up today?

Some of these are products I already owned and some are new products that were sent to me this month to help me create some new looks while I’m blogging and vlogging.  None of them are prohibitively expensive though and should fit into any woman’s beauty budget.

Laying the foundation on a clean face.

I’m an adult who still gets acne, so this is always a part of the routine.  I apply it and smooth with my fingers to save time.  I’m currently loving my CG Smoothers by Covergirl for my foundation.  I put on my foundation first and touch up on top of it with my Mia Mariu cream concealer.  You’d be surprised how much less concealer you use when you do it in this order.  Now it almost looks like I didn’t get woken up before the sun today!

Uncomplicated Eyes

Trying to wing out your liner when you’re not used to it can spell disaster and add an extra ten minutes on to your routine.  Instead, we’re going to keep this easy.

I used Glo Minerals eye shadow trio in coffee.  I took the light brown shadow over the ball of the eye.  Then I worked the dark brown into the crease.  Because I have quite hooded eyes, I actually brought this brown above the natural crease.  Above the dark brown, against my eyebrows, I used a little of the shimmery light brown as a highlighter.  Finally, I brought that same shimmery shade to the inner corners of my eyes and patted it on with my ring finger.  This entire section of my eyes took maybe a minute to complete.

I used the herbal eye ink in black by Palladio Beauty for my eyeliner.  Felt tipped liners are wonderful for beginners and tired moms since they’re so easy to use.  Just hold the felt tip sideways along the top lash line and do a thin line from the inner corner to the outer corner.

While that was drying I used the jeweled eye pencil from Glo Minerals in Merlot to line my bottom lash line; only from the outer corner to about 2/3 of the way in.  With that same eye pencil, I started at the end of the black eyeliner on the top lid and drew upward, creating a small triangle wing.  I then took my blending brush and pulled that color into the eyeshadow at the center of the eye, smoking out the pink color and adding depth to the eye.

Optional, but something I have to do because of very sparse eyebrows is to fill your eyebrows in with a powder or pencil.  I like my Billion Dollar Brow kit for this.  That set is serious magic.

Lips Are The Best Part

I’m a lipstick addict.  Lipstick, balm, gloss, stain. . . you name it, I either have it or want it.  Since the eyes aren’t high drama, feel free to pick your favorite bold Autumn Lipstick Shade and apply it.  For mine, I used a Glo Minerals lipstick in Cabaret.  I love a red lip and the more muted tones like this one work best with my skin tone.  If you’re good right out of the tube, feel free to apply it this way.  Otherwise if you want a nice crisp line, you can apply this with a thin makeup brush.  If lipstick isn’t your thing, feel free to just top off this look with your favorite gloss or balm instead.

Five minutes while the kids were getting dressed for the day and I’m ready to go to the bus stop looking like I’ve got it all together and feeling my best.  Just add coffee and I’m ready to perform my daily mom duties and greet my husband when he comes back home.