Makeup was one of the first things to go when I had my second child. (Well, makeup and hair, but hair is another story.) I know I went through a serious frumpy phase, especially after the birth of my third child. There were too many things to do, and not enough time or priority for appearances. Eventually I began to emerge from the Mom Fog and realized that I really did need to set aside at least a few minutes to freshen myself up. I don’t represent my husband and my family well when I look like a bag lady! But since I habitually run late, I knew that in addition to working on my tardiness, I needed to find a way to look put together in only a handful of minutes. And you know what? I did. My face can be “church-ready” in less than five minutes. And you can do it, too.

Quick & Simple Makeup for the Busy Mom in Five Minutes (Or Less)

Step 1: Change Your Thinking

This is the most important step, really, because it affects how much time you spend on your makeup. Are trying to achieve perfection? Trying to look “Magazine-ready?” (Been there; done that.) When I was younger I spent too much time making sure my eyeliner was ‘just so.’ Let go of perfection. Remind yourself that you’re not painting a masterpiece and it’s not a competition. Simply approach makeup as a tool for putting your best face forward, to look fresh and ready to meet your day, and your attitude toward applying the makeup will change with it.

Step 2: Change Your Foundation

Don’t get me wrong, when we’re going to have family pictures taken, I’m going to apply full makeup with liquid foundation (or cream to powder foundation, preferably.) Without a solid foundation base, the makeup won’t stand up to the bright photography lights. But for day to day makeup, even Date With Hubby makeup, there’s a simpler, faster way. For a simple daily makeup foundation, first apply moisturizer to your clean face, and while it’s still damp, apply powder. For the powder, use a multi-tonal blending face powder, or a bare mineral kind of foundation powder. Now you have a simple and light foundation that evens out your skin, sets up your face for the rest of your makeup, and still lets your skin breathe a little.

{Heidi’s interjecting here to give you my faves for makeup and foundation powder!}
Bare Minerals: I never leave home without them (very often!)
Oil of Olay’s “Complete”daily moisturizer with sunscreen (been using this since the dawn of time!)

Step 3: Keep It Simple

I do like to have fun with different colors of eye shadow and eyeliner, but overall, I still keep things quick and easy, using as few items as possible in one sitting. At its simplest, my makeup will consist only of a light dusting of blush, the same blush on my eyelids, finished with mascara and natural lip gloss. It’s the quickest and easiest and makes a big difference when I’m headed out the door.

{Heidi’s faves}
Bare Minerals blush. ‘nuf said. I like the color “Glee” – my skin is very fair so results will vary! 🙂
Too Faced Eye Shadow Primer – If you want your eye shadow to stay on all day, this is a must-have. MUST.
It’s So Big Volumizing Mascara by Elizabeth Mott.  Yes. Yes. Yes!  My other bestie? A little cheaper too: Cover Girl

In fact, most days I don’t add any additional eye shadow or eyeliner at all. I like that soft and simple look for quick trips to the store and play days with friends. Even when I do add more, I can save time by simplifying the total number of products I use.

Step 4: Focus on the eyes.

If I have more time, or want to dress up a little more nicely, I will add one or two shades of shadow and an eyeliner, too. I spend more time on my eyes if anything. If you spend just a little more time there then you really look put together and it creates a focal point on your face. In fact, the rest of my makeup is so soft, you almost can’t tell a difference until I’ve finished the eyes. My goal with makeup isn’t to get noticed or look highly made-up, but just to look as though I took enough time to take care of myself before I left the house. Since people look at your eyes a lot, it makes sense to spend a little more time there.

{Heidi’s Faves}
Prestige Liquid Eyeliner (love my liquid eyeliner!) or, for a pencil— MAC Kohl Smolder Eye … mmmm good
Too Faced Natural Eye – I have several of these palettes and I’m hooked! Don’t forget your primer!

Step 5: Finish with powder.

To help set your makeup so that it lasts longer, applying another dusting of powder (before you apply your mascara.) It doesn’t help to spend time on something if it isn’t going to last. We certainly don’t have time to waste! A professional makeup artist expressed the importance of setting the end result with a layer of powder and I’ve been doing it since. Unless I’ve taken a nap, shed tears, or rubbed my face a lot because of allergies, my easy makeup will last through the day.

{Heidi’s Fave}
Bare Minerals Mineral Veil Finishing Powder: Don’t leave home without it!

Don’t Over-think It

Busy moms don’t have a lot of time to waste on makeup–but you only need five minutes to look put together and ready to go. By keeping it simple and easy, you can quickly get your makeup done in the morning and spend more time thinking about other things. The key is just to not over think your makeup – in the end, it’s just makeup! Busy moms have more important things than makeup, right? And by the way, if you’re one of those busy moms with daughters who are starting to wear a little makeup, the simple and easy approach is a great tool for teens, too.

Read more about Amber in her Author Box below!

I am super-psyched that my friend, Marlene has written this for our Busy Mom readers.  I’m off and on the exercise wagon (just keepin’ it real) but I have got to say, when I’m on it, I feel 1000000x better in every way.  I shoot for early morning as that’s the only time my kids will leave me alone 🙂  but anytime is the right time!  Moms, you need to take care of your beautiful, baby-making, husband-loving body.  My favorite workout (I have a fracture in my lower back) ended up being a yoga workout.  DON’T FREAK OUT.  I do what I like to call “Yoga without the Ya-Ya” (See the note I added at the end of this paragraph April 2019!) meaning I do all the stretches and strengthen my body while keeping my heart and my listening to my favorite, soul-healing music.  Try listening to this album by Shawn McDonald. My favorite song is called “Rise.”  Let’s RISE to this, moms!  We can do it!  <3 You want to run around with your grandkids some day with me, right?  It’s not impossible, it just takes some thought and determination.  Thanks Marlene for the encouragement!

EDITED APRIL 2019: Women, I used to think Yoga really was just fine, disconnected, stretching, whatever.  I obviously said so right here! But I met a friend who was deeply entrenched in the Yoga world and the Lord used her to completely change my mindset on this.  I implore you, listen to these podcasts!

• Christianity and Yoga: Do they mix? Part 1
• Christian Alternatives to Yoga with Jessica Smith Part 2

xoxo

As moms and wives, we tend to be the heart of the home. We keep track of everyone’s schedule, meal plan, cook, clean, and somehow have to find time to take care of ourselves. More often than not, our health and fitness tend to fall to the back burner. It’s not easy making time to workout, and when we do make the time – guilt often follows shortly after. At least that was my experience. But this year I’m making it a goal to live a healthier lifestyle.

I’ve realized that if I’m not at my best, I can’t possibly offer my family the best version of me. So after some time planning and reflecting on how to do this, without going all crazy and jumping in head first, I broke it down into baby steps.

First, I started with reducing my sugary drink intake. I swapped anything high in sugar (soda, juices, etc.) for green tea or water. Making this one change alone made a huge difference in how I felt and how I responded to everything around me. Every so often I’ll treat myself, but it’s definitely more of a treat now than a way of life.

Next, I worked on my eating habits. I cleaned up our meals and have switched to high protein meals which keep me full and help me feel more energized. We all seem to be thriving on this, and I’m feeling much more energetic!

Now, I’m full force working on my physical fitness. I’m not aiming to be a fitness model, nor a body builder, but I do want my body to be strong.

My first goal was setting up a mini home gym. I have everything I could possibly need to legitimately get a good full body workout. I like to switch things up every so often, and some days the garage is just too hot to workout in, and on those days I turn to fitness videos.

*This post contains affiliate links.  At no additional cost to you, thank you for supporting The Busy Mom just by shopping through my links!*

Here are my favorite at-home workout videos

Ballet Workouts

• Ballet Beautiful Total Body Workout – Low impact, no jumping around like you would do in aerobics videos. I tend to have back problems, and workouts like these are my favorite.

Pilates

I’ve been doing Pilates off and on for years. They are similar workouts to ballet movements. There are many Pilate workout videos now, but here are my favorites:

• Winsor Pilates Upper Body Sculpting
• Winsor Pilates Bun & Thigh Sculpting
• Winsor Pilates Maximum Burn

Jillian Michaels

• Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
• Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack
• Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weight
• Jillian Michaels: One Week Shred

The cool part about most of these, is that they are available for free on Amazon Prime Instant Video if you are an Amazon Prime customer.

These next videos are all free and can be found on YouTube!

• Legs, Abs, Arms from Blogilates
• The Push Plan Challenge (Arms and Core) from Blogilates
• Full body workout from Jessica Smith TV
• A GREAT inner thigh workout from POPSUGAR Fitness

What are your favorite ways to work out at home?

Read more about Marlene in her Author Box below!

All the way through high school, college, and a bit into married life I was one of those “skinny girls.” I was a healthy weight. I didn’t think about food or weight. I ate what I wanted and never gained a pound.

But then, seemingly all at once, it caught up with me. I’ve shared a bit about my weight struggles on my blog, but to summarize, it’s a battle I’m currently losing, and it’s one of the things I’m most self-conscious about.

My first reaction to my weightier self was to try and hide. I wore bigger, baggier clothes so that I could hopefully hide those extra pounds. But, sometimes those bigger, baggier clothes actually make the extra pounds stand out instead of hiding them. This outfit isn’t doing me any favors!

So, I wanted to share a few strategies that I have learned to help you visually slim down, even if the scale isn’t your friend lately.

1. Fitted, not frumpy.

Obviously, you need to use some common sense here. Extra tight clothes with extra pounds isn’t a good combo.

However, sometimes baggier clothes just make you appear bigger. In the photos below I’m wearing a looser pair of jeans on the right and a pair of skinny jeans on the left. I have to admit, I’ve always been scared of skinny jeans, and I only bought these because I needed them to wear with my boots. But, once I got them, I was pleased with them. This picture actually makes them look tighter than they really are.

(Note: The tall boots add a slimming effect as well, since they kind of break things up visually)

2. Add a heel

I’m not really a heel person, but adding a couple of inches to your height can have a slimming effect. If you keep your same weight, but add a couple of inches, *bam* you look thinner.

3. Narrow the Focal Point

Vision is a funny thing. If you add something to break up a “wider” picture–a long necklace, a belt, a jacket, an extra layer, etc. you can draw the eyes inward and create a slimming effect. You can see that effect in the pictures below. Yes, I’m still the same size, the but jacket draws the eyes in for a slightly slimmer focal point.

4. Wear layers.

I started wearing a tank top under many shirts back when I was nursing and it just made things easier. It became a habit at the time, but now I do it because it can have a slimming effect. Adding a longer tank top under your shirt can serve to break up the visual (as mentioned above), but it also visually elongates the torso. And again, same width, but it appears longer and therefore slimmer.

5. Cinch it up (add a belt)

Certain loose shirts hang and pouf just right to make you look 20 lbs heavier than you are. At the same time, sometimes when you’re overweight, your waist can tend to get lost. In either of these cases, a belt can help you out. It breaks up the picture to draw the eye toward a focus (the belt and not the extra pounds). It can also serve to give you the visual of having a waistline, even if you don’t really have one.

What are your best tips for minimizing those extra pounds?