What is your everyday beauty routine?
I wear makeup every single day. I’m not a morning person, so my beauty and makeup routine in the morning is what gets me going and wakes me up. Because my son, Zachary, has eczema, I tend to use gentle products. We have tried to get rid of as many non-natural and harsh products as we can since even just a little will flare up his eczema. I use Cetaphil as a cleanser in the morning and the evening. For everyday makeup, I tend to use neutral tones. I use Urban Decay’s Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup. That’s my go to. I think foundation is the most important thing, so I”ll spend more money on that. Even though I’m old (she’s not!), I still have breakouts. But, I don’t have breakouts at all with this foundation. This works beautifully. I like to play around with different colors with eye shadow and lip gloss, so I’ll buy less expensive options for those. For eyeshadow, I like to try a lot of different shades and brands, but right now I use Skins Don’t Budge Waterproof Cream Eyeshadow. My mascara is CoverGirl’s LashBlast Fusion. I use MAC blush in Peony Petal and Revlon lipgloss in Pink Pop. This all happens in two minutes because if I take a second longer, the kids want to play with my makeup (or create some other type of chaos).
Do you have any little tricks you swear by?
It’s always annoying having foundation that doesn’t blend right, but I finally found a brush that seems to really help! This brush is great in terms of getting foundation on and getting it even. It’s the expert foundation brush by Real Techniques. The nice part is that it wasn’t that expensive, which can be a real challenge to find if you want a decent brush. Also, having waterproof eyeshadow is really helpful for wearing makeup all day long.
Do you have a signature scent?
Yes! There is a perfume that my husband, Matt, got me when we were in college. It’s Acqua di Gioia. It’s my go to. I like it because it takes me back to when we were in college and dating, and it’s a nice reminder of those fun times where things were easier. I think taking the time to put perfume and makeup on is important as a mom. It’s easy to forget that I should do things for myself sometimes.
What products do you use on your hair?
My favorite shampoo that I absolutely love is Pureology. Christine Wiese (hands down the best hair stylist because she makes magic) introduced it to me when I was in graduate school. It’s expensive, so I don’t always a use it. It helps to keep it de-frizzed and calmed down since my hair is crazy where it’s not really curly or straight. I also use Moroccan Oil products or regular coconut oil to keep from being frizzy and crazy.
What drastic things have you done to your look?
In highschool, I wore super dark lipstick. In college, I went more towards the nudes and neutrals. This past year, I’ve started wearing brighter lip shades. It seems like brighter lip colors also brighten my mood, so I’ve been trying break out of my more neutral habits. I still won’t go for the orange lipstick even though I work at Clemson, but purple eyeshadow all the way!
What are your tips for destressing?
If I had any, I’d let you know! Actually, about twice a year some of my friends and I go to Rock Barn Spa in North Carolina, which is amazing and relaxing. It’s actually kind of a dual purpose of pampering myself and reconnecting with friends I don’t see too often. It’s very peaceful and relaxing. Plus, it’s nice to have a day to see my friends in person. It’s really important and one thing I always look forward to doing as a group, especially since we don’t get a chance to see each other a lot. On a daily basis, I have been trying to do more things with mindfulness. I have been working on a project about mindfulness, so I’ve been trying to be more mindful of my own life. I try to pay more attention about not being stressed about a particular situation. I try to put the phone down, not be pay attention to technology, and focus on my surroundings. I’m trying to practice what I am preaching.
Are there family traditions you’ve kept up?
For me, it’s important to take time when things are crazy busy with work and block off time to do fun things. We live where the weather is nice and get different seasons, so I like to make sure we do seasonal activities outside especially in the fall, like picking apples, going to the pumpkin patch, and having hay rides. Zach’s birthday is around Thanksgiving, and my father-in-law’s birthday is Christmas. We end up with nonstop holidays from November to January, which I really love. Christmas is a huge deal for all of us. I decorate my house for christmas on November 1st–yes, I’m that person. We’ve been getting a real Christmas tree from a farm nearby since moving here. It feels like it is automatically the holidays once we get the tree up and the kids help decorate. In fact, that’s how we made our announcement that we were expecting our daughter, Avery–Matt took a picture of our tree with an ornament made from pink booties. Also, Matt is a huge sports fan, so we take the kids to football and baseball games. We like to watch Clemson’s football games. I’ve never been to a school that had a large football team. The whole town has folks who love Clemson. You see Clemson reminders all around town, so that’s kind of cool. On that note–Go Tigers!
What would you like your children to know about beauty?
I think that especially for my daughter, Avery, knowing that it’s absolutely your choice as to what you want to do when it comes to your routine as a female. If you want to wear it, wear it. If you want to dye your hair, dye it. If you don’t, dont. If my kids want to wear crazy things and have crazy hair, then that’s up to them. I totally support that. I want to instill this mindset in both kids. Whatever sense of beauty and fashion they want to do, that’s perfectly fine. I don’t want my daughter to think that mommy wears makeup, so I should wear makeup too. It’s something I like to wear, but it’s a choice. That’s something I really want to encourage.
How do you change your look for special occasions?
One thing I really like to do is make up my eyes. If I get compliments, it’s usually about my eyes. I try to play those up by playing with different eye shadows and coordinating different colors. I try to be a little more purposeful about contrasting, and I do heavier eyeliner or different colors. That’s the biggest thing I do for special occasions.
What is your beauty philosophy?
My earliest memories as a kid include watching my mom do her makeup every morning; it was done perfectly. I think for a long time I picked up on that. I wanted to have my makeup just right. As I’ve gotten older it’s about what makes me feel comfortable. I want to instill in my kids that everything you do that’s related to beauty is about what you perceive as beautiful. You should be doing it for yourself. As a teenager, I was probably wearing makeup because others were. Now it’s about what I feel comfortable with, so I do it for me. I wear as much makeup as I want. I could go out without makeup, or I can do my hair as much or as little as I want. I do because it gives me a chance to express myself in the way I want to look.
The other thing I try to do more and more is not hide from pictures. As a mom, it’s very easy to be behind the camera and have the kids interacting with other people. I’ve realized it doesn’t matter what I look like because I want us to have those memories together. Ten, twenty, or thirty years from now they won’t care if my hair is messy. They just want to see a picture of mommy. Part of this comes from not having a ton of pictures of my own mom because she didn’t like to be in front of the camera, so she was most likely taking the pictures. I want more pictures of the whole family, to remember what we were all doing together.
Brainiac Babes 