Heather's Handmade Life

Makeup for Mamas

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Heather Laura Clarke

When someone tells me they only wear makeup on special occasions, I kind of cock my head like a dog. Huh? What? You mean NOT EVERYDAY?

It’s not that I think they NEED to wear it everyday (uh, necessarily), but it’s just a foreign concept to me to NOT wear it everyday. It’s not about covering yourself up. It’s about enhancing what you have.

I worked as a cosmetician in high school and university (Shopper’s Drug Mart, hollaaaaa at me) and I loved it. I loved playing with makeup. I loved buying makeup. I spent far too much money on makeup. But it was good, because I also learned a LOT about makeup — and more importantly, proper skincare.

Today, as a mom of two who works from home, I could get off “not wearing makeup” (see? I even had to put it in quotes because the idea is SO RIDICULOUS) because I have little kids, I don’t see colleagues, blah blah blah.

But I wear it every day.

Without fail.

Because it makes me feel good!

I recently watched a makeup tutorial video done by Jordan (the Fun Cheap or Free Queen), and I loved it, but I don’t have a video put together just yet! (Her process is way more involved than mine).

Without further ado, here are my four steps to a five-minute face. Actually, I probably do it in about three minutes, but I adore Carmindy and think she’s the prettiest girl ever, so I’ll call it the five-minute mama face in her honour …

Skin touch-ups
Eyeliner and mascara
Lip pencil and lipstick
Blush

Andddd here’s the breakdown of what I use …

I start with this MAC Mineralize concealer. Couple of quick dabs under my eyes to attack the dark circles “dotted” on with a concealer brush, BOOM!

Then comes the powder to set the concealer, and generally just even out my skin a bit. I use this Covergirl one, because it’s inexpensive (and often on sale). DONE!

Next up is eyeliner. I’ve tried a lot of different black eyeliners, and this is my fave (it’s Little Sis’s fave, too, and she’s the one who introduced me to it). It’s Bobbi Brown’s gel eyeliner in a little pot, and you brush it on. You might think it’s hard to do, but it’s soooo easy — way easier than using a pencil. It’s awesome. GO!

Mascara is next. I know some people are picky about mascara, but I couldn’t care less what kind I buy. I *usually* buy Maybelline, because they really are the Queen of Mascaras, but it’s all about what’s on sale — again, usually Maybelline. When I need a new mascara, I go to the sale signs, grab the Blackest Black one in waterproof, and that’s it. Right now I’m using The Falsies by Maybelline, and it’s great.

Oh, and if you’re curious, I always buy waterproof because of my darn allergies — and my emotional tears! — because I’m so over those black panda crying eyes.

Lip pencil comes next. Yes, it sounds kind of old-ladyish, but I need it. My lips have no natural colour, so I need to colour them in with a pencil — Soar by MAC — to give them a boost. Otherwise my lipstick will wear off too quickly, and I’m left with blah pale lips again.

Then we move on to a quick swipe of lipstick. I have a big collection and I switch them around sometimes, but right now I’m loving MAC’s Plumful and Sweetie. With my colouring, I look best in raspberry shades, so that’s always what I keep in mind when I’m choosing a new one. When you think “raspberry,” it keeps you from choosing something that’s too red, too purple, or too pink — it’s just raspberry!

This is the final step. I may skimp on mascara and buy whatever’s on sale, but I loveeeee this blush — Orgasm by NARS — and there isn’t a cheaper substitute. It’s a healthy-looking pinky colour that makes my pale face look almost human.

***

See? That wasn’t the huge makeup routine you were probably envisioning when I told you how nutty I am for makeup! No foundation, no eye shadow, no real effort. Just hints of colour (lips and cheeks) darkness (eyes) and evening out my skin.

Do you wear makeup every day? Do you feel TOTALLY WRONG without it? Or am I just a crazy girl with an obsession with blush?

xoxo

A Tale of Two Leggings

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Heather Laura Clarke

2 Comments

SCENE: This morning at our house

BACK STORY: Little D (age three) attends a weekly gymnastics class for three- to five-year-olds (yes, at the same place where I put myself through gymnasticky torture of the adult variety).

Anyway, they have a lot of rules about what the kids can’t wear — no jeans, no cords, etc. — and the little girls have no problems, because they can wear fancy little leotards or cute leggings.

The boys all wear sweatpants or track pants, but D doesn’t own those (except one pair of too-small sweatpants for sick days). He doesn’t own them because I’m weird and I don’t like any of us to wear sweatpants in public. I KNOW, HE’S A KID, I GET IT. But he’s my kid, and he wears jeans or cords or khakis. End of story.

So after weeks of bringing D to class in a pair of black track-pantish pants that I had bought specifically for the class — like for $5 at Walmart — I wanted something better. On Halloween, the kids had to wear gym-appropriate costumes, and since he couldn’t wear his farmer costume jeans or button-up, I sent him in last year’s Sir Topham Hatt costume … with, er, C’s leggings on.

And you know what? They were freaking PERFECT for gymnastics! *evil laugh*

So the other day, when C and I were traipsing through Walmart, I MAY HAVE slipped a pair of 5T black leggings into the cart, paid for them, and brought them home.

That brings us to this morning, when I was getting D ready for gymnastics …

ME: OK, let’s put on your SPECIAL NEW GYMNASTICS PANTS, yayyyy!

D: Yay! My new pants!

DARLING HUSBAND: What’s he wearing?

ME: Gymnastics-y sportsy pants.

DARLING HUSBAND: Did you buy those in the girls’ section?

ME: They’re 5T!

*(Not sure why I felt that was an answer to that question?)*

DARLING HUSBAND: Are they leggings?

ME: They’re SPORTY PANTS for active boys!

DARLING HUSBAND: *sigh*

***

In the end, of course, they were practical and fantastic. Go, leggings! The pants for ALL!

So … very … sore

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Heather Laura Clarke

Guess who’s back? Back again …

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Heather Laura Clarke

1 Comment

Hiiiii. Some of you may have wondered why you’re suddenly hearing much more from me — on a much more regular basis.

Maybe you’re all “Oh, I forgot Heather even blogs,” but hopefully you’re more along the lines of “Oh, it’s nice to see Heather blogging more.” Either way, yes, I am kicking it up a notch. Thanks for noticing!

It’s no secret that I’ve really, really struggled to blog regularly since having Baby #2 (the lovely Miss C) back in April of 2012. Having two kids is no joke, and working from home (during naptime and after bedtime) is no friggin’ joke, either. I should embroider that on a pillow.

But it’s NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and I’m using it as a kick in the butt to post daily — at least this month. It’s been really nice to blog more often, and I hope I can keep it up. Otherwise I’ll look back at these hazy two-kids-three-and-under years and wonder what the heck I did with my time, and why I didn’t stop to preserve any memories in bloggy form. Or something.

If you’re a fellow blogger and you also need a kick in the butt, join BlogHer’s pledge to write daily during the month of November. Somehow, we’ll squish in a post every day, and then maybe it will become a habit. We hope!

So since you’ll be hearing from me so often this month, any suggested topics?

Here are a few things I’ll be tappity-tapping away about over the next three weeks:

Dramatic posts: Cloth diapering and WHY I QUIT IT (oh yes)
Important posts: Are we having more kids?
“Favourites” posts: Stuff I like! I don’t know! Stuff!
Funny posts: … like … something about my crazy kids? They’re funny.
Fail posts: I often fail at kitcheny things, so yes, probably this!

Thanks for keeping me company this month, NaBlo-hos!
xoxo

An early start to the season

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Heather Laura Clarke

2 Comments

I have a thing where I hate being in crowds. Actually, I don’t think it’s the crowds exactly, because I can wait in a mob of people outside a concert or something, but being in crowded places where I need to accomplish something.

Like Christmas shopping.

I can’t stand being in a crowded, hot store and having to find gifts, line up with gifts, purchase gifts, etc. Everyone gets all frantic as it gets closer to Christmas. The sales clerks are impatient. Psycho shoppers start fights with them. And I always, always, always get stuck in the line-up behind someone who is demanding a price-check or engaging in a heated argument about why something isn’t on sale.

So for as long as I can remember, I’ve done my Christmas shopping really early. I start in September, usually, and aim to be just about finished by Halloween — leaving nothing for November except to buy stocking stuffers, candy to put atop niece/nephew gifts, etc. I also do a lot of the shopping online, so there’s a package or two that has yet to arrive.

My closet’s been getting pretty crowded over the last two months, as I stuff gifts onto the shelves, and drop shopping bags on the floor. The mess was driving me nuts, but I knew I couldn’t wrap until I had a couple of hours when Darling Husband was home to watch the kids, so I didn’t have to drag everything downstairs.

(You may remember from my organization series that I keep all of my wrapping paper — including Christmas paper — in our master closet, so it’s much easier to just wrap there, too.)

So this morning, I banished my three beloved family members to the basement playroom, and …

… Mama wrapped!

This meant, of course, that I had to dig out the kids’ annual Christmas gift tags.

As I’ve written about before here, our son and daughter each get four gifts from us, plus a new pair of Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas Eve.

Something you want
Something you need
Something to play with
Something to read
And a new pair of jammies on Christmas Eve

It was so much fun to put on some Christmas songs, spread out the gifts, wrap them up, and put on their special tags. C’s “Something to play with” gift isn’t quite done yet (more on that soon), so I didn’t finish wrapping by any means. And one of D’s gifts this year is an experience that he’ll get in November — tickets to Dora The Explorer concert! — so I’m going to pick up a small Dora item and wrap that up, to remind him of the concert.

All in all, a really nice way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Except now I’m going to be bursting with Christmas excitement and have a longgggg time to wait.

xoxo