makeup Hacks for mums / 'Soft Focus' skin

There are a few things (more than a few) that entirely go out of the window when you become a mum and that really is spending oodles of time in front of the mirror playing around with makeup. When I do get the chance to do so it tends to be in the back of a taxi on the way to a meeting as I’m always trying to maximise the time I have with her. There really is nothing better than having those occasional days entirely dedicated to my new baby girl and whenever I get those days I love to just zone in, be mindful and available to her needs. While I have said goodbye for now to touching up my stray grey hairs coming through, one of the biggest things that’s kept me feeling human throughout this whirlwind of 4 months since having her is getting dressed and ready for the day and feeling good in my skin, literally.

I wanted to do a post about my completely simplistic mum hacks to having great skin, and today quite simply there are three steps! On this post I’m pretty much ditching pretty much everything: the mascara, blusher and highlighter etc. It’s what I do for around the house, popping out to the supermarket or even to feel fresh for the ocado delivery and the barrage of deliveries happening in my household on a daily basis. For you, it could be the same. On a Sunday or just that single element of feeling a little bit human in those manic newborn days that can really take it out of you. I think also as new mums we spend SO much time thinking about our little ones it’s easy to forget about ourselves. Without a doubt, time is entirely of the essence and a thing of the passed, so my mum hacks are quick enough to achieve a soft focus glow on your skin – it’s a simple as that and requires three things. Advanced Night Repair (ANR), Double Wear and a Powder brush – that – is – it!

Advanced Night Repair has consistently been on my top shelf for it’s magic and multifunctional purpose of looking after your skin like a serum whilst being a great buffer to mix into other things to bring radiance to your skin and makeup. It’s ideal for dryness and dehydration and dull looking skin which is very much a skin tendency for this time of year with the weather change. Some simple hacks for this ‘look’ :

Mix ANR with Double Wear /

Use a powder brush /

Use Concealer with an eyeshadow brush

contour with Bronze Goddess

That’s it. This is it step by step, and yes you’ll have to forgive the stray greys, something majorly on hold for now.

My first mum hack is to mix ANR serum with your perfect match of Double Wear foundation. I start with patting a layer of ANR directly onto my skin.

It has such a beautiful sheen that’s completely oil free so doesn’t feel heavy on your skin.

Open up your perfect match of Double Wear Stay in Place foundation. My perfect match is Rattan.

Use the side of your hand for a little pallette and put on a little splodge (I know this looks like a lot but bare with me!)

Add in a little pipette of ANR

Mix it up

Grab your fluffiest powder brush. This is key to the ease of application.

Gentle pat the brush onto your palette so the mixture spreads onto as many brush ends as possible.

Start to apply the brush onto your skin by lightly patting on the mix in the larger areas of your skin.

Once it’s evenly applied in your larger zones, you can begin to buff the skin with light circular motions.

This creates that ‘soft focus’ filter on your skin which looks completely natural as well as feeling really lovely on your skin. Not greasy at all, but nourished and radiant.

Next I like to apply some Double Wear concealer under my eyes as well as the area around my lips to accentuate the lips. Doing this with a clean and fluffy eyeshadow brush allows you to apply it using the same technique as before with the foundation mixed with ANR.

Time dependant of course, you can do this really gently and build layers without feeling caked at all. You’ll have a lovely dewey base from the previous step so this will make blending really easy to get that perfect finish.

For that last touch if you have an extra moment, get hold of your Bronze Goddess powder bronzer which is silky, shine free and adds a perfect dimension to your skin (I’m using the Medium shade). Also use your eye shadow brush again from the previous step and give it a swirl.

Then I use the same technique to apply it underneath by brow bone and just above my eyelids. I bring it out away from the nose as opposed to putting too much in the middle area. This accentuates the eyes especially if you have almond shape eyes like me.

Then using the same brush and circular motion, I apply it just underneath my cheekbone, getting heavier towards my ears.

Using the smaller brush here is key to get that discreet definition.

Lastly I like to use the large powder brush for a good general blend along the cheeks and forehead to ensure that everything is set and in place. You can just use the brush from before which is perfect as it will likely have some of the residue from the ANR to set that bronzer nicely.

Voila! You are complete! Whilst I am officially done and ready to step right back into mum mode, there are lots of places you can take this makeup look by adding more dimensions to it. It really is the perfect base.