Somewhere Between Trophy Wife and Bridge Troll: A Minimalist Mom’s MakeUp Routine

I ran across a meme a while back that says, “I only have two looks:  trophy wife or like I live under a bridge and demand riddles for people to cross it.  There is no in between.”

While this meme definitely made me laugh, and there is some serious relatability to it, it made me stop and think about the role that make-up plays in our lives and ask myself where make-up falls on the lists of what matters and what does not.  I think we can all find a happy place for ourselves along the spectrum of trophy wife to bridge troll where we can have confidence and femineity without sacrificing our goals.

If the memory of your last Sephora bill makes you blush, if your bathroom is overflowing with half-used cosmetics bottles that haven’t been touched in months, or if you spend more time putting on makeup than you do exercising each day, you might want to take a more minimalistic approach to your makeup routine. 

On the other hand, if you feel you have zero time for make-up, but you are sick of hiding from people you know at the grocery store or lacking confidence at work because you don’t feel put together, a simple minimalist makeup routine might be just what you need.

Start by taking good care of yourself.

• The best minimalist mom skincare and makeup routine starts with healthy a glow.  Our focus should be on taking great care of our skin, before figuring out how to best cover it up.  Some of the best advice I have ever heard is when Aunt Becky told D.J., “The trick to wearing makeup is to make it look like you aren’t wearing any.”  Makeup is an accessory to highlight your natural features, not a way for you to cover up your face and paint on a new one.

• Rethink your routine to prioritize exercise, hydration, skin care, and positive nutrition.

• Exercise improves blood flow to nourish cells and remove toxins, reduces stress, reverses signs of aging, and reduces fat storage in your face and neck.

• Drinking plenty of water helps to keep your skin hydrated, which reduces fine lines, dark undereye circles, and dullness.

• Protect yourself from the sun with mineral (not chemical) sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, and shade.

• Use a simple, gentle cleansing and moisturizing routine to protect your skin from your environment without destroying your skin’s resiliency. 

• Eat nutrient-dense, whole foods and minimize consumption of highly processed and refined ingredients to ensure your skin cells are adequately nourished with healthy fats, proteins, and micronutrients.

• Manage stress and get enough sleep to promote restorative circulation and reduce dullness.

Choose a consistent look that works for you and use a stackable makeup approach.

Variety is the spice of life, but not when it comes to my face.  I want to look like myself all the time – just with varying degrees of glam.  My time and money can be put to much better use than in messing around with various eyeshadow looks and a collection of different blush and lip shades.

The best way to cut back on the amount of products that you have to buy is to curate products that you love and that can be used alone or combined with others, depending on the amount of time that you have and the desired level of impact of your makeup.

All of your makeup should fit in the one little bag that you store it in.  When packing to go somewhere, all you have to do is grab your bag that already has everything in it, and not think about what makeup you will need to pack to get ready for various events.

The entire contents of my makeup bag:

• BB Cream or CC Cream.

• Brown shadow or balm for eyebrows.

• Neutral shadow for overall eye lid.

• Gray shadow for a smoky eye.

• Black shadow for eyeliner.

• Double-sided shadow brush.

• Straight-line shadow brush for lining.

• Concealer.

• Bronzer.

• Blush.

• Highlighter.

• Two blush brushes (one for bronzer, one for blush and highlighter).

• Eyelash curler.

• Mascara primer.

• Mascara (standard and waterproof).

• Lip gloss in a couple of different seasonal shades.

 Do your makeup routine in the same order every day to make it go faster and require less thought.

This step will be pretty easy!  I think we all have a tendency to do our makeup in the same order each day.  Doing so creates a natural habit and allows us to put less thought into the process.  For me, the order is brows first, then eyeshadow, face and lashes last.  When I go all out with a smokey eye and eyeliner, I tend to make a mess of the rest of my face, which is the reason I do brows and eyes first.  And I want my eyelashes black, without any light power on them, so mascara is the final step for me.  Find a routine that works for you and stick with it for the most efficiency and to save your energy for more important things.

Routine varies slightly based on the time available and how done-up you want to look.

With a mix-and-match, minimalist approach to the products you keep on hand, you can vary your makeup look based on how you want to look for whatever you are getting ready for and how much time you can spend getting ready.  My average-day makeup routine takes about five minutes and includes brows, light eyeshadow, CC cream, bronzer, blush, highlighter, eyelash curl, primer and mascara.  On my totally minimal makeup days, where I am running errands, grocery shopping, hanging out at home, casual work days, or I am running late, I’ll just do brows, CC cream, and mascara.  And when I want to go all out, such as on date nights, if we are getting pictures taken, or headed to a wedding, I use everything including undereye concealer, smokey eye with eyeliner, and lip gloss.

Lastly, keep your bathroom tidy by always putting everything away when you’re finished!

Everything goes back into the bag and the bag goes in the drawer or on a shelf to be stored.  It takes about seven seconds to throw everything together, and your bathroom stays tidy. 

Your makeup routine should be built around what matters to you.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love makeup.  I love looking pretty and put together.  But wearing a lot of makeup and especially trying out new products and looks is just not something that matters to me right now.  Limiting the amount of products that I spend my money on and store in my home and limiting the amount of time that it takes me to apply makeup each day, helps me make more room in my life for the things that really matter.  Your perfect routine will give you just the right amount of confidence and femineity without requiring too much of the time and resources in your life needed for what matters most to you.

Find what you like and stick to it.  Find a brand that you love – make sure it is made at least to European safety and efficacy standards and fits your budget – and you’ll be all set!

You will start saving money and time as you stop spending on products that do not fit into your regular routine. 

Let’s get started!

Take a few minutes to go through your cosmetics supply and get rid of anything you do not use on a regular basis.  Also, take a look at the brands in your collection and do a little research to determine if you trust those brands to use ingredients that you want to be putting on your skin.  Enjoy the feeling of a lighter, neater make-up bag!

Please share your thoughts!  Comment below with your current makeup routine – which step from this post are you going to use to simplify your current routine first?

For more simple-living mom-life hacks, join us in the For More Of What Matters Community on Facebook, a group of moms working daily towards simple routines for more of what matters.

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