I’m secretly envious of moms I see in the workplace who look so fabulously put together.  What’s their secret?  Sleeping in full makeup and rolling out of bed?  Some sort of ultra exclusive permanent  makeup tattoos?  Or maybe they’re just naturally blessed with perfect complexion, rosy lips, and a miraculous ability to look refreshed with only 3 hours of sleep (curse you!)  If my occupation didn’t involve interacting with actual people on a constant basis, I probably wouldn’t care so much, but for the sake of being a presentable representative of my organization, I must take the time to look halfway decent.

My makeup routine is quick and simple because, in between getting A. dressed and ready for daycare, I only have about 10 minutes to make myself go from “eeeeeeek!!” to “good enough” for work. I usually shower in the night before, which saves a huge amount of time in the morning (usually to hit the snooze button 3-4 times, haha).  Then the magic happens with the following products:

Chanel Double Perfection Powder Foundation in Tender Bisque

This powder-foundation provides great coverage without being too heavy, and the color matches my yellow-based skin tone quite nicely.   It’s a little pricey but after trying many different products in all price ranges, I found that the Chanel one is the best fit for my complexion.

2.  Anastasia Highlighting Brow Kit

I purchased this on sale at sephora.com during their additional 20% off sale and love it.  You can mix shades to find the perfect match for your eyebrows, and it lasts all day (no spotty eyebrows by 3pm!).  I don’t use the highlighting colors as much but they’re versatile enough to wear on your eyes as well as cheeks and nose.

3. Urban Decay Naked Palette

This palette is perfect to achieve an office-ready daytime look but is versatile enough to also do a ton of evening and girls-night-out looks as well.  With the exception of the black/grey tones, I typically use almost every single color regularly, generally 2-3 at a time. The colors complement every skin tone.  Trust me, buy this and it will be your go-to palette for day (and night!)

4.  Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eyeliner

I have typical Asian monolid eyes.  Combined with an oily complexion, a liquid eyeliner is my only choice to avoid the heavy metal/raccoon effect.  However, all liquid liners don’t have the same stay-put power – I’ve tried a ton of brands, and nothing comes close to Revlon’s Colorstay line.  They last and last but come off easily with makeup remover (or a good facial cleanser).  I’ve cheated on it several times with other, more expensive brands that promised so much, but inevitably Revlon was the one sure thing I always came back to.

5.  Tie between Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm and Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treament SPF 15

This was a toughie.  I have perpetually dry lips and I use both of these products constantly, alternating between the two at any given time.  Despite being allured by countless other lipglosses, tints, etc., most of them end up collecting dust in my purse or makeup bin.  Burt’s Bees is great in keeping lips hydrated without a fuss – inexpensive, no color, pleasant minty flavor.  Sugar Rose is great when you want a hint of color without a heavy, pasty film on your mouth that lipsticks/glosses can leave.  I can’t live without either one of these.  In fact, I have stashes of both in all my purses, car, and various rooms around the house.

So that’s pretty much my daily routine, and even the relatively short amount of time I spend on makeup sometimes seems like a lot of work.  If anyone would be kind enough to share products or tips that facilitate a busy mom’s morning routine, please let me know!

I’m such a sucker for perfumes and things that smell nice (candles, soaps, new laundry, and so on).  On a recent trip to Sephora where my mission to was purchase ONLY a new brow pencil, somehow I ended up spending almost a hundred bucks, which included this:

Who doesn’t love letterpress anything?  I’d letterpress napkins, business cards, toilet paper (ok maybe not that far), if the price was right.  My wedding invitations were letterpressed, even though it meant going over budget a little and entailed a ton of work (only because I tried to design them myself and didn’t know what the heck I was doing).

Lifestyle Crafts has debuted a new DIY letterpress machine which actually looks pretty simple to use.  Though you’re currently limited to using their customized printing plates at this time, the range of different projects you can do so far is fairly cool.