In the first couple of months of my baby’s life, I’d sit in Starbucks with my grandé latte, rocking the pram and watching other mums who looked so calm and on top of everything. Some had six month olds who sat in a buggy, gurgling happily. Some had toddlers, and some even had babies as young as mine. How did the mums look so together, when I felt like I was barely able to get through the tired haze every day?
Of course, appearances can be deceptive, but I quickly clocked certain things that in my mind, made the other mums look like they found life a breeze.
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Slap it on, ladies
Eye make-up. Slap it on. I started a new 30-second regime of heavy kohl liner and lashings of mascara. It’s quick to apply and it really does make you feel more ‘made up’, even if you have no other make up on. A couple of months after I started this trick, one of my NCT friends commented that she was always impressed with my eye make up. Result.
- YSL Touche Éclat. Similarly to point number one, slap it on. Make up artists often warn you not to overdo the Touche, but when you’re a new mum with dark circles to rival Lord Voldemort’s, there’s no such thing as overdoing it. You need any tiny glimmer of light to reflect off your face, creating an illuminating effect, and making you look awake and alert.
- GHDs. When my baby was a few weeks old, I only just had time to wash my hair and tye it up, still wet. Then I worked out that the sound of my hair dryer soothed the baby, so drying my hair doubled up as a ‘get baby to sleep’ technique. By around week 6, I rediscovered the GHDs and twigged that spending four minutes straightening my unruly hair made me look instantly sleeker.
So there you go. Your three-point-plan to ‘Looking like you are finding motherhood a breeze, when inside you JUST. WANT. TO. SLEEP.’
You’re welcome.
