Holiday Card "Mommy" Look

Hay hay mamas!

With Christmas literally around the corner, now is the time to begin planning your family holiday cards. While there are many details involved in planning Christmas cards, I wanted to focus on mama today. God only knows we deserve to be pampered for all of the hard work that we do. Why not make the pampering scheduled on the day that you can show it off? On your holiday card, of course!

Thus, in this post, I will be talking about MOMMY'S holiday card look: how to look and feel your best for your holiday card photos. This year, I felt amazing and beautiful (despite being heavier than I normally am), and you know what, I deserve to look and feel amazing. I work my booty off as a mama and a lot of the time I don't get to dress up or be pampered as much as I would like to. Therefore, make this day not only about your family, but also about you. You deserve it, girl.

In this post, I will share an overview of my holiday card:
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• Makeup
• Hair
• Outfit
• Nails
• Exercise + Nutrition

If you know me personally, you know that I am passionate about makeup and pretty much wear a full face of makeup daily, so I figured I'll start by sharing my favorite holiday makeup routine.

Holiday Makeup

PRODUCTS​
SKIN/FACE

• Primer: ​MAC Prep + Prime
• Foundation: Clinique Super Balanced (no SPF) AND Mac Studio Face + Body
• Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer
• Mineral Powder: Laura Mercier Mineral Powder
• Bronzer: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish
• Blush: MAC Powder Blush "Peaches"
• Cheek Highlighter: MAC 'Mineralize' Skinfinish

EYES

• Eye Primer: MAC Eyeshadow Brule 
• Eye Shadows: MAC Warm Neutral Times 15 Eyeshadow Palette
• Eye Liner: MAC Black Liquid Eyeliner
• Mascara: MAC 'In Extreme" Dimension - 3D Black Lash' Mascara
• Fake Eyelashes: MAC 36 Lash
• Eye Lash Glue: Any; I like MAC best. Duh

EYEBROWS

• Eye Brow Kit: Anastasia Beverly Hills Five Item Brow Kit (If you haven't colored in your brows, talk to someone about this kit at Nordstrom. I can't live without and it literally change the shape of my face. Amazing.)
  • Includes: Brow Shadow, Brow Brush, Brow Mascara + Tweezers

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LIPS

• Lip Liner: MAC Redd Lip Pencel
• Lipstick: MAC Chili Lipstick
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Start with a light moisturizer. Apply a tiny bit to your face and neck. You don't want to over-do-it with product. Also, do NOT use sunscreen because it shows up shiny in photos. ​
2. Apply a light primer. Just a tad.
3. Apply concealer to the top of your eyelids, center of forehead, around top of eyebrows, and down the top of your nose. See photo below (the concealer is the white part), but also apply to top of eyelids - from eyelash line to eyebrow -, which isn't shown. Do NOT yet apply concealer underneath eyes. You will do this after you complete your eye makeup. Also, I always use a brush to apply makeup. Blend it in. Blending is crucial. You must blend properly and fully.  ​

  4.  Apply eye shadow primer over the concealer (on eyelid all the way up to eyebrow). 
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 5.  Apply eye shadow. I generally do a lighter, shimmery color on my eyelid. Blend. Then I add a darker, warm/brown color to the crease of my eye. Blend that in by making somewhat of a "V" shape, blending the crease and along the outer lash line, slightly with the color on the lid. Add one more color, slightly different but maybe in between the other two colors. Apply to the crease along that bone and down along lash line. ​*See image below for a similar look.

6. Highlight just under your brow with a lighter more shimmery eye shadow.
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7.  Apply winged eyeliner. See shape below.

8. Apply lashes. Start by putting a dollop of lash glue on a tissue. Then trace the fake eye lash against the glue. Don't apply too much or too little glue. Be sure to apply a decent amount to corners of lash, especially (this is where the lash tends to fall off first, if at all). After applying glue, wave the lash in the air to dry for about 5 seconds, then bend the lash in a curved motion for flexibility, and apply. Be sure to apply lashes as close as you can to lash line! 
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9. Apply remaining concealer to the bottom of eye and blend with a brush. I usually tap in a repetitive motion. *See image below for under-eye concealer application technique.

10. After you apply your concealer and have your eyes almost complete (with the exception of mascara and under eye liner/shadow), you will then do your foundation. I mix two foundation together - see the "PRODUCTS" list above for reference. I always use a blush and blend a decent amount, especially for family photos. I do more coverage than a daytime look. Blend foundation all over face, but be careful NOT to blend too much into where you have your concealer. You want a brighter look around your eyes, and a darker foundation look surrounding.

11. After you apply liquid foundation, I go in with the Laura Mercier Mineral Powder to set the foundation. I do this with a big, loose brush. Again, I am careful not to blend too much of this into the "concealer" parts of my face.

12. Next, apply bronzer. You will need to know how to contour!!! This is very important to bronzer application.  Contouring shapes your face and really makes your cheekbones and other sexy parts of your face "pop." I highly recommend learning how to contour. See the below image for more info. The "contouring" part, or where you apply the bronzer is along the darker dots. I use MAC Mineralize Bronzer. Using a brush, I make round motions along the designated areas you see in the photo. If the bronzer looks to "stark", you can go over it again with the powder brush to blend.

13. Apply blush. I used MAC Powder Blush in the color "PEACES". I apply blush by smiling in the mirror and putting it on the round part of my cheeks, slightly above where you contoured with the bronzer.

15. Next, apply a highlighter to your cheekbone in a sideways "V" shape - along your cheekbone (above blush) and up to your eyebrow. Highlighters make ALL the difference, girlfriend. Don't skip this step. See below for more info on where to apply a highlighter. I use MAC Mineralize Skinfinish. It is the BOMB highlighter. I also apply highlighter down the top of my nose (lightly), on the tip of my nose and around the top of my lips. Sometimes I also apply to the inner corner of my eyes, just under my brows and to the center part of my forehead AND maybe even the butt of my nose. Man, I love highlighter.

16. Next, do the eyebrows. This is also a very important step because eyebrows shape your face. I plucked the heck out of mine and almost NEED to color in my eyebrows everyday. Watch a brow tutorial if you need to and look at the above images (and on Pinterest) for eyebrow inspiration. Below is the basic idea. I could do a full post on brows - so just look it up this time around!

17. Go back to your eyes and you'll notice you'll need something under your eyes. I always go in with a lighter color eyeshadow to set the concealer and to make my eyes pop. I generally use Brule from MAC or some other lighter beige/white color. I also put the shadow on the inner part of my lower eye lid. Next, apply a darker shadow at or just under (depending on your eye shape/what look you're going for) your lower lash line. I used a brown shadow. I apply it from the outer corner of the eye, and not all of the way in. If you apply too far in, it'll "close up" your eyes. I like a doe-y, bright-eyed look, so I avoid the inner corner of my eye.

18. Next, apply a light coat of mascara to the top (you have lashes on so you don't need to overdo the mascara). Also apply a decent coat to the bottom lashes.

19. Now for the lips. Apply the REDD liner, tracing the outer shape of your lips. I always color in the corners of my lips both on the right and left side, upper and lower. Then I add CHILI to the center of my lips. Be careful not to apply red lipstick too early because it may bleed. I applied it literally right before we got out of the car. 

Presto, Gorgeous Mama!

​Holiday Hair

I won't get into details about hair because everyone has different hair. All I know is that I wanted to make a statement with my hair this year. Like I said earlier, I don't often get to dress up and "go all out" with my hair and makeup, so why not have fun? Thus, for our holiday card shoot, I wore extensions. My hair isn't this long normally and having lost a ton of hair after birthing my son, V,  I wanted to add back some volume and length.

When I use extensions, I use clip-in extensions. For this shoot, I used two large strands. Before I put the extensions in, I washed and blow-dried my hair. I then put in rollers (not hot rollers -- yet, just regular rollers) to the crown of my head to add some volume. I wore these around the house while I played with the kids. Before I started my makeup, I then put in hot rollers, just to the crown of my head. If you can't tell, I really wanted volume.

After I took the rollers out, I added the extensions in, then used a thicker curling wand to lightly curl the remainder of my hair. I wanted a loose and natural wave. At last, I added Euphora Hair Spray. Ummmm, it's the best hair spray ever. It keeps the shape and doesn't weigh down your hair.

​Outfit

Funny story. I tried to convince Ryan, my husband, to do a pajama Christmas Card shoot. He totally denied me, saying that he wouldn't be caught dead doing a serious pajama shoot in the middle of a Christmas tree farm. Don't worry guys, I'm going to get him to do it, eventually. Anyways, because he denied my pajama idea, I needed something to wear so I went shopping. Yep, that's what he gets :)

I found my entire outfit online. It is so much easier to shop online than to go to the store. With kids it is nearly impossible to have an enjoyable and successful shopping experience, and I also find it is harder to find the things that I need in the store.  

If you are in the market for a holiday outfit, Revolve has the absolute cutest stuff and the most variety of options. I knew I wanted plaid, and they had like a zillion options. I also wore Spanx under my dress, just to keep it real. And, I wore the Lagos pearl earrings that the hub got me for my bday. Below are my outfit details:

REVOLVE "JACK" BY BB DAKOTA REXFORD DRESS
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SAM EDELMAN PALOMA OVER THE KNEE BOOT

​Nails

Get your nails done! Not sure about you, but I feel so much prettier and more glamorous when I get my nails done. True story, I took BOTH boys to the nail salon with me the day of our holiday card shoot. I was desperate. I hadn't gotten my nails done in months and really, really, really wanted to feel pretty. I gave Lincoln my iPhone and played one-handed with V and also held him some of the time. The guy doing my nails also ended up holding him for a period of time. Serious. They were so nice and it was so worth it. Mama needed a mani/pedi. I chose a warm grey color; did gel on my nails and regular polish on my toes. Y'all, it makes a difference. Do it.

Exercise + Nutrition

Since I went through postpartum depression/anxiety, I have gotten really into exercise. And not just walking/running here and there, like full-on hardcore exercise. It makes me feel like a million bucks and works wonders on my mind. Not only is it good for my psychological well-being, it also gives me energy like you wouldn't believe. I have come to know and love hardcore exercise and I highly recommend that you exercise on days that are important to you. Because why? Because you will feel your best.

For me personally, our holiday card shoot was important for many reasons. It is a memory that I will remember forever. We took the kids out to a magical Christmas Tree farm and created once-in-a-lifetime memories. I wanted to feel good and I wanted to have energy. The number one thing that helps me achieve those feelings is exercise.

In addition to mentally feeling great on such an important day, I wanted to look good and exercise helps me achieve a nice glow and literally makes me look/feel happier - which ultimately shows through in photos. 

Last but not least, try and eat healthy a few days before the shoot. You'll also want to ensure that you eat healthy the day of the shoot. I opt for green smoothies. Another important part of looking and feeling healthy is hydration. Drinking enough water will make you feel good, give your energy and also help you GLOW. If you want that beautiful glow, drink up!

That's all for now, mamas. Be sure and make these holiday moments also about you. You do a lot for your family and I'm here to convince you that you deserve to look and feel your best. Enjoy the moments and be the best version of yourself!

xx,

​ILA