Should I Feel Guilty About My Beauty Routine?

I will admit, sometimes I feel a little guilty for the fact that I do spend so much time putting on makeup and fiddling with my hair in the morning. It takes me minimum 20 minutes of bathroom prep time before I step out to take my kids to school, the grocery store, or even the gas station where sometimes no one will even glance at me. Why do I even bother right?

Luckily after reading Gwen Stefani’s article (mom of 2) in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar about why she wears makeup, I feel better about my beauty routine. She is quoted as saying this,

“I’ve always been a girl who loves to dress up, ” says Gwen. “I already put my makeup on twice today: I put it on to take my kid to school, and then I went home, washed my face, and put it on again to have lunch with you.” She even wears it at home because “I like to make my husband like me more,” she says, laughing, “and he likes it when I’m wearing makeup.”

Can I get an AMEN!! Gwen and I would get along just swimmingly, because this is me to a T. Yes, I have been known to do one neutral makeup look in the a.m., then decide I am feeling more drama come 3pm and add more. And I don’t know that my husband would totally admit this, but I KNOW he likes me in makeup – he always compliments a good smokey eye when I wear it.

When I run into some other moms in town who wear little to no makeup on a daily basis (and good for them for having the confidence, really), and they see me in full on mascara, foundation, and eye brows just running to pick up dog food at Target, I ALWAYS get, “HOW do you have the time and energy to put on makeup with 3 kids in the house??” And in my mind, I feel like they’re really saying “WHY do you ignore your kids and the dishes just to put on your face?? Don’t you have more important things to do?” or “That’s pretty vain of you.”

Now, I know most of them aren’t thinking the latter and it’s probably just my slight guilty conscious creeping in that I put on one more Dora The Explorer cartoon so that I can finish contouring my face when maybe I should be reading a 2nd book to my daughter. But since I am a makeup artist by trade, and truly enjoy the art and process of just applying makeup in general, this is what I do to relax and give myself more confidence. Some women take 45 minutes a day to exercise/yoga to clear their mind and feel better, I take 45 minutes to figure out what eye makeup and lip color combo I want to rock with my outfit.

As a mother, I think it’s all about doing whatever makes you happy in those few minutes you get to yourself during the day. Whether it be exercising, reading a book, or putting on your makeup, you should do what helps you mentally be able to tackle the day.

I also hope that as my daughter gets older that she sees that my long winded makeup and beauty routine translates into enhancing my natural self and that I’m not actually trying to change into a different person. To me, makeup is all about self improvement, and who can argue with that?? I also like this quote I read in the same magazine, written by author Elizabeth Wurtzel about her reasoning behind it being okay to spend a few extra minutes on ones appearance rather than just letting it all go to you-know-where…

“Looking great is a matter of feminism. No liberated woman would misrepresent the cause by appearing less than hale and happy.”

I’m interested to know if I’m in the majority or minority – How much time do you spend on your beauty routine in the morning?