Magnetic Lashes, Micro-needling, & Beauty Hacks For Mamas

Ok so not much of an intro here because I feel like a lot of you already know Weslie. I mean she’s guest posted on The Skinny Confidential many times ( see here: coffee enemas, hair care, tricks & tips, eyelash extensions ). You can also find her on her new & improved blog, Double You Dot ( my blog design company, BLOG-DOO, actually designed her new blog with her husband Brono…& it looks SICK AF ).

Weslie is a breath of fresh air.

I actually met the mommy of 3 on Instagram 5 years ago & clicked with her immediately.

She’s a very down to earth chick who beats to the tune of her own drum. Seriously though, Weslie makes you feel like you’re in her inner circle in the most relatable way. She’s the farthest thing from catty & is all about collaborating. Basically she rocks.

Her husband, Brono, is super creative & her kids are just SO, SAHHHH CUTE. Like they couldn’t get any cuter.

Ok so I’m going to be guest posting on her blog in the next two weeks— be sure you’re following along! On that note, let’s dive right into BEAUTY…SPECIFICALLY FOR MAMAS.

It’s Friday. Grab a glass of champagne, maybe some Cheez-Its, & get comfy because Weslie is going to break this shit DOWN. Shall we? Alright:

Hey guys!

It’s Weslie.

Lauryn asked me to share a few mommy beauty tips, and before I could even finish reading her email I already had 2 tips that I’ve been dying to share with you right off the bat.

1.) Magnetic Eyelashes, by OneTwo Cosmetics

You read that right. Magnetic lash strips.

Guys, these are a game changer. Long gone are the days of glueing strips to your eyes, applying coat after coat of mascara, or carving out time for lash extension fill appointments.

These things seriously upped by makeup game while saving me time and hassle during my makeup application and removal routines. They’re easy peasy, lemon squeezy… while giving you extra dramatic flare.

I have three kids.

Three still pretty young kids at 8, 5, and 2 years old. This means I’m right in the thick of it—I’m at that stage where I’m highly needed for every little thing-by every little person. Emotions run deep, and energies are high 24/7 around my house. I don’t know about you, but for me as a mom, I just don’t want to make the time for extra fussiness in my beauty routine. Less is most definitely more these days.

This is why I explain myself as the beauty minimalist. I want the least amount of stuff on my face as possible while looking put together and like I actually tried. This means that I expect the few products I do choose to use to make a very large impact. These OneTwo magnetic lashes definitely do just that for me. 

The photo on the left is my natural lash with a light coat of mascara, and the photo on the right was taken less than a minute after the first, but I’m wearing my magnetic lashes.

Pretty crazy difference, eh?

So…how do they work?

♡ There are two lash strips per eye.

♡ You separate the lash strips and place the first one on top of your lash line.

♡ Then you take second strip and place it underneath your lash line.

♡ The magnets do their job and connect, then they are secured to your lashes.

In simpler terms….you sandwich your natural lashes in between the two magnetic lash strips.

I’ve been wearing mine since November, and they’ve never slipped out of place, or have fallen off once. I love that they accentuate the outer corners of your lash line, and that they’re not too obnoxiously fake looking. No one has come up to me yet and said, “Whoa I like your false eyelashes!”….This is major plus for me.

There was a learning curve when I first started to wear them. For starters, I found out  that they look best when you apply a base coat of mascara concentrating on the middle, to the inner corner of your natural lashes. This helps to blend the magnetic lashes with your natural lashes more seamlessly.

Figuring out how to actually put them on took a few trial applications, but after a bit, I got the hang of it. Now I can put them on in about 15 seconds per eye. Seriously quick, guys. 

And the same goes for taking them off…I pinch the outer corners together, then gently lift them away from my natural lashes. That’s it.

It may all sound too good to be true, but it’s not. They’re real, and I love them.

Click here to shop

2.) My second mom status beauty hack is MICRO-NEEDLING.

It’s my opinion that micro-needling ( also called dermal rolling ) is the future of at home anti-aging skin treatments.

So what is it?

The idea behind micro-needling is this:

You gently roll the entire surface area of your face, neck, and decollate with a tool covered in hundreds of tiny needles, then you apply an anti-aging serum to sleep in overnight.

This sounds scary, I know. I didn’t like the idea of hundreds of tiny needles stabbing my face either, but guys, it’s not that bad. It’s really not! The needles vary in size and even the teensiest, tiniest needles work wonders. It feels more poky and scratchy,  rather than that sharp pain people associate with needles. 

So why do this?

Micro-needling is an extremely effective anti-aging treatment.

The needles puncture microscopic valleys into the skin.

These valleys made by the needles do a few things:

♡ Create a direct channel for anti-aging products to dive into.

♡ This makes the product penetration much deeper, and perform better than they would without micro-needling.

♡ Micro-needling creates a very controlled wound.

♡ With any wound on the skin your body sends extra collagen and blood to the wound.  More blood flow means more oxygenation to that area, which increases cell turn over rate. 

♡ Cell turn over rate is the rate in which skin renews itself. The faster this is, the more youthful your skin will become. And extra collagen helps the skin’s elasticity…plumping it up and making the skin more firm and bouncy, rather than saggy.

Do you see how micro-needling is really a one/two punch? You’re creating better product penetration with your anti-aging serums, while simultaneously “waking up” your skin and reminding it to renew and rejuvenate itself more often.

Consistent at home micro-needling, paired with the right topicals, can change the game for skin texture, uneven skin tone, & lines and wrinkles.

Crazy, right?!?

Micro-needling used to be solely done in med-spas and by dermatologists, but more recently companies have come out with at home micro needling kits, which is sooooo amazing for us moms! I use this one by Rodan and Fields  because I trust that its surgical grade steel needles ( important, guys ), and it comes with all the proper cleaning tabs ( equally important ). And the serum capsules that this comes with can’t be beat. Plus, how adorable! Little capsules! I die every time I break one open.

3.) The final mama beauty hack—well, I had to think about this one….

So you know how on Wednesday’s they wore pink? Well, on Thursdays, in my family, we groom.

I know this tip might seem a little obvious, but it’s the best/most realistic mom-in-the-thick-of-it with multiple young children tip I have to offer.

It’s this: condense all grooming and beauty treatments for yourself, and your children, into one block of time on the same day every week.

Create a routine and carve out time to make it happen…or it just wont happen. I know this from experience.

I do this because what mom on earth really has time to pamper herself and three, four, or maybe even five other tiny humans on a day-to-day basis? The answer: NO ONE!

This Thursday ritual ensures that my basic grooming and anti-aging skin care treatments ( plus my kid’s needs ) are met on a weekly basis.

Before our Thursday ritual came about I would haphazardly treat my children’s and my own grooming on an as-needed basis. Like blindly catching fly balls in the dark…I would just tackle things as they flew at me.

I’m neither proud or ashamed to admit that before our Thursday beauty day I would go weeks without shaving…weeks, and months without exfoliating my skin. My nails were always chipped with old polish covering over even older polish. My armpits at times would start to resembles Miley Cyrus’—but unlike Miley, I most definitely wasn’t trying to make a point. My hair was dried out from bleach, and my eyebrows were severely untamed. You get the picture…I was a bit of a slob-kabob.

And my kids….ohhh honey! It felt like at least one of them at any given time had raptor claws as fingernails….I just couldn’t keep up.

To be honest though, I didn’t see any of that. 

I was seeing my kids faces instead. I was putting food in their bellies and making sure they had homework done, and clean clothes to put on. More important than looking good has always been feeling good for us, so, I put all of my attention on making myself and my little tribe of little people feel really good.

The downside of this was that my life felt a lot like that game Whack-A-Mole. This way of tackling things just as they popped up made our days more chaotic and complicated, and much more scattered.

So, out of sheer desperation (and a few scary photo moments where I really couldn’t believe it was me I was seeing in the picture) I came up with our Thursday grooming ritual. I decided to hit everyone’s basic grooming needs on the same day, in one block of time, every week.

I broke it down into 4 categories; hair, skin, body, & nails.

Our Thursday nights look like this:

Hair:

I put raw coconut oil in mine and my kids’ hair and wrap it up in Saran Wrap. I let that sit and soak in for about three hours.

Weekly hair moisture mask…check!

Skin:

While our hair is soaking up all the coconut oil goodness, I switch gears and focus on my face.

I tweeze any weird hairs, clean up my eyebrows, then pull out the big guns.

I use my PMD self microdermabrasion device all over my face to quickly take off the dead skin cells built up over the week, then I micro-needle my face, neck, and chest.

Lastly, I apply my anti-aging serum.

Face…check!

Body:

I dry brush over my entire body working off the dry/dead skin, then give myself an airbrush tan. Yes! I spray tan myself! …And It’s easier than you may think…

My favorite solution is Norvell Organic. It’s organic ( obvi ), and free of parabens, allergens, and never tested on animals. Major plus.

Body….check!

Nails:

You have to let the airbrush tan sit on your skin for 2-3 hours before you can shower, so in that chunk of time (plus, the oil is still in our hair, remember) I pop popcorn, put on a family movie and go through the kids one by one and do a mini pedicure/manicure on each of them,  then turn to my own nails.

Nails…check!

Our Thursday ritual has quickly become one of my family’s favorite traditions. It’s been wildly successful! We all look a little kooky during the process with oily hair, and me especially with an overly bronzed body, but we’re in it together. We know no one is coming over, and we’re definitely not going out.

It’s the best multi-tasking family thing we do—- popcorn, movies, and girl talk ( with two added boys ), & getting what needs to be done, done. I’d call that killing two birds with one stone.

So, if you’re a mom with multiple young kids…try this out.

Get organized & condense everything into one chunk of time, once a week and stick to it. Pretty soon it will be routine and everyone will be one the same page. It’s awesome!

+ follow Weslie on Instagram.

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