Four Fast Beauty Tips to Get Out the Door in the Morning for a Busy, and Tired Mom

July 13, 2016 No Comments A Well Crafted Lady

I received complimentary products with purpose of trying out and sharing my experience with my readers. The products I share about today have made it into my daily beauty routines. Thank you for reading and helping to support the companies that help make this blog run. I’ve included affiliate links in this post, all affiliate links are marked with an *. For more information on my sponsored posts and affiliate partners please read my policies page.

I value sleep a lot. It is a commodity that my eight month old doesn’t seem to value quite as much as I do. When I had a 1.5 hour commute to work and was pregnant with the little guy, I came up with a few ways to get out the door and to work looking presentable in the least amount of time possible. I moved recently and have a lot less of a commute, but still have hung on to some of the habits I created then. Hopefully some of these daily habits of mine help another sleep-deprived lady out there!

Four beauty tips for getting out the door FAST

First I should mention that these five steps are what work for me. I don’t assume everyone has the same routine or beauty needs that I do. I often go out of the house with little to no makeup. I also have no problem leaving my house with my hair wet if pressed for time. Some days I do longer beauty routines, and other days I stick to a routine that takes fifteen minutes or less.

1. Multi-task showering

Showering is MY time. I shower daily and sometimes twice a day. While I do value the cleanliness factor, I really value my time in the shower as my time to myself where all other noises are tuned out. I take three to eight minute showers most mornings and in that time I wash my hair/body, oil-pull my teeth, shave my legs and clean the shower. Leaving my coconut oil* and a spoon in my bathroom helps make me remember to oil pull a couple days out of the week. (It all may be in my mind, but I find oil-pulling relaxing. On days I do oil-pull I feel like my teeth look whiter and my mouth feels cleaner. I also feel that when I am starting to get inflamed gums this habit helps with decreasing pain and inflammation. Note: I’m not a dentist.) I also leave a non-toxic shower cleaner* and handled sponge in the shower so that I can easily clean the shower as I am in it.

2. Quick hair solutions and routine

When I had short hair I would easily wash it every morning and either let it air dry or use a hair dryer for five minutes or less. Nowadays I have longer hair and air drying/ hair drying takes a lot longer than it used to and doesn’t always garner the results I want without some serious coaxing. I currently wash my hair every other day. When I wake up early enough I wash and use my hair dryer to give it the shape and style I really like. Most hair washing days end up with my hair in a bun. I swear by the Goody Spin Pins* for those days when I need to just throw my hair up in a hurry.

Typically the day after I wear my hair in a bun I use the wave of my hair (from being wound into a bun for a day) to my advantage. I spray some dry shampoo* through my hair, scrunch up the wave a bit with some sea salt spray* and hit the road!

When wanting a polished look with little time I’ll blast my wet hair with my Pro Tools Ionic Hair Dryer* using the diffuser attachment to make sure I keep the volume in my hair. I follow up with a heat protector (currently using the Infusium 23 Repair and Renew Spray*) and then a quick run over my bangs and face-framing layers with my Pro Tools Ceramic Straightener*.

3. Simple and quick make-up solutions

I’ve talked about my new favorite make-up brand in a previous post, but I am still using and enjoying products from Mineral Fusion, so I’ll be sharing about it some more. Most days I don’t have time to do a full face of make-up with eyebrows, eyeliner, bronzers and the like. Because skin protection is important, I moisturize with the Mineral Fusion Facial Moisturizer with SPF 40* (note: I’m pictured with SPF 15, but I liked it so much I ended up buying the SPF 40.

My on-the-go makeup bag is filled with what I believe are the essentials for my work face. I have the Mineral Fusion loose powder, blush, brown eyeliner and mascara in the bag. I’ve combined it with one of my favorite, inexpensive three color nude eyeshadow sets* and whichever lip color suits my fancy. My whole makeup routine takes approximately 2 minutes.

A curated selection of work outfits that you love will help make getting out of the house in the morning go much more smoothly! via A Well Crafted Party — Bathroom selfies happen a lot at my office since there are floor to ceiling mirrors!

4. Curated Work Wardrobe

I like clothes. I like them a lot. I don’t however like how anything in my closet looks on me at 6:30 in the morning. After having my second child I had to go out and purchase new work clothing to fit my new size and shape. When doing so I decided to purchase pieces that could easily go together and that felt good on me. I have probably a rotation of 10 work outfits that I mix and match. Sure, most mornings I look at my closet and feel bored, but for the most part, I’m feeling confident and comfortable at work with little effort.

When all else fails, add a snapchat filter! — At the end of the morning, if you’re still not feeling put together, just add a Snapchat filter! 😉 PS. Find me on Snapchat snapping as JenniBost!

A Well Crafted Lady

Things to do in Portland: Bottle and Bottega

May 26, 2016 2 Comments A Well Crafted Lady

Bottle and Bottega invited myself and another local blogger out to try a complimentary painting and wine experience to see how it would fit for our readership. As always, all opinions are my own. To see my review posting policies please visit my policies page.

Over the course of my pregnancy and the past few months I really haven’t had the energy or availability to explore the Portland area as much as I typically enjoy. I am thrilled to start writing about the local area again! I can’t be more excited to share about this Mom’s Night Out experience I had with my friend, Lindsey of Running with Tongs.

Walking into the Bottle and Bottega space I knew that I was in for a fun evening. I loved the bright colors in the workspace and instantly imagined throwing about 10 different parties in that space. My friend Lindsey and I both thought about possibly bringing our kids out for the Bottle and Bottega All Ages events, but in the end decided we both needed a mom’s night out pretty badly. When the sparkling wine hit my hand my decision felt better than ever.

The night that we visited was the mixed media evening where we got to select a couple of different images to work off of or create our own mixed media painting. We still had an artist walking us through the steps, but many of us created different paintings. This is something I LOVE. While I always have fun at paint and sip events, sometimes, I just really don’t care for the image we are painting or want an image like everyone else in my home. This let me truly personalize an image.

I chose to do the “love” image and use a color scheme that coordinated with my upcoming anniversary party. The painting basically started out as a series of strips and scraps of paper. Lindsey chose to do the same painting and picked just a slightly different color scheme. When it was all said in done we were supposed to write the word “love” across the painting. Instead I chose to do the word “cheers” so that I can hang it up over my bar area in the future.

What to plan for when going to Bottle & Bottega:

Parking: Bottle and Bottega is located in NW Portland. There is both street parking and a convenient little paid parking lot near the workshop. It is also quite accessible to the MAX as it isn’t a far walk to the nearest stop. I chose to pay the $5 for parking so that my car was nearby because I knew it was going to be a semi-late night for this momma.

Timing: The event started around 6 PM and lasted until 9 PM. Due to the painting and drying time it is a longer event… which only means more WINE!

Beverages: The shop had a pretty good selection of red, white, and sparkling wine as well as some beer options. Beverage costs were above the $40 painting fee, but the prices were reasonable. The $40 painting fee gets you all the painting supplies, instruction, and your canvas to take home. I opted to purchase a frame for my canvas for just $20 more. Now my painting looks really finished.

What to Wear: Anything! No, but seriously, there were aprons to help protect clothing and the paint is water soluble. If you are really worried about something then probably opt to not wear it, but I wore my work clothes and came through unscathed!

Besides a Mom’s Night Out… what type of events work at Bottle and Bottega?

The cool thing—to me, a bonafide party junkie—about Bottle and Bottega’s business is that there are a variety of ways to make the sip and paint event work for parties or outings.

Check out the paintings from the evening I attended on the Bottle and Bottega Facebook page.

Public Events: Bottle and Bottega has public events that you (by yourself) or with a couple of friends can sign up for and attend. The public events are all listed on a calendar with a picture of the painting that they are going to be doing during the event.

Private Events: As for private events there are so many cool options! This would make for a fun bridal shower, bachelorette party, graduation party, baby shower… list goes on and on. The private parties have an option to create paintings (as seen above) or do collages of paintings that might don the house of a newly-wed or the nursery of a newborn.

Corporate Parties & Fundraising: Wouldn’t a paint and sip event be a great team builder? One of the HUGE art pieces in the workshop was a collage piece as an example of what a corporate party could create. I would love to do something like this with coworkers and then go to work to see the painting we created together each day. The team at Bottle and Bottega can travel to a site for an event as an option too.

Have you ever been to a paint and sip event? If so, what did you like about it?

Thank you to Bottle and Bottega for the fun Mom’s Night Out and painting experience!

A Well Crafted Lady

Working Moms Series Preview

March 14, 2016 No Comments A Well Crafted Lady

Just dropping in to show you what I’ve been working on behind the scenes these days! This April I’ll be featuring a series on Working Moms— Their challenges and joys while working throughout motherhood. I’m so excited to share the stories of some amazing women!

But, of course, these 13 women are not representative of all women. I’d like to know your story as well! If you are a working mom and want to share why you work, the challenges of a working mom, the joys of a working mom or any story about working during motherhood then please share with the hashtag #wellcraftedworkingmoms

A huge thank you to the women who volunteered and participated in the interviews and photoshoot. Thank you to Momma Bear Magazine for coming and shooting some amazing images that we will be sharing this April and to Madeline Roosevelt from Up Close with Madi for hair and makeup!

Note: This is not a series saying that working motherhood is the way to do things. It is simply women sharing their stories about working in motherhood. I’m not here to add to the mommy wars. I am currently a working mom and wanted to hear the stories of others in the same situation.

Self Care

Four beauty tips for getting out the door FAST

1. Multi-task showering

2. Quick hair solutions and routine

3. Simple and quick make-up solutions

4. Curated Work Wardrobe

What to plan for when going to Bottle & Bottega:

Besides a Mom’s Night Out… what type of events work at Bottle and Bottega?

Have you ever been to a paint and sip event? If so, what did you like about it?