When K was very little and I would rock him to sleep, he would reach up and touch my eyelashes with his tiny finger to sooth himself. The second I felt the brush of his finger tips against the fringe of my lashes, everything around me would slow down and the day would melt away–It was just our time to be one again. As he got older, he started touching his own eyelashes when he was sleepy or agitated and it would instantly calm him down. To me this was the most precious and fascinating thing I had ever seen and now that he is older I hold tight to these memories of fleeting innocence.
During my maternity leave the first time around, I watched an immense amount of television, and I’m not afraid to admit, I binged on many a Netflix series, before making my way over to documentaries…a rabbit hole down which I tumbled hard. I started with Forks Over Knives, and then on to Food Matters, before hitting up another Netflix suggestion- The Human Experiment(maybe don’t watch this if you are pregnant now or you will be throwing everything you own out!). This one hit me particularly hard because it focused on all the really scary chemicals in my every day products that I relied upon so heavily. One segment in particular hit me hard about the lack of regulations on our makeup and skin care. I had always loved playing with makeup and heading to Sephora for the latest “It” product. I even worked at Sephora for a bit early in my teaching career. Needless to say, I was a makeup junkie and had the pounds of product to prove it.
Maybe it was just my post-pardum hormones, but a very real fear took hold of me when thinking about all the chemicals I was putting on my face that my baby was touching!! Our sweet moments of much needed self-soothing instantly seemed fraught with danger-damage that I was potentially causing my perfect creation. So over the next few months, I slowly started replacing my beloved makeup and skin care with more organic and chemical-free products.
Not long after, on a trip to Denver, I stumbled upon the Mecca- A little boutique called Aillea that specializes in being transparent about the products they sell to their customers. The owner, Kathryn, was so sweet and offered to do my makeup while she explained that she had worked in the makeup industry but left to find products that people could trust, and that was how she founded her business.
I left with a few new items and a new outlook on “Green” makeup. It doesn’t have to be all granola, in fact, I can find a wide variety of luxury products (check out my faves and must-haves below) that put my previous passions to shame AND I can feel good about going home and snuggling my cheek against my baby. (P.S. This is not a sponsored post! I just really love this company and shipping is free over $50…and you get free samples with every order.)
Here’s hoping baby #2 has a thing for eyelashes too :)
As I said, I love playing with makeup and the great thing about Aillea is that they offer a variety of eyeshadow pallets that let me experiment with different colors for day.
I’m notorious for changing up my eyeliner and I LOVE these ones that come in several different shades.
I love that I can come home now with a full face of makeup and not worry about snuggling with K or wrestling on the ground close to his face!
My bedtime routine is pretty simple: A good face wash that takes off my makeup and all the dirt from the day. I love this Indie Lee one from Aillea because it is super light and you only need a little bit to get everything off! And it has a nice smell-bonus.
The only other product I need is this multi-tasking moisturizer and vitamin C treatment. My skin has never felt so soft in my life, especially with the cold winter air in full effect the last few weeks.
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