Getting dressed and out the door when you’re a mom should be a sport. You cannot fathom how hard it is until you have little tikes (almost wrote ticks, LOL). You think you know what you’re wearing and then it’s blasted with chocolate milk. You are walking out the door and realize you your kids are dressed but you’re still not wearing shoes. When my dear friend Meira suggested that I do a mommy makeover on her, I was so honored and inspired to create functional looks for her. I am excited to share my first make-over with you and have you learn a little about Dr. Meira Berman!
I met Meira at MaZi Dance Fitness about 9 (wait NINE) years ago when we were both childless and carefree. LOL We became fast friends and have kept up with each other through the years. On top of being a mama of 3 kids including a gorgeous 6 month old doppelganger of herself, she is a business owner and doctor at Elements Dental Studio! This beauty is busy and I know how easy it is to feel like you lose your sense of style when you’re covered in spit-up and/or staff!
THE FACE
I believe that your #lotd begins with your face and I felt it would be a disservice to not address her make-up in the make-over. So we began with going over her beauty concerns. Meira felt that her skin lacked luster, seemed discolored and tired.
For these issues I recommended my go-to’s from BeautyCounter; No. 1 Brightening Facial Oil, No. 1 Brightening Facial Mask, Rejuvenating Eye Cream, & the Adaptive Moisture Lotion. The Facial Oil and Mask help bring back that youthful glow and gets rid of dark spots (often caused by pregnancy induced melasma), the Eye Cream is a must of tired, sleepless mamas, and the Moisture Lotion makes your skin supple.
She doesn’t regularly wear make-up so she was definitely hesitant to dabble in it at first. You can keep your make-up very simple but still get a lot of POW WOW for it. I recommended my other go-to’s as seen here: the Dew Skin Moisturizing SPF (my favorite product ever), The Pinch of Blush, Volumizing Mascara, and the Lip Gloss since she wanted a subtle glowy look!
Meira fell in love with the Dew Skin consistency and loved how her skin felt! The Lip Gloss was also a score because it had a great feel on her lips. Look how gorgeous she looked with so little!
The Outfits
Once we felt like we were in a good spot with her easy, daily make-up routine we went on to her wardrobe opportunities. In short, Meira isn’t wearing a lot of what’s in her closet. WE ALL HAVE THIS PROBLEM, AM I RIGHT? She wanted;
1. separates she could dress up and down and switch out for a endless looks
2. clothes that are child-proof (2 tots and an infant!)
3. made her feel put together but without a fuss
These were my top 5 strategy pieces: 1) Statement belt 2) Jacket/Blazer 3) Great denim 4) An uber flattering top 5) Black dressy, comfy pants, the rest is gravy, really because you can keep switching out tops if you have these things in place! Since we only had 2 hours, we didn’t get a chance to grab shoes but my recs are below!
She and I also fell in love with a dress, as tends to happen at Anthropologie! Hey, a girl has to have something to look forward to in a pretty dress!
This is her dressing room preview:
TA-DA!
Meira looked beyond stunning in her new look!
This woman is not just beautiful, she is also incredibly wise, so I asked her to share a little more about being a mom, a business owner, a woman.
Motherhood advice- Do whats right for you. Having a child is life altering in ways you can’t imagine, and there is no way to prepare for what is lies ahead. I read so many books with my first child, especially about sleep. And I spent so long stressing about why she was not behaving like the books said she was supposed to. One night after listening to her cry for almost 3 hours, I threw away all of the books, and just did what I knew would make us all happy. And she slept with us for the next 1.5 years. And we were happy. Then i decided to raise my kids my way and not worry about what other people ( including my own mother) thought of it. It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparing your kids/parenting style to those around you, but I have made and effort to tune it all out and focus on what is right for my family.
Let go of your old standards. In my former life my house was always clean and organized, I made healthy meals everyday, laundry was a non issue, and my to-do list always got done. I was always on top of everything. I tried to maintain this lifestyle after my kids were born, and I just got burnt from working at the office, and then coming home and dealing with the kids, and then cleaning everything up, doing all of the laundry etc only to realize I had to go to bed so I had the energy to do it all again. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was not a sustainable lifestyle for me, and that I was going to have to let some things go, or accept a life of constant anger and frustration. So now my house is not as organized, my laundry is in a state perpetual state of semi-completion, sometimes my kids eat cereal and ice cream for dinner, my son is not yet registered for kindergarten but he will be before school starts! Letting go has made me a happier person. There are many days where I look around at the chaos and just marvel at how far I have fallen, but then I just laugh because it is so absurd.
-As a business owner. There is still so much I am learning every day since I am still pretty new at it. The most important lesson thus far is to not let fear paralyze you. There is so much to be afraid of when you start a business, but you have to take risks in order to grow. I absolutely hate going outside of my comfort zone, but every time I have it has turned out for the best. The other lesson I’ve learned is to stay true to myself and my values. It is so easy to be tempted to follow the path of least resistance and easy money, but to a large extent your business is an extension of yourself, and you must never compromise your values and beliefs for financial gain ( some would say this sentiment makes me a terrible business woman, but I’m okay with that).
