"Just because you have kids, doesn’t mean that you need to look like you slept under a rock."

By JACQUI PORTER

When I became a mother, I was adamant that I wouldn’t let myself down in the personal care department. I had always been a girly girl, and enjoyed putting time into making myself look and feel better.

BC (Before children) this would mean an entire afternoon devoted to primping and preening, waxing, exfoliating and before a night out, these days, maybe just slapping on a nice smelling body lotion after a shower. As ironic as it sounds though, with the little time you have for yourself as a mother, I think it became more important to me to just take a few minutes and put some effort into myself before starting the day. Just because you have had children, doesn’t mean that you want to look like you slept under a rock.

So even though I usually do have a child hanging off me, I still try to take the time in the morning to throw on a bit of makeup (even if it’s just blush and mascara) and try and make it look like my outfit was purposefully chosen, rather than just collected from the floor-drobe in my bedroom.

This brings me to my pet beauty hate. There is nothing worse than choosing an outfit while refereeing arguments, making sure the kids don’t hurt themselves and/or trash the house in the five minutes I get ready, only to get into said outfit and have white marks appear all down the side of the top. Not a good look.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Dove. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me. At one point, I just stopped wearing black t-shirts all together because it didn’t matter which bizarre yoga move I did trying to get into the top, somehow, somewhere a white mark would appear, and I would usually notice it once I actually got out of the house and had no option but to sit at the lights with a baby wipe trying in vain to make my clothes look clean again.

And it wasn’t just black tops. Recently I had the opportunity to attend a very swanky awards dinner in Canberra with my husband. He was there to receive an award and I was beyond proud.

Naturally, this meant that I should needed to go shopping for a new outfit. I chose a gorgeous dark blue lace dress, totally overpriced, but totally amazing to wear. Having checked into our hotel, and having some time without children, I had a long relaxing shower, spent time actually drying and styling my hair into some kind of up do, and applied my make up with care.

I swanned around in a dressing gown for a few hours feeling fabulous in hotel slippers (because that’s what you do in hotels) and then finally about half an hour before we were about to leave, put on my dress which had been staring at me lovingly from its coat hanger pedestal for the duration of the afternoon. I slipped on my dangerously high heels (the kind reserved for seated events) and had one last look in the mirror.

You guessed it. White marks, all down the side. I looked like a lacy tiger. Out came the baby wipes again, desperately trying not to damage the delicate material. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement.

Going without deodorant just isn’t an option ok people, but I can tell you that my old deodorant went straight to the bin.

What’s your pet beauty hate?

Here are a few pet beauty hates from the MM team…

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