A baby wreaks a lot of havoc on one’s beauty routine. They’re in your face constantly, you get no sleep, and you barely have a moment to go to the bathroom, let alone take a shower or blend your contouring. The biggest issue, though, is that babies and lipstick don’t really mix.
With a new baby, chances are good that you will be carrying that baby very close to your face most of the time. People also tend to like to kiss their new babies on the head, which is great and the babies like it, but if you do it while wearing red lipstick your baby will be covered in lipstick, and that’s not as cute as it sounds.
Also, if you wear red lipstick around the baby, the baby will become obsessed with grabbing your mouth. Your lips, once painted red, are fascinating. You can try to resist, but the baby is going to grab them right in its little baby fist when you least expect it.
Honestly, wearing lipstick around a baby is so difficult I basically just stowed all my reds for a solid year. Saving them for when you get an afternoon off is probably the best system to guarantee your baby does not get covered in lipstick.
- Eschew all shine: Shiny, glossy, or even moist lipsticks are stickier and more easily smeared. If you’re going to wear a lipstick around a baby, stick with something matte.
- Try a stain: A nice lip stain leaves behind some good color without putting on pigment that can be grabbed off your face by little hands.
- Blot like your life depended on it: After applying lipstick, blot, then blot some more. The more you blot your lips, the less excess product there will be for the baby to smear all over its face.
- Wear large bracelets: If the baby is grabbing at your mouth, a large, shiny, bangle bracelet makes an excellent distraction.
- Always carry baby wipes: If you’re responsible for a baby, you’re probably doing this anyway. But you’ll probably want to keep wipes around because when you least expect it, someone is going to shove their whole fist in your mouth. (It’s the baby, not a random person off the street. That would be weird.)
- Focus on the eyes: Maybe use the new baby phase to get really good at that smoky eye you’ve always wanted to master. It’s pretty easy to wear mascara and eyeliner around a baby, so it might be a good idea to just focus on the eyes for a while until you get your lips back.
- Wait a year: Once a baby is walking, grabbing your lips and pulling on them no longer seems quite as entertaining.
Beauty Expert & Hairstylist, Contributing Editor
Dorothy has been a beauty fanatic since she was a preteen growing up in a small Idaho town. She honed her makeup and hair skills on her willing mother and she’s a pro with a pair of tweezers, having fixed many a friend’s unibrow in college. Susan believes the true secret to beauty comes from within, but the right application of mascara and lipstick can help.
