How To Get A Pregnancy Glow Without A Fetus

I am continually being told I have a “pregnancy glow” this go round. I can’t decide if this is true or if it is the fact that it is always 80+ degrees outside and I am continually sweating. I’m sexy and I know it, right? Anyway folks, I have a secret…this?

All smoke and mirrors.

Literally, tiny little mirrors all over myself to make myself look somewhere in between glistening goddess and stripper. Pregnant or not, every spring/summer season, I strive for this look. It has taken years to come up with my arsenal…so today I share. I believe it comes down to a few main things:

#1 – Genetics

Sorry folks…I can’t claim to hold all the answers. While genetics kicked my ass and gave me a short ass torso so that my fetus can head butt my cervix while simultaneously kicking me in the lung, I did get some pretty nice skin. I had the occasional breakouts as a teen and even now but nothing to make me cry at picture day. I got lucky considering my dad had super oily skin while my mom deals with dry skin. I made a nice hybrid.  That being said…I still take care of my skin…for the most part

#2 – Exfoliate

To correlate to #1, I don’t use fancy cleansers. Honestly, I wash my face with Clearasil every morning.  I have never grown out of it. I have used fancy stuff and it was nice, but the price tags scare me and I figure I should live up that I don’t need some super space age face cleanser, right? Either way, I do make a point of exfoliating every day. I do this in the form of scrubs. Once again, not picky. I like something with a little bit of abrasive bits in it. If it tingles, even better. Here are some I have used and enjoy:

Neutrogena Deep Clean Scrub

Clearasil Daily Exfloiating Scrub

St. Ives Apricot Exfoliating Scrub

All easily purchased at the drug store or Target.

Also don’t stop at your face, squirt some into your loofa with your regular soap and scrub down that way too. You can buy fancy sugar scrubs and body washes made for it too, but meh. Works just as well.

For a special treat, my favorite spa treatment is a full body scrub. Trick here is you get soft skin AND basically a massage with it. 2 birds and shit. My local spa offers this service where you are on a table in a wet room. You are scrubbed with multiple scrubs and brushes and then jets come down to rinse you off. Then I always add on a few bucks and get a spray tan after with nice open pores. But you can get slathered with fancy creams and it is super nice. Treat yo self!

#3 – Sunless Tanner

Secret revealed…I sunless tan like a mofo. But not like “oh hey look at the oompa loompa!” but I do it gradually…all year. In the winter months, I might slap on some once a week. Just to keep the super pasty down. In the summer months, maybe every other day. Now all that said, not all sunless tanners are created equal. Jergens smells like ass. The true sunless tanners (not gradual) can be super tricky. Spray tan will stain shit. I have been trying to find the perfect thing since I was in high school. And I did and I already wrote about it.

L’oreal Sublime Glow

Bolding the Glow there so you don’t go buy Sublime Bronze. While that stuff will work when you need a super fast tan, it is not gradual. I would recommend it if you were going on vacation and wanted to look DRASTICALLY different the next day.  Both formulas contain flecks of mica to create those “mirrors” I talk about above…instantly giving you a glow even though the chemicals haven’t kicked in yet. The smell of the glow is nice too. Just a hint of mango butter and it makes my skin super soft. The one downfall of this brand is finding it. I haven’t seen it in a store for YEARS. But thanks to my good friends at Amazon, I have this stuff on Subscribe and Save every other month. I also put it on my face…once again because my genetics aren’t picky about it. They make a facial version if you are interested as well.

So save your skin from cancer. Slather this stuff on and then spray some sunscreen over it once it has dried to properly protect your skin from the sun.

#4 – Makeup

I mean…duh. I love makeup. I even showed you my typical routine already. While that all still rings true, I have found a perfect “shimmering” routine for summer. Thanks to Kelly going cray cray on Bobby Brown cosmetics like a Kardashian, I scored her hand me downs. Some which included the following 2 products I swoon over now:

Stila Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer

Stila Bronzing Tinted Moisturizer

Now each individually works great for their functions but i found mixing them give me a nice even glow. You get a little bit on bronze without looking like Snooki and a slight shimmer.WIN! I dab it on with a small makeup sponge (remember to dab and not rub to use less product AND get a dewier look).

Next I use a gold shadow to enhance my natural skin tone. This just brightens my eyes. Not super gold like a disco queen, just a small shimmer to make me look awake and beachy. You may be more red toned, so go with a pinkish shimmer. Just depends on you. I then curl my lashes and slap on some mascara so I don’t look dead (blonde lashes). Done. 5 minutes or less.

#5 – Smile

Might sound cheesy but a smile goes a long way. Even when I had the stomach bug, the next day at work, people commented on my rosy smile. Now I can rock a bitch face like a champ but I don’t carry it with me all the time. Just smile though, it changes everyone’s reaction to you. Promise 🙂

So off you go…get your glow on with or without the need for a man to implant a human in you.

Photo Credits:
Exfoliate: ©iStockphoto.com/Kathleen Snowden
Stila products: http://peppermint-lips.blogspot.com/2011/06/stila-tinted-moisturizers-review.html
Me: http://www.lauracasephotography.com