Alexandra Clarke has 15 minutes to pull herself together in the morning. They occur sometime after she nurses her 9-month-old daughter, Simone; makes breakfast for her 3-year-old son, Soren; dresses both; and frantically gulps down her coffee. "I have a little window between 8:30 and 8:45 when I wash my face," says Clarke, 34, who lives in Brooklyn. "I don't shower until late at night." If she's lucky, she can put on tinted moisturizer and sneak some eyeliner, too—because no matter how insane things get, "I can't function without eyeliner."
Clarke, a freckled brunette of Korean and Irish descent, loves all that girly stuff—so much, in fact, that she e-mailed Cookie a few months ago, pleading for an overhaul. "My routine has been reduced to a quick smear of face cream and a perpetual ponytail," she wrote. "Help me!!!!" Her story was all too familiar: Prekids, she had worked full-time as the retail director of a clothing brand and "had hours to pick out what to wear and have my hair done." She quit her job a year after Soren was born, got pregnant again, and pared way down. "When you're home alone with your kids, you grab whatever's around," she says.
So on a brisk, sunny late-winter morning, Clarke dropped off her son at preschool, left her daughter with a sitter, and hauled her breast pump to the Bumble and Bumble salon in downtown Manhattan. There she was greeted by hairstylist Sabrina Michals and makeup artist Tina Turnbow. First things first: Off with her hair. Michals gave Clarke—whose last cut had been done in her apartment by her mother-in-law—a layered, Kate Moss-inspired style, complete with sexy bangs.
Then Turnbow took over, armed with tweezers and tubes of concealer and lip stain. Twenty minutes later, she swiveled the chair to face the mirror—and Clarke's face broke into a big, pleasantly startled smile. "I feel glammed up," she said. "For the past nine months, my life's been a free-for-all. Last night was the first time Simone slept through. It's time to start feeling more womanly." Then she added, a little giddily, "Maybe I'll get my husband's family to watch the kids tonight."
Target Areas
The Eyes
"My eyes give away my fatigue, so liner and mascara are my quickest pick-me-ups."
The Lips
"I try to put on lipstick or stain once in the morning, just as a mental boost. But I never have time to reapply."
The Skin
"I have very sensitive skin. Even if I use expensive products, it's usually dry, irritated, red, or all three."
The Hair
"It was thick and bouncy throughout my last pregnancy. But five months postpartum, it turned as limp as a noodle."
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