In the weeks after your baby’s birth, you may catch a glimpse of your mascara-streaked face in the mirror and want to scream. You wouldn’t be the first to have encountered this problem. New moms are so consumed with their infants that they often forget to take care of themselves. If you’ve been feeling down about your looks—on top of having baby blues—and want to perk up your prettiness, it’s easy with the help of some exciting beauty apps. Ditch the dark under-eye circles and dull skin and use the tips and tutorials from these five beauty apps.
Top 5 Beauty Apps for the Postpartum Mom
1. Honest Beauty
A sure-fire frontrunner, this free app has a 4+ rating on iTunes and was featured on the App Store as an Editor’s Choice in the lifestyle category. You can try out beauty products “live!” Just use the camera on your smartphone to see what makeup looks good on you before you buy it. This is also an e-commerce app, so this makes it easy for you to buy the beauty product you like.
Jessica Alba, model, actress, mother, and founder of the company, shows you how to put on makeup to make the most of your appearance. It’s like a pampering session right in your own living room—with your baby by you!
The Honest Beauty app also offers skin care tips. Why not take a few moments—while your little one naps—to brighten up your skin? For moms with sensitive skin, the products cater to such needs. The Honest Beauty team researched and devoted oodles of time into creating a product that won’t harm or irritate mommy’s skin.
Users of Honest Beauty say that customer service is great and that the app works smoothly. If users have any technical questions, the Honest Beauty reps have received many positive reviews and are known to be “helpful” and “kind.” These qualities are welcomed by postpartum moms who could use extra TLC. It also turns out that Honest Beauty is a branch of The Honest Company, which sells diapers and eco-friendly products for the entire family!
The Honest Beauty app requires iOS 8.0 or later, and it’s compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
2. ipsy
This app offers beauty tips from the ipsy sampling service by Michelle Phan, a makeup demonstrator who became a YouTube sensation. Using the ipsy app is a way to try five samples, plus a “Glam Bag” (makeup bag) for $10/month. The samples are picked to fit your interests and are based on a quiz you take. Makeup products in the Glam Bag may be from brands ranging from Smashbox to Urban Decay. Beware, however, that some ipsy app users claim that the products take a while to arrive, but that it’s worth it once they do. Readers of Marie Claire magazine voted the Glam Bag from ipsy “a seriously addictive subscription service.”
Here are some more key ipsy perks:
- Exclusive beauty deals each week
- Points for purchases
- Award-winning YouTube demos that provide tips on getting the look you want.
- ipsy community, which includes ipsy stylists Michelle Phan, Christen Dominique, Desi Perkins, and others, helps you keep up with beauty trends
Be sure your iPhone, iPod, or iPod Touch has iOS 8.3 or later to use the ipsy app.
3. Birchbox
This is another popular app among women who need a little pick-me-up advice to achieve better beauty. With Birchbox, you can sign up for samples that best fit your needs and get tips for polishing up your looks.
What makes Birchbox stand out from some other beauty apps? It offers a newly-enhanced Help Center and it also sends a pretty little sample box to your address each month for the same $10 monthly price tag as some competitors.
Some Birchbox users say the app offers competitively priced products, yet doesn’t have “the functionality to see different product views.” Plus, postpartum moms who are watching these demos say they can’t see other customers using the product—this is something Sephora’s app offers.
The Birchbox app is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and requires iOS 7.0 or later.
4. Sephora to Go
This is Sephora USA’s first official app for Android™, and it lets you zoom in on the product. You can also look at photos of people who resemble you and who have used the product. Try on different looks by picking the hair color and skin tone that most closely matches yours and hit “apply.”
This app has Sephora’s famed features available. You can also shop anytime using your mobile device. Some Sephora to Go users say they have experienced Apple Pay glitches. Despite that small hiccup, the app rates 4.5 stars on iTunes.
Sephora to Go is easy-to-use. Its Welcome Page has four main choices:
- Beauty Insider: browse Sephora’s boards, editors’ picks, and “how-to” videos
- Inspire Me: see “today’s obsession” in beauty products
- Shop: browse beauty products while you go about your everyday mommy duties
- Mobile offers: check out skincare products and fragrances, and reorder while on the go
With Sephora to Go, get the latest makeup tips from watching tutorials on a mobile device. You also can get ideas for new looks from photos on The Beauty Board or in The Sephora Glossy.
This app uses iOS 7.0 or later. It’s compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It comes in 30 different languages—from English to Japanese to Spanish!
5. Bellashoot
This free app offers hundreds of tutorials and reviews on makeup, along with how-to’s on makeup and nails. You’ll find practical tips from other moms and from beauty stylists all over the planet! You can contribute yourself, too. Save and easily share your new found beauty tips or tutorials. Simply snap a selfie and then tag pictures of products you want to share with friends. With Bellashoot, it’s easy to share your favorite makeup products and tutorials on Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
The Bellashoot app runs on iOS 7.0 or later. It’s compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Now that you have these five apps at your leisure, you can stamp out those baby blues with hues of blue makeup.