Mother's Day is a special time of year when we take a moment to celebrate the women that have molded us into who we are today. With that idea in mind, The Lip Bar not only released a new "fire engine red" lip color called "Hot Mama," but crafted a campaign around young women celebrating the beauty of motherhood.
According to a statement The Lip Bar revealed that "Hot Mama is an ode to motherhood and a celebration of one of the most impactful roles a woman can have, being a mother. The color red has often been identified with 'power' and we salute and intend to further solidify the power that lies within each woman who has given life."
The Lip Bar founder Melissa Butler wearing "Hot Mama"
Courtesy of The Lip Bar
The Hot Mama campaign features real-life mamas Adrienne, Jordan, Lauren, Desire, and Tasneem rocking the bold lippie in motherhood power stances.
In her portrait, Jordan can be seen breastfeeding her infant son Micah in bantu knots and full glam. The new mom shared, "I just got back to work and I've noticed that if I look good I feel good. So I make sure to make time in the morning to put on a little makeup, a power lip, and mascara, before I leave to drop the little one off at daycare. It provides me with some 'me time' (even though it's only about 5 minutes) and carries me for the rest of the day."
Hot Mama Jordan
Courtesy of The Lip Bar
"I feel like I can tackle anything that comes my way."
Hot Mama Desire
Courtesy of The Lip Bar
This release is a perfect match for the beauty brand as motherhood is embraced in different sizes, shades, and forms.
Desire, who also starred in the Hot Mama campaign, was pregnant at the time and shared that for her motherhood began in that instant. "I became a mom when I learned that I was pregnant. I say that because immediately my mind started thinking through and adjusting for all of the ways I needed to make space in my life and lifestyle for my baby. From thinking about what I could and couldn't eat to even beliefs I had about parenting, my mind immediately went into preparation mode. I had 39 weeks to adjust and ready myself and my environment, but I definitely consider the day I learned I was pregnant as the day I became a mom," she told the beauty brand.
The visuals are not only striking but challenge the stigmas around public breastfeed (which was finally made legal in all 50 states in 2018) and showcases the diversity of motherhood because it's not one size fits all. And being a mom doesn't mean you can't embrace things that make you feel both powerful and sexy, including a poppin' red lip.
Check out additional photos from The Lip Bar's Hot Mama campaign below:
Courtesy of The Lip Bar
The Hot Mama campaign features real-life mamas Adrienne, Jordan, Lauren, Desire, and Tasneem rocking the bold lippie in motherhood power stances. In her portrait, Jordan can be seen breastfeeding her infant son Micah in bantu knots and full glam. The new mom shared, "I just got back to work and I've noticed that if I look good I feel good. So I make sure to make time in the morning to put on a little makeup, a power lip, and mascara, before I leave to drop the little one off at daycare. It provides me with some 'me time' (even though it's only about 5 minutes) and carries me for the rest of the day."
"I feel like I can tackle anything that comes my way."
This is release is a perfect match for the beauty brand as motherhood is embraced in different sizes, shades, and forms. Desire, who also starred in the Hot Mama campaign, was pregnant at the time and shared that for her motherhood began in that instant. "I became a mom when I learned that I was pregnant. I say that because immediately my mind started thinking through and adjusting for all of the ways I needed to make space in my life and lifestyle for my baby. From thinking about what I could and couldn't eat to even beliefs I had about parenting, my mind immediately went into preparation mode. I had 39 weeks to adjust and ready myself and my environment, but I definitely consider the day I learned I was pregnant as the day I became a mom," she shared with the brand.
The visuals from the campaign are not only striking but challenge the stigmas around public breastfeed (which was finally made legal in all 50 states in 2018) and showcases the diversity of motherhood because it's not one size fits all and that being a mom doesn't mean you can't embrace things that make you feel both powerful and sexy, including a poppin' red lip.
To shop the product and get into some "Hot Mama" of your own, click here.
RELATED
Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak
