Your little Cinderella has the perfect prom dress, the perfect hairstyle and hopefully the perfect date. But nothing completes an outfit like a flawless face. You can hit up the local drugstore, but all those little purchases add up quickly. And how in the world do you create that smoldering, smoky eye effect? Even a “natural face” is unnaturally hard work.

Oh, prom. The climax of every great teen movie. Remember the empowerment we felt when Andie walked into prom with Duckie with her head held high and her body wrapped in her reconfigured pink prom dress? (OK – the dress was kind of hideous, and I’m still inflamed she chose Duckie over Blaine, but darn it, the girl had spunk!)

When reality star Kendra Wilkinson showed off her newborn son in magazines last December, I thought, cute baby, but OMG, check out her nails! They were perfectly manicured! And dark! I can’t remember the last time I wore dark red polish.

As moms, we happily trade vanity for motherhood. We give up manicures so we can spend that extra half an hour playing with our little ones – or catch up on a week’s worth of laundry.

But sometimes, darn it, we just want to look pretty.