Chapter Five: Sophie Cachia on Pyjama School Runs and Why Women Need to Stop Pretending They Can Balance Everything
We have spoken to founders, makeup artists, and content creators throughout this series. And then there is Sophie Cachia. Mother of three, founder of CACHIA, event creator behind Girls Girls Girls, author of not one but three books, and a woman who will look you dead in the eye and tell you she does the school run in her pyjamas every single day. No apologies.
Sophie is the kind of woman who makes you feel better about your own life just by being honest about hers. And her chapter might be the most refreshing one we have done yet.
Life right now looks like...
A lot. And Sophie is not going to pretend otherwise.
"My kids come first, always — everything else builds around their schedule. I've got a 12 and a 9-year-old at primary school with sport most nights and weekends, and a toddler who runs the household. I still choose to stay home with her 2-3 days a week while she's little, because being a mum is honestly my favourite thing I do."
The rest of the week is a different story entirely. Photoshoots, marketing days, planning sessions, product development, retail shifts in-store for CACHIA, event planning for Girls Girls Girls, content days for social media, and she has just finished writing her third book. Oh, and she is planning a wedding on top of all of that.
"Why not."
Two words. Absolute icon energy.
Her actual morning routine
Here is where it gets really good.
"My son rides his bike to school, but my daughter I drive — and by drive I mean I jump out of bed and get in the car exactly as I am, pyjamas and all. Every day looks different, honestly. Outside of work I'm very fresh-faced, no makeup. Ask any mum of three what her morning routine looks like and she'll probably just laugh at you."
We are laughing. But also deeply relieved. Because this is the truth of what mornings look like for most women and nobody ever says it out loud. Sophie just did. Pyjamas, no makeup, straight into the car. The school run does not care what you look like and honestly neither does she, and that is one of the most freeing things we have heard in this entire series.
The steps she never skips
Sophie's non-negotiable list is short, considered, and extremely effective.
"Two things are non-negotiable: I never go to bed in makeup — skin gets properly cleansed and Alpha H Liquid Gold goes on, every single night, no exceptions. And I stay on top of laser hair removal — one less thing to think about in the morning."
We love this so much. Laser hair removal as a beauty non-negotiable is the kind of practical, long-game thinking that busy women actually live by. Remove the step entirely rather than doing it every day. And Alpha H Liquid Gold every single night without exception is the kind of consistent, simple habit that quietly does more for your skin than almost anything else.
Less steps. Better results. That is the whole philosophy right there.
How her relationship with beauty has changed
Sophie has been visible online for a long time and her relationship with beauty has shifted in ways that feel really honest and really relatable.
"I've got very pale skin, so for a lot of my life I lived in fake tan. I still wear it occasionally, but it's more of a chore now — I appreciate my skin as it is and have the confidence to just let it be. I wear a lot less makeup too, and even when I do, it's a completely different approach — I used to love full glam and lashes, now I'm all about fresh, skin-first looks."
And then there is the part that a lot of women will recognise even if they have never said it out loud.
"I'm also noticing that after having my third, my skin suddenly felt like it aged faster — pregnancy seemed to amplify the process. So my whole skincare routine has had to shift to focus on anti-aging and serious hydration."
Pregnancy changes your skin. Everyone who has been through it knows this and very few people talk about it publicly. Sophie just did, and we think that matters.
What she always keeps close by
Simple. Intentional. Everything pulling its weight.
"Alpha H Melting Moments balm and Liquid Gold, and a hydrating lip balm — always within reach."
Three products. Two of them from the same brand she has already told us she reaches for every single night. When something works, Sophie sticks with it. No rotation for the sake of it, no chasing the next thing. Just the products that consistently do the job.
Brows, her way
We have heard fluffy. We have heard natural. We have heard brushed up and soft and filled in.
Sophie's answer?
"Untamed, unkept, uneven."
Three words and somehow the most confident brow answer we have received in this entire series. There is something about a woman who has genuinely stopped caring about perfecting every detail and just lets her brows exist that feels more aspirational than any precise arch we have ever seen. We respect it enormously.
The one thing women overcomplicate
"Your bedtime skin routine. It doesn't need to be ten steps — as long as you're going to bed with a washed, hydrated face, you're doing something right."
Coming from a woman whose own bedtime routine is cleanse and Liquid Gold, this lands completely differently than it would from someone with a 12-step evening ritual. She has done the work, she has found what works, and she has cut everything else. Clean face, hydration, done. That is the brief and it is enough.
Her advice for the busy girl
And here is the part we think every woman needs to read.
"Accept that you cannot balance everything. At some point you'll have to prioritise one thing over another, and that's completely fine. We've been raised on this idea that women can balance it all — I can't, and I don't think we should be expected to. Accept that you're doing your best, exactly as you are."
This is not a beauty tip. It is something much bigger than that and it is exactly why we started The Busy Girl Edit in the first place. Not to show women how to do more in less time. But to show them that the women they admire are also figuring it out as they go, dropping things, choosing what matters, and letting the rest fall away without guilt.
Sophie Cachia is planning a wedding, raising three kids, running a brand, writing books, and doing the school run in her pyjamas. And she is doing her best, exactly as she is.
Same, honestly. Same.
Sophie Cachia is the founder of CACHIA and creator of Girls Girls Girls. Find her at @sophiecachia_ and shop CACHIA at cachia.com.au
The CBH Brow Sculpt, for anyone who wants a little help in the brow department, is available at completebeautyhaus.com
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