As a makeup artist, I often get questions/comments about my own beauty routine, somewhere along the lines of “Do you airbrush yourself every day?” or “It must take you forever to do your makeup in the morning!” But the truth is — no — to each of those things! Just like you, I am busy! The last thing I have time to do is to spend time on myself. So, in an effort to minimize my morning routine and maximize a few extra minutes of sleep or the time I have left to tackle other projects in my day, I’ve become a master to my quick morning routine. I found the key to a quick look is focusing on your facial structure and some highlighting techniques to give yourself a “wide awake” look in only a few minutes. I hope these tips help you make the most of your morning too!
BLUSH
When I’m in a hurry (which is at a minimum 93 percent of the time) I’ll skip the contouring and go straight for the blush. If blush is done well, it can still offer the effects of contouring in a fraction of the time, and adding a little color to my cheeks can give my face some life, making up for the loss of sleep I may have gotten the night before. Starting at the fleshiest part of my cheek, I’ll gently brush the blush back along my cheekbone and then lightly blend forward to the apples of my cheeks. I also tend to reach for my powder blushes as I find them to be quicker and less fickle than my cream blushes so I can spend even less time on this step.
HIGHLIGHTING
Light = life. A little correctly placed light can bring a youthful freshness to my face that I love and makes me feel like I at least look well-rested, even when I’m not. The rule of thumb is to highlight only where the light naturally hits your face (center of forehead, bridge of your nose, top of your chin, above your cheekbones), but my favorite secret is to highlight a little bit directly under my eyebrow and a little bit in the inner corner of my eye. This helps enhance a bright-eyed look, perfect for those early mornings!
BROWS
Even if I don’t put any product on my brows, simply brushing them up and out with a round brow brush (looks like a mascara wand with no product on it) can do wonders for giving my face a little shape and again helping me look wide awake in seconds at. If I’m really in a hurry, I’ll do it as I mentioned with a product-less brush, or with a clear brow gel (aka clear brow mascara) as that will help me keep my de ned brow shape without needing to worry about blending any color. If I want/need a little more color that day, I’ll use a tinted brow gel/mascara. This will allow me to take the same steps as before but place a little color that will require minimal blending at the same time.
MASCARA
This is my last step on quick face to feel wide awake. Instead of attempting two to three coats of mascara, I’ll give my lashes a quick curl, do one light coat across them, and then a second incredibly fast coat on the outer corner. Boosting the mascara on the outer corner can create a wide-eyed effect, again making you look more awake in the shortest amount of time. It’s my go-to trick whenever I need to make a big impact fast!
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