So you had a bad night. You wake up in the morning and see dark rings under your bleary eyes, and blotchy skin. What do you do?
Well, here’s where makeup can help you.
The key here is to keep things natural. From personal experience, I’ve found that on days when I wake up looking and feeling terrible, light natural makeup is best.
The key items you’ll need are:-
- Concealer
- Foundation
- Highlighter
- A light or nude colored eyeshadow
- Eyeliner
- Mascara
- Light peach or pink blush
And here’s how I put it all together.
Step #1
Prepare your skin. Splash cold water on your face which will wake you up and help your blood circulate. Then, tone, moisturise and apply sunscreen as normal.
Step #2
Apply concealer under the eye where its dark by dabbing gently on the skin. Spread out some of the concealer along the nose and towards your upper lid to even out the colour of the skin and to hide dark circles. I use Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer (for now) for under the eyes and Full Cover for discolorations or marks and blemishes.
Step #3
Apply foundation – either powder or liquid as you please – to even out your skin tone. Set with a light dusting of loose powder. I use either L’oreal True Match or Revue liquid foundation and Revue or Lumiere Mineral Foundation and set with T. LeClerc Banane loose powder or Make Up For Ever Super Matte Loose Powder.
Step #4
Use a nude or natural eye colour with a little shimmer and do neutral eye makeup. You can use just one colour all over your lid. I’ve found that a light peach shade or beige helps to wake up the eye area if you are fair skinned. Line with eyeliner. Curl your lashes and apply mascara to create a wide-eyed look. My mascara of choice is Anna Sui Super Mascara DX Full. Edit (thanks for the reminder, girls!): Do your brows.
Step #5
Apply a light peach or pink shade on your cheeks as blush. For my skin, I find that peach is excellent because it brightens my face thereby making me look more awake than I feel. My favourite light peach blushes are Benefit Georgia and Nars Amour. If I use pink, I either use Benefit Dandelion or Shu Uemura M33E or Milani Pink Craze blush.
Step #6 (Optional)
If you wish, apply a light dusting of highlighter powder all over your face. It adds radiance and diffuses the blotchiness of tired skin. My favourite highlighter is Guerlain Meteorites. The multicoloured balls combine to help give the impression of radiant even toned skin.
Step #7
Use a light glossy lipstick or lip gloss or tinted lip balm. When I say light, I mean a colour that matches your lips. Using light colours guarantee that your whole face is kept in equilibrium so not one feature is too prominent. What you want is to project glowing skin so what people see is a bright eyed pretty girl, not one who barely just made it out of bed. 😉 Also, a glossy or shimmery lip doesn’t look so “flat” which can be aging.
That’s it, you’re good to go!
Looks like a lot of work isn’t it? But I get it down to about 10 minutes pat and you can too with practice. Natural makeup is probably one of the hardest to do, but done correctly, it enhances your looks rather than mask it; and it helps you cheat on those days when all you want to do is hide under a paper bag 😉
What are your beauty cheats for a bad day?
geekchic says
May 22, 2008 at 10:46 amThrow on a paper bag and call in sick, HAHA! 😆
But this is really a great post, Paris. Good job!
I’d probably do the same as what you’d suggest minus:
1. eyeliner (probably will make me look worse because I’m a retard with liners)
2. Highlighter because I’ll just use my Dandelion to do everything.
Oh, I’d do my brows too 🙂
Nikki says
May 22, 2008 at 10:54 amI don’t feel pretty this morning when I woke up as I slept late last night for the american Idol! hahha anyways, i can vouch on your tip on applying blush on, I applied quite a bit more blush today and surprisingly, it looks better and I look Blushing…NOT SICK! hahaha thanks for this post dear
Jooj says
May 22, 2008 at 11:08 amgreat tips PB! can’t say i’ve got anything to add.. although personally i’d maybe brush on some brow color because whenever i don’t do my brows people generally think i look sick/pale/unshowered, LOL.
ParisB says
May 22, 2008 at 11:15 amGeekchic: LOL at hiding under a paper bag. Thanks and I forgot the brows, can you believe it?! Thanks for the reminder!
Nikki: I’m sure you are gorgeous as always anyway! 🙂 I just put my own tips in action today after a late night too.
Jooj: Thanks and thanks for the brows reminder! I’ve added it into the steps.
Monstro says
May 22, 2008 at 11:29 amGood tips, Paris! I agree that glowing skin is key. I find that using a glowy blush always perks up my skin. No matter how tired I look, the blush saves the day! And concealer is also my best friend :-b Something else I like to do is also put a bit of cream highlighter just under the arch of my eyebrow. Seems to give me a wide awake look. It’s a subtle difference, but noticeable enough to make me look more awake.
S-Kay says
May 22, 2008 at 11:31 amPB, I’ve been having probs browsing through your page ler. Whenever I scroll down, your adverts overlap everything
Syen says
May 22, 2008 at 11:59 amHi PB!
Nice post. =) Totally agree with you on the blush. It can really wake up tired-looking skin, and one my must-haves even on days when I’m not wearing much makeup.
Have a great day!
ParisB says
May 22, 2008 at 12:00 pmMonstro: Hey, thanks for the cream highlighter tip! I must try it.
S-kay: Glad its been sorted out!
Syen: Hi and thanks! I agree fully about the blush to help tired skin wake up.
Maria says
May 22, 2008 at 12:43 pmthanks for the post! it’s really useful!
what i do is somehow similar to yours, but minus highlighter.. as i dun have one.. 🙂 (i should get it one someday!)
i absolutely agree with blush. no matter what, i have to use blush or else i’ll look like a walking zombie.. 😛
blush really helps me looking fresh..!
rinnah says
May 22, 2008 at 1:39 pmGee… how on earth can you compress all those steps to 10 minutes? It’d take me at least 15 – 20 mins to do all that… and that’s when I’m fully awake and not trying to poke out my eye or anything like that. *grin*
But they’re awfully handy tips! I coulda used this post yesterday cos I hardly slept last night – between American Idol and the UEFA Champions League finals early this morning…
Tine says
May 22, 2008 at 7:12 pmHahaha, I agree with Geekchic – call in sick! :p
Let’s see, for me, if I wake up looking and feeling like crap, I’d want to keep everything to a minimum, which means the less time, the better. I’d do the whole skincare routine first. I’d rather skip the makeup than this. For makeup, I’d use:
1. 2-way foundation – I call it my everything-in-one palette; foundation, powder and concealer (well, light one, that is).
2. Blush – this is a MUST. Brightens the face in an instant.
3. Lipgloss
4. Done!
Oh, and I think this is a brilliant post. You’ve done it again, oh Paris 😉
ParisB says
May 24, 2008 at 12:01 pmMaria: Thanks! Looks like blush is indispensible for most of us!
Rinnah: I’ve been using this more often recently than I should! lol… but practice is key. You’ll get it down to 15 minutes soon enough!
Tine: Thanks! And your steps are as quick and easy too. Well so long as they work for us its alright eh?
Ira Joven says
May 27, 2008 at 12:33 pmYou’ve got to try the Kanebo Lunasol Water Cream Foundation. You can skip the concealer and the other stuff. This foundation is the best!
Angie says
June 29, 2008 at 1:51 pmHey wonderful little tips 🙂
Lately I am into BB cream to replace my foundation and adds an instant glow lol