10 Makeup Tips for When You’re In a Rush

Waking up for an 8 AM class is hard enough. Trying to look presentable? Forget it. Here are a few super quick makeup tips to help you look totally awake and put together when you’re running late.

Mascara & red lipstick.

Red lipstick usually makes someone look like they put a lot of effort into their look, even if the only other thing they have on is mascara. A statement, red lip will brighten up your eyes and make you look more awake.  It can take you from ‘just rolled out of bed’ to ‘why yes, I am from Mad Men’ in 0.2 seconds.

Frame your face.

Frame your face and create a natural look by attending to your brows, lashes, and cheeks. Mascara helps open your eyes and makes you look more awake. And ever since the general public became obsessed with brows, doing yours is essential. Fill in your brows using a pencil or powder and then use a gel to hold them in place. Add a light layer of blush to your cheeks to add a bit of color into your look.

Line the corners of your eye.

If you’re totally short on time, put a little concealer under your eyes to hide dark circles. Put some white eyeshadow or liner around the inner corners of your eyes to create the illusion of wider eyes. Your eyes will look more open and won’t look like you’ve just gotten up.

Use duochrome eyeshadow.

Instead of layering and blending 500 eyeshadows—I’m looking at you, YouTube  gurus—use a shadow that has more than one color in it. The multiple colors on your lids creates depth. You’ll look like you used a bunch of different Mac eyeshadows and slanted brushes in order to achieve your look. In reality you just used your fingers to smear your shadow on because you forgot to wash your brushes.

Use a BB cream.

Foundations can be heavy and tricky to apply when you’re in a rush. Skip the streaky foundation and go for a BB cream instead. A BB cream will give you light coverage and you can apply it easily with your fingers.

Switch it up.

If you don’t have time to enhance, it’s time to distract. If you normally wear contacts so your falsies and winged eyeliner aren’t hidden behind your frames, switch it up. You can get away with a lot less eye makeup when you’re wearing glasses. Sunglasses are also good for hiding everything, but be careful your boss doesn’t question you about having a hangover.

Limit yourself.

If you’re seriously in a rush, give yourself 2 to 3 songs to get your makeup done. If you only have 5-10 minutes, set a timer and stick to a basic look. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re perfecting your wings.

See Also

15 Super Easy Hair Hacks For All Us Lazy Girls

Save the new ideas.

Yeah, that girl on Instagram makes her falsies look flawless, but you probably won’t be able to apply them in 5 minutes. And sure, that ombre lipstick look is awesome, but can you really figure it out in time before heading to class? It’s better to just save the new ideas for later when you actually have time to apply, remove and reapply your makeup. Figure out how to do these looks later and give yourself time to practice!

Prioritize.

Don’t skip breakfast in favor of contouring. Don’t forgo a shower so you can instead even out your liner. And also, start with that makeup items you’d feel awkward not having on. If you always want full brows, start with that. If you can go without lipstick, then save that for last. Prioritization is key.

Carry makeup essentials.

In an ideal world, we’d all have perfect lipstick that didn’t feather, mascara that didn’t flake, and eyeshadow that didn’t crease. Unfortunately, this is the real world. Sometimes we wake up late or miss the bus or get stuck in traffic. To prepare for these situations, keep a small makeup bag with what you deem to be essentials so you can do your makeup at work, before class, or while stuck in traffic. Just don’t do it while you’re driving!

Let us know if you have any time saving makeup trick are by commenting below or tweeting @SOCIETY19!

These are sponsored posts. All opinions are my own.