Three little tweaks I've made to my beauty routine have made a pretty big difference in how my makeup looks at the end of the day. Two involve...wait for it...WAITING.
I'm impatient in general, and I'm always in a hurry to get ready in the morning. This means that after my shower I slather on the moisturizer and jump right into applying foundation and whatever else.
But after seeing something in a magazine about making your makeup last longer, I started waiting at least five minutes between applying moisturizer and eye cream and doing anything else. I get dressed or futz with my hair. I brush my teeth or go check my Instagram feed. When I start in with my foundation, I've noticed that it looks fresher, less oily, goes on more smoothly, and lasts longer. Who knew?!
The same sort of principle applies to my next tip: Apply (at least) two coats of mascara, but do so several minutes apart. I love thick and clumpy mascara, and I always apply multiple coats, but I usually do them one right on top of the other. A friend mentioned how she applied her first coat, then moved on to lips or hair or whatever, then came back at the end and applied the second coat. It looks even more dramatic!
Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm going to tell you to do something earlier than you probably are doing now. I learned this during a facial once: Wash your face before dinner. The biggest stumbling block to washing your face well, applying serum, etc. is that often you're too tired to go through the whole routine before bed. I'm especially guilty of running a wet wipe over my face and calling it a day. But if you do the whole thing when you first get home from work, or whatever time of day you change into something more comfortable.
I was a little hesitant to do this, because I didn't want my family seeing me all, um, "fresh-faced" for the whole night. But I quickly realized that they don't seem to care, the number of nights I actually do a beauty routine increased, and my skin looked a lot better. So a bare, shiny, face at dinner it is!
I'm not usually one to advise that you add time or steps to ANY routine, but these are simple enough and have made enough of a difference that I've adopted them permanently. Try it!
Any tweaks to your beauty routine lately? You know I love to hear them.
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