21 Super-Easy Lazy Girl Hacks for Looking Good
You want to look good, but do you really want to wake up early to get fully spackled every day? Nope. So get your beauty sleep and use these tips that will make you look fresh in pretty much no time at all.
1. Instead of applying a full face of foundation, spot-conceal blemishes. This takes two seconds and leaves you with flawless-looking skin. Keep handy a concealer palette that works with your skin tone, like this Topshop concealer palette, for touch-ups throughout the day.
2. Cut out a step from your makeup routine by using primer on your makeup sponge. You'll be dampening the sponge and simultaneously giving a longer-lasting finish to your foundation. Try Make Up For Ever Step 1 Skin Equalizer and Beauty Blender Original Makeup Sponge.
3. Make sure you always completely remove the previous day's eye makeup. Sure, you probably used a wipe to take off your eye makeup the night before, but you probably also woke up with a mess under your eyes. The key to looking good is to start fresh and wipe that excess makeup off, even if you're not planning on putting on any more.
To really get it off, wet a cotton pad with an oil-based makeup remover. Use gentle downward motions to eliminate the excess makeup (doing this keeps you from being rough with the delicate skin around your eyes). Try Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover.
4. Don't leave any white powder residue on your face. Translucent powder is great for setting your look, but it often leaves a trace. To avoid that, apply the powder using your makeup sponge. This technique makes the powder less visible. Sprinkle some translucent powder into the product's cap, dampen your makeup sponge slightly with water (squeeze to eliminate excess H2O), and then press the powder into your skin for a flawless finish. Try NYX Studio Finishing Translucent Powder.
5. Add blush to your cheeks and eyelids to instantly make yourself look alive. Want to look like a human who got eight hours of sleep even though you didn't? Take a universally flattering peach blush and sweep it over your cheeks and lids. Boom: You're a new person, ready to take on the day. Try Lancôme My Parisian Blush in "Corail De Ville."
6. To make your eye shadow stay put longer, use eyeliner in place of a primer. Apply the liner over your eyelid, but don't go above your crease. This will make the shadow you put on over it pop even more and will keep it from budging all day.
If you're creating a smoky eye, top your lids with black or charcoal gray liner. If you're going for a more neutral eye or using colored shadow, lay down a taupe shadow as your base color. For a nice taupe, use Maybelline New York Brow Drama Pomade Crayon in "Blonde" and for black liner, try Japonesque Eye Defining Pencil in "Shade 1."
7. Instantly get a fresh-faced effect by adding a subtle highlight along the orbital bone of your eyes. Pop a peachy golden-toned highlighter (It goes well with all skin tones!) in a "C" formation along your cheekbones and around the outer corner of your eyes. Use Sigma Liquid Highlighter in "After Glow."
8. Conceal the right way according to your face shape: If you have fuller cheeks, conceal directly underneath your eyes in a curved formation. Doing this will cover up, not accentuate, any dark circles. Use a reddish-toned concealer first to cancel out the dark shadows, blend, and then follow it up with a yellow-tinted cover-up to fully camouflage your dark circles flawlessly. Try Make Up For Ever's new Ultra HD Invisible Cover Concealer, which offers red and yellow tones.
9. If you have flatter cheeks, use the triangle application technique to conceal your dark circles. Again, you'll want to lay down a peachy or red-tinted concealer first to cancel out any blue or purple in the dark circles. Blend, and then top it with a yellow-tinted flesh-toned cover-up. Try True Isaac Mizrahi Concealer Trio.
10. Curl your lashes for an instantly wide-awake effect. Don't have time to put on or perfect a mascara application? I feel you. Instead, just curl your lashes - it works just as well. Doing so will give you a doe-eyed look, leaving you looking like you just got a full night's sleep.
11. You don't need multiple brushes to get a perfect smoky eye. Just use your fingers instead. The warmth of your fingertips easily blends cream or powder shadow onto your eyelids, allowing you to put the product exactly where you want it to be. This also makes a smoky eye less intimidating to execute, since you're only using your fingers to apply the product. Try Chanel Les 4 Ombres Multi-Effect Quadra Eyeshadow in "Tissé Smoky."
12. Draw a checkmark on your cheek to contour. Using a small contouring brush, use the deeper shade of a contouring palette and trace a check on your cheek so the curved part of it cups the rounded part of your cheek, and then extend the line toward the top of your ear. Finally, blend.
13. Want fuller-looking brows without having to fill them in? Spray a disposable mascara wand or spoolie with hairspray to set your brows in place. If you aren't looking to add color to your arches, then this quick tip is the only one you need to set your brows all day. Try Schwarzkopf Styliste Ultime Crystal Shine & Hold Laminating Shine Hair Spray and these disposable mascara wands.
14. To quickly pinpoint where you need to conceal under your eyes, instead of looking straight into the mirror, tilt your chin down to reveal any dark shadows.
15. Immediately turn your shiny lipstick into a matte version with translucent powder. Tap a brush lightly coated in translucent powder over your lips to take it from glossy to matte.
16. Brighten your eyes in seconds by lining the inner rim of your lower lash line with a peachy nude-colored liner. The peachiness cancels out any redness and makes you look instantly *~aWaKe~*. Try Stila Kajal Eye Liner in "Topaz."
17. If you're in a pinch, use the same color on your eyes, cheeks, and lips. Choose a shade that will accentuate each area, like a berry hue, and lightly apply it, then blend. Try Trish McEvoy Beauty Booster Lip and Cheek Color in "Perfect Plum" or use your favorite lipstick shade instead.
18. Before tweezing your brows, fill them in first so you don't overpluck.
19. Revive flat hair and make it instantly more voluminous with dry shampoo. Sure, you know dry shampoo sops up oil in no time, but it can also take your hair from blah to bombshell in seconds. Just lift your hair up so the dry shampoo reaches your roots, then flip your head upside down to fluff it, and voilà: Victoria's Secret-worthy volume.
20. Conceal regrowth in between in-salon appointments with a hair shadow that matches your dyed color. One like John Frieda Root Blur (I used "Platinum to Champagne") to soften the contrast of your roots.
21. Tame flyaways with an alcohol-free hairspray. To look put-together, you need to tame flyaways and frizz. So, to keep them laying flat for a smooth finish, spray an alcohol-free hairspray on them and blend them in with the rest of your hair using your hand. Try Pantene Pro-V Alcohol-Free Aerosol Hairspray.
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