This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
Let’s face it, some days you just don’t want to do makeup. I love makeup enough to have an entire blog and YouTube channel about it, but there are still plenty of days I don’t feel like doing it. Unfortunately, some of the days you don’t want to do your makeup are the same days that you feel like you need a little extra sprucing up. Just think back to all the times you’ve gotten up early to start your day, your eyes have bags from a night of restless sleep, a new pimple has appeared on your chin and you’re already running late. Now you must decide between feeling good about your appearance or leaving the house on time. Unless there’s a way to have both! That’s where a quick “no makeup” look comes handy! In this post, I’ll got through some tips and products that are perfect for solving all your morning routine problems so you can get your beauty sleep!
Skincare
Possibly the biggest time saver you can incorporate into any makeup routine is a good skincare routine. If you have smoother skin, less blemishes, hydrated skin, and an even skin tone, you probably won’t feel the need to wear as much makeup. Obviously, even a good skincare routine can’t guarantee you perfect skin, but it’s a good start.
If you want to know more about my skincare routine, refer to this blog post: https://www.kristenpaigemakeup.com/post/skincare-routine-for-dry-sensitive-skin
Toner
Using a toner is a fantastic start to your morning routine! Toner will obviously even out your skin tone, meaning you’ll need less foundation or maybe even no foundation at all. Applying toner with a cotton round or cloth will also help clean off any dirt, makeup residue, oils or loose dead skin that you may have missed while washing your face. This will help improve the appearance of your skin and make a better, smoother base for your makeup. You’ll find a link to my favorite toner below!
Brows
Some of you may not need this step at all, but it’s a very important part of my daily routine. I have platinum blonde eyebrows on the outer edges and dark brown eyebrows on the inner edges. I’ve been cursed to look like I pluck off half of my eyebrows for my entire life. Because of this, I feel much better about my appearance if my eyebrows are filled in. Every morning I take a brow pomade and angled brush, and lightly fill in my eyebrows. My goal is always for them to look very natural. To achieve a natural look, I begin by outlining the brow extremely lightly! I then fill them in by making tiny lines in the same direction as my hairs in order to make it look like actual eyebrows instead of a solid block of makeup. When I do this, I tend to purposefully leave tiny gaps where you can see skin, so that it looks even more natural.
If you were blessed with brows you love, then you don’t even have to worry about this part! If you’re like me and your brows need a little extra TLC, check out my favorite brow pomade, or follow the steps above with your favorite brow filler!
Tinted Moisturizer: Two Ways
Tinted moisturizer is a great way to make your face look polished without having to do an entire face of makeup. These tints are typically much lighter (less coverage) than typical foundations, but they still have similar affects. They can cover blemishes to a certain extent and give your skin a nice, even tone, just like foundation. Plus, you get the added benefit of hydrating your skin! I have two ways of achieving this light foundation look, so you can choose the one that’s best for you!
The first is simply buying a tinted moisturizer. These are typically easier to buy than foundations because the matches don’t have to be as exact. This is because they are a sheer tint instead of a more solid coating. There are even tinted moisturizers designed to adjust to the color of your skin! I recommend the VitaZing Tinted Moisturizer from Origins.
The other method is simply to mix some of your foundation with your favorite moisturizer. I use about one squirt of moisturizer and half a squirt of foundation. The right ratio for you depends on the products you’re using, so I recommend experimenting with some different ratios before settling on one. The benefit of this method is that you get to control the amount of coverage by changing the amount of foundation you add, as well as preventing you from having to buy more products. The drawback is that some foundations and moisturizers may not mix well together, causing them to separate. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth trying!
Powder
Depending on your skin type, using just a tinted moisturizer may not be your cup of tea. I have very dry skin, so using a tinted moisturizer still ends up with a somewhat matte finish because my skin quickly absorbed the moisture. If you have oily skin, combination skin or you just want more of a matte look, you may want to add some powder. Powder will absorb some of the moisture from the tinted moisturizer, preventing an oily look. I recommend using a loose powder since tinted moisturizers do not have the staying power of regular foundation and can easily be drug around if too much pressure is applied. Using a pressed powder would likely require enough pressure to end up dragging the moisturizer and resulting in an uneven finish.
There are two types of powders you can use for this step. There are tinted foundation powders, which will give you the matte look you want with the added benefit of more coverage. Then there are translucent mattifying powders that will absorb moisture without affecting the color or coverage of your tinted moisturizer. My recommendations for each type of powder are below.
Mascara
This one is pretty self-explanatory. There is yet to come a day that mascara doesn’t make me feel 1000x better about my appearance. Thank goodness it’s one of the quickest things you can do to upgrade your morning makeup routine! Just throw on some black mascara, and instantly draw attention to your eyes. Because if there’s one thing we can learn from (House Bunny), it’s that, “The eyes are the nipples of the face.”
Blush
Blush is a great way to add a little color to your face! Just swipe on a little bit of your favorite blush to your cheekbones, and you’ll look brighter and cheerier instantly! For a little added glam, you can add a bit of a darker blush in the hollows of your cheeks (under your cheekbones). This will give you a bit of a contoured look without all the added time of actually contouring! My favorite light and dark blush colors are linked below!
Lips
The perfect finishing touch for any makeup look is a little lip color! I don’t recommend a matte lipstick or a bold color with this soft of a makeup look, but you do what makes you happy! I suggest a lipstick with more of a satin or sheer finish that’s fairly close to your natural lip color. For me that means a soft pink, but the right color for you completely depends on your skin tone. I’ll link my go to lipstick for a “no makeup” look below, but make sure you compare lipsticks to your own skin tone in order to find the right one for you!
This entire routine usually takes me 5-10 minutes. You can easily cut down on that time even more or add more steps to fit your personal style! Hopefully this helps you feel beautiful and glamorous even on your most hectic mornings! If you have any questions, feel free to let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to enter your email address below to get notified of new posts!
Comments