Ten ways to save time on your morning routine

I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I’m pretty much the poster child for rushing out of the house in a hurry. With the ridiculous traffic, who wouldn’t? When I know I have an early day ahead, I don’t like to compromise my precious few hours of sleep. Instead, I opt for beauty shortcuts to get me to look presentable without having to spend time meant for the commute inside my bathroom. Here are ten things you can do to speed up the beauty process for days when you’re just not allowed to luxuriate:

1. Maintain second-day hair. Woke up past your alarm? Brush on some dry shampoo to banish greasy roots and refresh your tresses. For days when you know you’ll be leaving super early in the morning, prep in advance by washing your hair before bedtime and allowing it to air-dry. Hair tends to be less frizzy the morning after, so you can just finish it off with a little bit of styling product. 

Images via Batiste, Olay, and Pixy

2. Have a multipurpose skin prep product on hand. Invest in a primer that has SPF, moisturizer, and/or color correction properties. Who needs three separate layers, anyway?

3. Stick to powder. Applying liquid foundation, waiting for it to absorb, then setting it with powder are three steps you can cut down to only one. Simply slap on a powder foundation! A full-coverage one can even allow you to skip concealer.

Images via Food World Me

4. Limit tools to the bare essentials. In a scenario where you could only take two brushes with you when stranded on a desert island, you'd probably only need a fluffy powder brush and an eyeshadow shader brush. You can realistically survive on that duo, so there’s no need to complicate things with a 12-piece set on a busy day.

5. Reach for a go-to neutral eyeshadow palette. Do you have “thoughtless” days where you don’t have the patience to coordinate your shadow to your cheeks and lips? That’s where a default palette comes in. You can’t go wrong with neutrals.

6. Trade the shadow palette in for a cream shadow. If you have even less patience to contour with different eye shadow colors, grab a cream shadow instead. Invest in a one-color wonder, usually a metallic shade that works well on its own from morning to night. The subtle shimmer is great for faking that fresh and wide-awake look, too!

Images via NARS and Ulta

7. It’s all about the blush. While the long version of cheek makeup involves two shades of blush/bronzer and a highlighter, the one-step version only requires a universally flattering blush (typically a peach pink) with a hint of shimmer. Should give you that pretty flush of color and mild highlighting. We love NARS Orgasm!

8. Don’t skip the mascara. Use a nice, volumizing mascara that’ll instantly add definition to your eyes. When your lashes look thick enough, you can already do away with eyeliner. 

9. Max out your MLBB lippies. Neutral shadows and MLBBs go together like peanut butter and jelly. 'Nuff said.

10. Breeze through makeup mishap corrections. Use a makeup corrector for when you can’t afford to start over from scratch. The enemy of hasty makeup application is usually a clumsy stroke that could destroy the FOTD. Thankfully, the remedy exists. Look for corrector pens with wet tips that contain makeup remover. Can't find any? Get a cotton bud, load it with some moisturizer or makeup remover, and you can use it to fix mistakes easily.

Add to this list! Share your time-saving techniques in the comments below. ^_^