5 tips for 5 minute morning make-up | Sunday Chat

I am two weeks into my first full-time, real- life, serious job. Eek. So far, one of the hardest things I've faced is squeezing my leisurely morning skin,hair and make-up dawdle into a seriously quick, to-the-point routine. I'm just getting the hang of it, and here are a few tips I've learnt so far.

1. Minimise your morning skin routine.
Save the masking, toning, exfoliating and serious double- cleansing for the evenings. In the morning, stick to a swipe of micellar water and moisturiser. How anyone does more than that is beyond me.

2.Full- coverage face is still not the one.
When you're at work you want to look awake, fresh and ready, and your first thought is- oh, I'll put  a real, serious foundation all over my face to go with my real, serious job. Wrong. I've spent too long in the morning blending that stuff around my chops to decide that it just isn't the one. Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue you are the one. Yet again.

3.Prioritise your face.
There are certain parts of your make- up routine you can do on the train to work, and certain parts you can't. Mascara and eyeliner are a no-no. So is prodding that fresh spot around with concealer whilst sitting next to a smart business man. That just isn't cute. My rule of thumb is: get your base, brows and lashes done at home. Bare minimum. If  you have to sacrifice one of the three, your brows can be done on the train, trust me.

4.Highlight is taking a back seat.
a) I have trouble even fitting both bronzer and blusher into the space of time I have on the train
b) I'm not sure my colleagues are ready for my J-Lo glow.

5. Convenience products for the win.
I have only just realised that I do not own any eyeshadow quads or trios which are handy to throw in my train make- up bag for the commute. That Naked Palette just isn't going to cut it for a nice grown-up day time look. At the moment, my MAC Cinderella palette is saving the day, and I seriously need to find a few matte- heavy, small palettes for work make- up. (Apart from my Naked Basics 2 which is life)


PS: If you drive to work, leave ten minutes early and sort your business out in the toilets before you  start. It's just logical.

Lou x

5 Things I do when my skin goes mental | Sunday Chat

Yesterday morning, I was feeling smug. Smug about how great my skin had been for over a week.
Today, I felt annoyed. I could feel it coming on last night; the tiny patch of pain that tells you the inevitable... a spot is coming. 
This evening, I have four. For some reason, when my skin gets bad, it gets really bad, and I pretty much just have to ride out the storm and wait for it to settle down again. But, there are a few things I do whenever it gets to bad, to try to make myself feel a little better about my face.

1. Fake tan. Not just on my face, everywhere. I feel like when I have giant red blemishes on my face, if I'm a little tanned, it makes them stand out less against my skin. Am I crazy? I might be crazy. But yay for Clarins Glow Booster: you are life.

2. Masks. My mask of the moment is the Body Shop Seaweed Clay Mask, which is pretty heavy duty stuff. It is quite drying, but I do feel it really helps to heal the blemishes I already have, and smooth out my skin elsewhere. Lav it.

3. Stay away from pink lipstick. This is something I swear by. If you have pink dots on your face which you don't want people to see, don't wack a pink lippie on and expect it not to draw attention to them. I try to lean towards browner nudes or more orange tones to draw attention away from the blemishes.

4. Ditto above, but blushes.

5. Take make up off whenever possible. If I have crappy skin, as soon as I get home I want to wash my face. Spots just heal faster if you aren't constantly re-covering them with concealer and poking them around to try to make them disappear. Make-up off, tea tree toner on (thanks Lush), and hopefully it'll sort itself out soon enough.


So yeah! As a side note, I have to say that I have applied straight up tea tree oil onto blemishes, but I find that I just got a huge rash... maybe I am allergic. I prefer using Effaclar Duo from La Roche Posay as an on-the-spot treatment.

Thanks for reading!
Lou x