To me, Monday mornings are all about tricking people into thinking I'm awake. Not this Monday, because I have a rare day off, so today will be spent catching up on work from the comfort of my bed, but every other Monday. Since I'm not really a morning person (my idea of a perfect day is one that involves me waking up around 1pm) I tend to have a fail-safe plan for fast Monday makeupto make people believe I'm well rested, and enjoy getting up at ridiculous o'clock. The aim of the game here is to look awake, healthy and glowy, using as few products as is humanely possible, to be as fast as is physically possible.
So to start with I always spritz my face with the Caudalie Beauty Elixir, which does an incredible job of brightening up my skin, making it look naturally glowy. Then, to really ramp up the glow factor, I like to use my Laura Mercier Radiance Foundation Primer which not only adds a real glow to my face, but also makes sure my makeup stays put all day without fuss. I then go in with the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation, a gorgeous natural looking foundation with medium coverage. My concealing tag team of choice at the moment is the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer on blemishes and redness, and MAC Mineralize Concealer for under the eyes, the shade I have gives good coverage whilst still really brightening the area. All of this literally takes about three minutes now (I've got it down) so that's a good start.
Monday mornings are not the time for attempting contour and highlight, so I just like to really go to town with a good highlighting blush. Most of the time, the blush in question is NARS Daydream a beautiful pink blush with silver shimmer running through. I use the Space N.K. Contour brush to really pack this onto my cheeks, the silver shimmer is subtle but it really brightens my complexion, whilst the pink adds dimension back into my face and gives me a good old glow.
Eyes are normally a mascara only affair, but if I have time (read: am bored on the tube) I'll add use a coloured eyeshadow primer to even out the tone of my eyelids, and then smudge a little liner into the outer corner of my lashline. On this occasion, I used a sample I had of the Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden a matte beige that disguises the redness on my eyelid, and the Smashbox Eye Liner In Graphite just to define the lashes a little. For mascara, Monday mornings call for the L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara, a one-coat-wonder that lengthens and volumises each individual lash, making my eyes look more awake and my lashes fluttery.
This is all finished off with a slick of a sheer lipstick (Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Colour in Pink Flush, a pretty pink that brightens up my face) that can be applied on the tube sans-mirror, my glasses so I can actually see at uni, and a good spritz of dry shampoo in the roots of my hair, to disguise the fact that I haven't even brushed my hair, much less styled it.
I've got this entire routine down to an impressive seven minutes. How long do you spend on your makeup on a Monday morning? Do you have a failsafe, go-to routine?
