Makeup is an essential in my life. Not that I have to use a lot, but it is helpful to cover dark circles under my eyes and give me a more rested look. I wish I got 8 hours of sleep a night, but I typically don’t. I don’t have a great deal of time to myself in the morning, so I have found some helpful shortcuts when it comes to makeup.

I carry my makeup bag in my purse. It is small with about 6 pieces of makeup and 3 tools. Not much, but it does the job on a daily basis. I only take about 3 minutes to do my makeup. If you go to my kid’s preschool and parked next to my vehicle in the morning you have probably seen me doing my makeup.

I have found that the best way for me to get my makeup done quickly in the morning is when all my kids are in their car seats in the car, entertained by a DVD of some sort. I leave my house a few minutes early every morning. Especially on the two mornings a week when I need to take my kids to school. Why? Because then I know I will be on time for whatever I am getting to, I get a good parking spot (very important at the preschool), and then I have a few minutes to do my makeup while my kids are secured and entertained. One of the best features of doing it in my car is that I have perfect natural lighting!

So what exactly is in my makeup bag that I can get it done in just a few minutes? Six pieces of makeup total: foundation (I use compact foundation, which is between a liquid and powder press), blush, eyeshadow, mascara, brow liner, and lipstick. My tools in the bag: a small brush for eye shadow, a medium brush for the blush, and a tweezer (for eye brows as needed).

imageI am currently using the compact foundation from Cover Girl. I was using MAC and they discontinued my color. I didn’t have time that particular day to ask for help in getting a new color that would work for me. Instead I picked up the cover girl at Target and have been using it since. I buy several shades. That way I can use darker if I am tan (spray tanned that is)  and pastey white with my natural skin tones (I think I am a redhead without the red hair, as I have the palest skin and no ability to tan naturally). I have been pleasantly pleased with the Cover girl compact foundation, as compared to my MAC products. Both are good products that do the job I need. The compact foundation blends easily and is super easy to apply. There tends to be less foundation lines or mishaps, as compared with liquid foundation products I have used in the past.

After I put on my foundation I do my blush and eyeshadow. I don’t spend much time either of these applications. I have good brushes that do the job quickly, evenly, and efficiently. The brushes they include with products are too cheap, flimsy, and take longer for application. Those tiny applicators for eye shadow are useless to me, instead I opt for a small brush, use a natural color, and apply to about 3/4 of my lid with the brush very quickly.

After that I use my eyebrow pencil it define my eyebrows a bit. My sister Rachel, who is the newsanchor, taught me the importance of good eye brows. We show our expressions through our eyebrows, so it is important that they are nice, neat, and well defined. Mine tend to be on the light side, so I add a slightly darker blonde color to add definition. Again, this is quick, just a few swipes of the pencil and I am done.

Next I do my mascara. I read somewhere that the average mascara application takes 40 swipes per eye. Keeping this in mind I swipe quickly when I apply my mascara. However, I make sure to cover all my lashes. It is easy to miss lashes on the outer edges. Covering ALL the lashes gives a greater impact and look from the mascara, I also make sure to do my lower lashes with 2-3 swipes on each eye. I don’t use eye liner. It takes my WAY too long to do that on a daily basis. Which is exactly why I need to get some mascara on my lower lashes. I have light eyelashes and when I don’t have any mascara on I look like I have no lashes, according my my husband. I want my upper and lower lashes to match in color too, so I apply mascara to both. Using a good mascara is VERY important. There is a difference between ok mascara and really good mascara. The mascara that I highly recommend to all women is “They’re Real”. This mascara makes my lashes look good with less time and effort. I don’t know what they put in this mascara that makes it so much better than the rest, but I am grateful because it is a fabulous product!!! If you are going to spend money on one makeup product this mascara is it!

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After mascara I put on my lipstick. It is a burgundy color that matches with just about anything I wear. I use a Rimmel lipstick, but I can no longer find it in the stores so I buy it from drugstore.com. Once you find a universal color that works for you on a daily basis, keep buying that product! It is hard to find that one, good, perfect color. I found mine a few years back and have been buying the same exact Rimmel product for years. A lipstick should work with your own skin tones and should help make your teeth look whiter. If you put a lipstick on and you think it makes your teeth look yellow, then don’t use that lipstick! It is not the right color for you! Your smile is the first thing a person typically will notice about you, so use lipstick that makes your smile look pretty and your teeth look whiter. I experimented with a variety of colors. Burgundy and reds make my teeth look white, whereas pale pinks make my teeth look yellow. Yucky! Nobody wants that!

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This was me today. No special day in particular, just a regular weekday. I took my kids to pre school and then went to the bible study that I co-lead. I am wearing the outfit I picked out the day before: a dress (tunic on me), black leggings, black bootie heels, a vintage fur (it was only 50 degrees this morning), pearl drop earrings, a red scarf, and a red beret. I got ready in about 10 minutes. Seriously. How? Like I mentioned yesterday, I had my outfit laid out the night before (along with all my kids’ outfits), I put on a hat so I didn’t have to style my hair,  I ate my breakfast on the way to preschool, and I did my makeup once I had arrived at the school and parked (which took all of 3 minutes).  Short cuts. That’s what it takes to get the job done in my life. I have a feeling a lot of Moms with small children can relate.

In case you missed the first part of this article, here it is: https://livingjoydaily.com/2015/12/02/my-short-cuts-to-being-a-more-or-less-put-together-mommy-part-1/