notesonpretty

So I’m not a morning person and I kinda feel bad for my husband.  Every morning he gets ready in an unearthly 20 minutes and then has to sit around and wait for me.  In an effort to save our marriage I have come up with the following shortcuts to help get out the door quicker and a less annoying manner.

1)  The biggest time suck in the morning is washing and drying my hair.  I’ve switched to washing my hair every other day and use a dry shampoo on the days I skip.  This frees me up to do other things like actually picking out an outfit and coordinating jewelry. On the days where I wash my hair I let my hair air dry until it’s about 75% dry and then blow dry it the rest of the way.  While I’m air drying I use the time to get dressed and put my face on.

2) I have a weekday kit with just my basic work-a-day makeup look.  In the weekday bag you will find just the basics – a foundation with SPF, a concealer pen, bronzer OR blush, a brown eyeliner, an eyebrow pencil, black mascara, an eyelash curler and lip balm.  If  I have a few extra minutes I will put some eyeshadow too but I don’t keep it in the kit.  My eyeshadows live in the “other” makeup bag which is gold lame and filled to the brim with weirdness.  I try to be militant about what I keep in the weekday bag because the next thing I know I have 13 lipsticks have migrated in there and can’t find a darn thing.  I like a clear makeup bag where you can see everything.

3)  I’m not afraid to make my products work double duty.  On top on putting everything in one makeup bag, I try to make my products do double duty – bronzer can be used as blusher or eyeshadow.  Using a brown eyeliner or eyeshadow to define my eyebrows.  Many cream blushes can be used on the lips or cheeks like Stila’s  convertible color ($25, Sephora).

4) I put my lipstick on in the car.  I keep a few easy lip glosses or tinted lip balms in my handbag that I can put on in the car ride to the train or when I get to work.  I try to use one that I don’t have to look in a mirror to apply-  in other words nothing to bright or dark or INVOLVED.  I like Burt’s Bees Shimmer Stick in Watermelon (CVS, 4.99) –

5)  If all else fails I finish getting ready at work.  I  keep a back up stash beauty of emergency supplies at work for just such occasions.  My work kit consists mostly of sample sizes I have picked up and don’t care too much about but they help in a pinch.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been busted putting mascara on at work because I ran out of time at home.  There is no shame in this game.

Using these shortcuts I’ve managed to cut out about 20 minutes from my routine and even the hubby has to concede that I have gotten better.   How quick can you you get out the door?  Got any tips?