by Clare Jennings
I have a terrible relationship with sleep. I both love it, and hate it. My circadian rhythm is shot to heck, and the only time I’ve really been able to live my best sleep life was during lockdown, where it was perfectly acceptable to stay up till 3am and sleep till 10am.
Now in NZ, we are back to a mostly normal working day, I’ve found it quite the struggle to get up early enough to indulge my love of having a full face of makeup. So I’ve come up with a very good alternative, that looks put together and kinda glam, but takes seriously 5 minutes. Tops!! So I thought today I’d share this with you, and hopefully you’ll get some tips and tricks that will make things a wee bit easier of a morning.
Full disclosure: I will always do my skincare first. And this takes longer than 5 minutes, so I’m not counting it in the 5 minute makeup routine.
Start by applying sunscreen liberally to your face. Every. Single. Day. It is, the most important step of your daytime skincare routine. I’ve been using the Dear Klairs sunscreen (purchased from Hikoco) for over a year, and it’s really good on my oily skin. It softly mattifies, but still has a bit of a glow. Excellent for daily use.
First up : Products. I use: Sunscreen, Concealer, Shimmer eyeshadow, Black powder eyeliner, Mascara. Brow gel, Brow setter, and lastly a bright lipstick/lipgloss.
Next, I apply brow gel, making sure not to go overboard. There are lots of good options out there; but currently I’m loving Make The Make brow gel from the Skin Wardrobe). It’s pigmented, but definitely beginner friendly. I kind of brush my brow hair upwards and then tidy them into the shape I want using the wand.
Next – Concealer. I have the First Aid Beauty Bendy Avocado Concealer currently, and it’s super for my dry under eye. I apply a few dots under my eye, and blend it out with my finger. I also apply it onto my eyelids (this will be a great base for the eyeshadow), and any other blemishes/areas of redness that I want to cover.
Then I do my eyes. I love the (shimmer shadow pots from hourglass), which have a very ‘grown up’ looking shimmer. Very pretty. I apply it with my finger all over the lid, then blend it out into the crease area with an eyeshadow brush, so you get a soft gradient look. I then apply a black powder eyeshadow with an eyeliner brush, right along the lash line of the top and bottom of my eye, deepening it slightly at the outer corner of my eye to give the illusion of a slight ‘cat eye’. Then two coats of mascara – any will do, but my current fave is the very boujie Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes.
And lastly, it’s on with the lipstick.
I love to wear red lipstick, and I have a bit of a collection of different reds. So generally I’ll choose any one that takes my fancy on the day. My favourite though is the Becca Lipstick Love in Cherry – a bright, cool toned red. To me, there is nothing like a red lippie to make you feel confident, ready to smash the day/the patriarchy/whatever needs smashing (not people, though. Never people).
And there you have it! My five minute makeup routine. Simple, easy to perfect, and stress free.
