Wednesday 10 December 2014

Stone Cold Sober.....Makeup for the "morning after..."

There's nothing quite like waking up with your mascara smeared across your face and red lipstick all over your pillow! The aftermath of a good night out! I know we are all very good usually and always remove our makeup before bed (I do find makeup wipes to be a Godsend on late nights - something is better than nothing) but sometimes it all just seems too much after a fun and late night. However, if you have managed to remove your makeup be sure to lather on lots of night cream to help re-hydrate the skin while you are sleeping.

After a lovely warm shower to bring me back to the world of the living, it's time to get rid of all the remnants of the night before.  On mornings like this I like to use a mild scrub to really get the dirt of the night before off and then maybe a foaming facial wash afterwards or a nice cleansing oil.  Our skin is especially tired and de-hydrated after a big night out, so I massage a serum into my face to get the blood pumping around and then apply a nice, soothing moisturiser.  Our eyes particularly feel it the next morning so any cool eye gels (you can put them in the fridge overnight) or even cool and damp cotton wool pads are a good to way to get rid of any puffiness over the eyes.

Obviously, as our skin is so de-hydrated we need to make sure we put all the water back in our body. So get drinking lots of water while doing your makeup or some Coconut Water which also helps to replace any natural electrolytes we may have lost (to be honest I have no idea what these are but it sounds good).

Then I need to apply my makeup so as not to scare the other mums and children at school! There is a great product I love by Shu Umera that I put on first and this is great for brightening dull and grey skin. Or perhaps you could apply some Clarins Flash Balm or a similar product to bring some life back to the skin.  I then mix a bit of my MAC Strobe cream into my foundation. This again will help to brighten the skin, making me look less like death!

Concealer under the eye is going to be required today.  Be careful to apply it directly on to the dark areas.  A peachy colour is good to correct green and blue tinged shadows. Our skin can also appear redder when we are hungover and a green colour corrector is good for this.

The key with makeup the morning after is not to pile more and more makeup on to your face thinking this will make you look better. The motto for these mornings is less is more...but my essentials products would have to be bronzer, blusher and mascara. 

Bronzer will help to make you look healthier and a spot of blusher always brightens the face, both these products will help you to look more awake even if you don't feel it. I would though recommend a cream blusher not a powder. The skin will be a bit drier than normal and powder products can sit in the creases and draw attention to dry areas. Another little tip is that often we get ruddy cheeks when we are hungover so you may want to dot your cream blusher a little nearer to your cheekbones rather than the apples of your cheeks.

A light, creamy eye shadow is best on these mornings as these are less work, less blending required. I like Laura Mercier but I have read good things about the Maybelline Colour Tattoos. Ones with a bit of shimmer in are good as these are light reflective. Don't apply any grey or dark coloured eye shadows as these will only make you look more tired as will any dark eyeliner. Stay away from this. Though a nude (not white) eyeliner in your waterline can help to make the eyes look whiter and bigger. Our eyes feel and look small when we are hungover so curling your lashes is a must do step. This will open your eyes up and immediately make you look more awake. Apply mascara but don't go crazy. Not too much. Go easy on your lower lashes as you don't want to attract too much attention to any darkness you may have under the eyes. Tired eyes can often be sore or red so eye drops are often helpful. I like these Boots ones.

My failsafe on days like this is a bright lipstick. A quick and easy pop of colour and it doesn't involve too much effort as I would use a chubby lip pencil. I like to use the Revlon ones. The other option is to make them look natural and healthy with a good covering of lip balm as lips dry out too and a natural looking lip gloss on top.

Apart from that Nurofen, Irn Bru (its my Scottish roots) and prawn cocktail crisps are my saviours!


x




2 comments:

  1. Great post. I find as well using guerlains midnight secret at night really helps my skin looks like it has had some sleep. I would love to find the equivalent for my eyes! X

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  2. Thank you lovely. Ooh I need to try that Guerlain. Is it better than the Kiehls products? I so want to find the miracle product that deals with dark circles under my eyes! X

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