Midterm Beauty

Bon matin everyone! I can't believe how fast the weekends tend to go by. It seems like after one stressful week, I get to breathe for a minute and then it's off to another! This week especially seems to be a busy one, at it doesn't look like there will be much time to do anything but study until spring break.

I'm sure that many of you are feeling the same way, and I thought that perhaps I would share some makeup tips that will enhance your natural beauty without taking too much time in the morning. I don't know about you, but as midterms approach I like to relish every last second of sleep in the morning, and getting up early to "prettify" myself is low on my list of priorities, however I do know that whenever I feel I look good, my confidence goes up, and who doesn't like a little extra confidence?

After working with makeup all of last summer, I picked up a few tips about how to make applying makeup fast and easy, but leaving you with a gorgeous result that looks effortless. Here now is my 2 minute or less face!

Step 1: If you want to look fresh faced in the morning, the best thing to do is to wash your face when you get up with the appropriate cleanser of course. What I like to do is use a small face loofah or facial scrub pad with some cleanser on top. It takes care of your cleansing and exfoliating all in one and preps your skin beautifully for your makeup! But don't forget that moisturizer with SPF!

Step two: Apply some kind of foundation, just to cover up any blemishes and even out the skin tone. You really don't need to apply a ton of makeup, and a fresh looking face is always in style! The way I recommend picking a foundation is to think about your skin type. If you have dry skin but don't tend to get a lot of blemishes, a tinted moisturizer is a fabulous option. It evens out the skin tone, hydrates your skin, and most of the time will contain SPF to give you the sun protection you need. Now, I know that one concern many women have is putting too many chemicals on their skin, so if you are looking for a great all natural tinted moisturizer, try Aveda's Inner Light Tinted Moisturizer. Aveda uses naturally derived SPF from Cinnamon Bark and so you don't have to worry about those icky chemicals.

(picture from the Aveda website)

If you have dry skin but tend to have a lot of blemishes, then a liquid foundation would be a good bet. Liquid foundations tend to be a little heavier and give you more coverage, but it is important to make sure to pick one out that doesn't clog your pores!

If you have oily skin, you would definitely want to try a powder formula. Powder will soak up that excess oil and even out your skin. The problem with liquid foundations or tinted moisturizer on oily skin is that even oil free formulas can add extra shine to your visage. A fabulous powder formula that I keep going back to is Benefit's "Hello Flawless" powder. It comes with both a sponge and a brush, but I find that a big, fluffy brush works better to cover your face and the sponge works best to add coverage in certain areas where you might have blemishes, or to give you full coverage.

(picture from the Benefit website)

For normal skin, it is really your pick!

I know that all of that seems like a lot of work already, but really once you find the perfect foundation and nail down your application technique, it will bring out your best complexion! If you are really short on time, then I just recommend highlighting your best feature. If it is your eyes, make them pop with some colored mascara (for example blue or purple), if it is your cheekbones, add some highlighter or bronzer, or if it is your lips, pick out some good colors (a very soft pink or light coral is always pretty this time of year).

Step 3: If you have another few seconds to spare, I would recommend a little blush. Blush is great because it just gives you that very feminine and pretty fresh faced look. This blog entry seems to be one almost dedicated to Benefit products, but I do love them because they are high quality, effective, and so fun to use.

My two favorite products in this category are their Coralista all over face powder and their Posietint. Coralista is a gorgeous coral blush that really looks great on every skin tone. I have pretty fair skin myself, and a light sweep of this product on top of my foundation just adds the perfect amount of color, but you could use more product to build the color if you have a darker complexion.

(pictures from the Benefit website)

Posietint is a fabulous product, but I feel that often times women are a little hesitant to use a tint on their face. This one is quite simple to use. One of my favorite techniques is to dip a q-tip into it and put a few little dots on the apples of my cheeks and rub it in quickly. It seriously will last all day and there is no need to reapply!

*The pictures here are taken from the Aveda and Benefit websites, and my apologies for a lack of any "real" photos.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday, good luck with classes, papers, and midterms!