10 Beauty Tips For Rushed Mornings & Busy Days On The Go

We all love to look our best, but we don’t always have hours each morning to preen ourselves to perfection. That doesn’t mean our beauty routines must fall apart completely, though. For this post, I thought I’d share ten nifty beauty tips with you, to keep you looking flawless, no matter how much time you have to spare when getting ready.

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Give Yourself A Mini Facial Massage As You Cleanse

Whilst we all enjoy treating ourselves to a professional facial now and again, we don’t always have the time or money to visit a spa or salon regularly. So, instead, try giving yourself regular facial massages at home. Even if you only spend a few minutes massaging your favourite cleanser into your skin during your morning shower, it will make a huge difference to how toned your skin looks and feels if it becomes a daily habit. This Korean beauty hack improves circulation and promotes healthy blood-flow, to tighten and plump the facial skin and muscles.

Keep Things Simple

Some of us have a monumental stash of products hidden in our bathroom cabinets, me included! But, when you’re on the go or rushed for time, don't overcomplicate things. Aim to use fewer products, but go for reliable formulas that you know have maximum effect, to save time, energy and the hassle of being overwhelmed by too many options. At times, it may feel like the more you do, the better you can look. But, following a simple, yet effective, skincare routine works wonders to help skin look its best. Having a trusty cleansing and moisturising routine that you can fall back on and don’t even need to think about when you’re short on time, is a massive help. Some brands have even devised complete skincare systems to help keep your routine manageable, like Proactiv.

Less Is More

To keep our skin healthy, glowing and wrinkle-free, we moisturise. But, we don’t have to use multiple layers of moisturiser, huge dollops of eye cream or copious coatings of serum during each application. It takes time for the skin to fully absorb products and you need to give your skin a chance to drink up all that goodness before you start your makeup routine. When you're in a rush, think about building up light layers of moisture that soak in quickly, rather than going straight in with thick, suffocating layers of creams that take forever to sink in. Add extra hydration to the skin with spritzes of facial mist or essence, as these dry quickly and allow you to move on to your next step faster.

Cocktail Your Facial Products For Fast Application

Sometimes, following your usual twenty-step routine when getting ready is a no-go. If you’re strapped for time, you can cut your skincare routine in half by mixing your facial products into a customised blend and then applying the concoction all in one go, rather than in five different stages. By incorporating your moisturiser, sunscreen and foundation into one combined product, you're essentially creating your own bespoke tinted moisturiser.

Minimise Your Makeup

Any makeup lover knows that applying makeup is an art form, but not all masterpieces have to take a long time to create. Focus on defining your most important features and use products that will help you to look fresh and awake, especially if you’re tired. Personally, I’ll choose to add a touch of brightening concealer, softly fill in my brows and apply lashings of mascara. For a quick, show-stopping finish, try applying red lipstick for a strong pop of colour that can pull any basic makeup look together in seconds.

Think Ahead

If you're busy all of the time, then you're probably used to having to get ready in ten minutes, or during your commute. So, if you're regularly caught short, then try and do some beauty prep whenever you have a spare minute in the evenings. Tinting your eyebrows could allow you to skip filling in your brows entirely. Mixing a drop of self-tan into your night-time moisturiser will leave you with an extra hint of colour, meaning you might not need to use foundation. Every extra minute saved counts!

Focus On Finishing One Beauty Routine

No matter how quick you think your beauty routine is, there will be times when you must cut it down even further to avoid being late. In these cases, you should stick to one aspect of your routine to fully finish, rather than half finishing everything. Will it be skincare, makeup or hair? Personally, I’d always go for skin, reaching for hybrid products that give my complexion a glow and a hint of colour, like a tinted serum or moisturiser. Then, I’ll shove my hair up into a sleek ponytail and fill my handbag with makeup essentials to use later, whenever I get a chance to slap them on.

Avoid The Sun During Noon And never Skip Sunscreen

Whilst vitamin D is massively important for our health and we all enjoy basking in the sun’s rays when the weather is hot, sun damage wreaks havoc on our skin, leaving us with sun spots, wrinkles and potentially dangerous skin cancers. You don’t have to avoid the sun altogether, but in order to be safe, always apply a generous layer of sunscreen to protect your skin, no matter how much of a rush you’re in. Get your dose of sunshine in the morning and evening, ideally at dusk or dawn and avoid the heat when the sun is at its apex at midday, or during the hottest hours from 1-4pm. Staying safe in the sun means your skin will look its best for longer.

Eat Well

This isn’t exactly a quick-fix, but it’s a long-term solution that will lessen the time it takes you to get ready, by helping you have the kind of skin that you don’t want to cover up. Cut out sugars, salts and dehydrating foods from your diet as much as possible to avoid break-outs, an accelerated loss of collagen and premature aging. To help get a glowing complexion and juicy-looking skin, try upping your omega-rich food intake, by eating more oily fish, nuts and seeds. Increasing your protein intake will also help the skin to repair itself more quickly, too, which is great if you’ve got any break-outs or scarring.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Lastly, it’s important to mention the one beauty tip that we’ve all heard time and time again – drink more water. It may sound ridiculously simple, but it’s so easy to forget to keep our hydration levels topped up throughout the day. So many of us are perpetually dehydrated and our skin shows the signs, with fine lines, wrinkles and spots being major giveaways. To help keep your skin clear, fresh and plumped, aim to drink two litres of water a day and you should notice a massive difference. Plus, you'll feel ten times more energetic, so those early mornings may not feel quite as horrific.

Do you have any tips for cutting beauty routines down when in a rush?

AGB X