Office Makeup for Monday Morning Blues

monday morning bluesHow to overcome those Monday morning blues.

After enjoying a late night out on Sunday, the thing I dread most is to get ready for office in a few hours. It’s a Herculean task to get myself out of the bed and prepare myself for another week ahead. On top of that, the exhaustion and a few hours of sleep hardly help my skin.
Late nights and lack of sleep play havoc with our look especially our eye area. My main tasks on Monday are to brighten up my face and eyes without looking overly done. Just a fresh clean face that can be achieved in 5 minutes max.
These are a few makeup tips that come in handy when I have just a few minutes (thanks to the snooze button I hit more than 10 times before finally dragging myself out of bed) to get rid of those dreadful Monday morning blues.

• A great way to prep the face and instantly rejuvenate the skin is to either splash it with cold water or better rub an ice cube for a couple of minutes. It instantly takes away any grogginess and refreshes the skin as if you’ve had a good night sleep.
• When I don’t have either the time or the energy to use a billion products on my face, I usually go in for a tinted moisturizer with SPF. A tinted moisturizer keeps the skin glowy, light and dewy and takes away that extra step of using a foundation. I use Stila’s Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15. You can mix 2 parts of your favorite foundation with 1 part of your moisturizer to get the same effect at home.

stila
stila

• I think the key to a bright face starts from the eyes. Dark circles, bags and puffiness are all enhanced multifold with a poor night’s sleep and this is where my best friend, my handy dandy concealer comes to the rescue. Dab it under the eyes and on the eyelids to achieve a uniform color. Also, since we are using just a sheer coverage tinted moisturizer, concealer can be used on other imperfections anywhere else on the face.
• For setting everything and making sure the concealer lasts the whole day, I use a pressed powder on my entire face. I avoid going for my loose powders on days when I am pressed for time to remove the extra step of using a powder brush.
• The next area are the eyes. I apply a peachy shimmery shadow all over the eyelids to give a brightening look to the entire area. On days when my eyes don’t want to remain open in the first place, I don’t like using either liquid or black eyeliners liners as these make the whole look quite harsh and closed in. Instead I take any deep eye shadow shade like a brown or plum and blend it in my lash line. It is also quicker and more error-proof than using a liquid liner. On some days, I skip this step altogether and just use a shadow and mascara.
• The next trick is curling my eyelashes. This instantly widens the eye area giving an illusion of well rested eyes. I feel a clear or a brown mascara helps in achieving a fresh faced look than a black one.

eye lash curler

• I avoid applying kajal as it can make the whole look harsh and the eyes even smaller. If necessary, I use a peach colored or a nude colored eye pencil on the waterline to further open up my eyes. Contrary to popular belief, I feel that using a white eyeliner on the waterline can look very harsh on our Indian skin tones.
• The next step is to apply a blush. Using a blush is a great way to bring color and health to the face. I opt for a semi matte blush in a rosy pink or peach color that blends extremely well into my skin. ELF Natural Radiance Blushers are great for those healthy flushed looks.

elf blush
elf blush

• Lastly for lips, I apply a tinted lip balm (my NYX tinted lip spa) and that’s it for the face.

nyx lip
nyx lip

• On days when I am tired, I usually wear my hair up in a ponytail. It hardly takes a minute and is fuss free throughout the day. Also, wearing my hair away from my face lifts the entire look and gives a very polished appearance.
• Another way to spruce up the look in a jiffy is cute accessories. I feel pearls work the best for me. Simple pearl studs or a pearl necklace can jazz up even the most plain of looks or outfits.

• Lastly, I spray on a refreshing perfume. My favorites are the ones with fresh scents, nothing too floral or overpowering. Perfumes or body sprays instantly lift up my spirits as I head out the door to brave another week of work!

Also Read:
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Office Makeup : Neutral Eye Makeup for Office & Everyday
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Office Makeup routine for Normal Sensitive Skin
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Eye Makeup Tutorial for Office Wear
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Office Eye Makeup Look Tutorial
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5 Youtube Videos on Everyday Makeup
Easy Everyday Makeup Tutorial

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25 thoughts on “Office Makeup for Monday Morning Blues

  1. good article Bhawana. I like all the steps you have listed not just for Mondays but for an everyday office wear look too 🙂

  2. one more question – do we get tinted moisturizers in India? if yes, which ones would you recommend? For starters, I like the idea of using a moisturizer with foundation. :))

    1. I am using biotique tinted moisturiser, its the best you find here,better than ponds one and yess this one not like other face products from biotique that would dissapoint you!! Give it a try! lotus also has tinted moisturiser, but dont know if it good.

      1. hey me with u, yes for biotique, I jus fell in love with that TM. Its very good, gives a sheer coverage, has spf and moisturises pretty well….love that prod.

      1. Thanks ‘Tapaswini’ and ‘thePurplespirit’ for your suggestions..might try the Biotique one for now. I read the review reg the Ponds and it mentioned it was best for dry skin and mine is oily/combination.

        1. Aruna,

          on the higher end range side, MAC, Clinique etc also have tinted moisturizers. Just last weekend, I tried out the tinted from MAC and it seemed to be good, didn’t buy it, but the MAC MUA said they’ve been selling a lot of these lately.

    1. i use MAC studio finish concealer in NW40 for undereyes and NC35 for the rest of the face…nothing else seems to work for me…

  3. Very good article Bhawana!! :waytogo: Splashing cold water on the face of a few does hydrate and brighten up the face a lot. I also love using a flesh colored pencil(MAC Chromagraphic pencil) on waterline and inner corner and along with concealer and just mascara, that perks up my eye area really well.

  4. hi 2 all IMMB Beauties!

    after a long time i am checking IMBB site bcoz of bit busy in official & household works,lovely article Bhawna,very very useful one,hey my name & urs is the same only bit diff in spelling,isn’t it?
    Thanks a lot for the article Bhawna.

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