How to Prioritize Your Morning Makeup Routine When You're In A Rush

Some mornings I roll out of bed at 10 am and spend a leisurely half hour on my face.  Blush, bronzer, highlighter, contour, brows, mascara, concealer...the whole nine yards.  By the time I'm done my make up looks flawless.  Unfortunately every morning can't be that way.  There are other mornings I get up and only have five minutes for my face.  This post will explain how I prioritize what goes on my face every morning.

The products featured here are what I use and enjoy.  You may prefer a different product.  This post is more focused on putting on a product rather than a specific product.

With out fail, every morning involves a quick face wash and a layer of my favourite moisturizer.

Always in My Purse:

My purse always has a neutral lip gloss, a mini mascara, and a mini eyeliner for absolute emergencies.  Together these make me feel polished and pretty.  Perfect for touch ups during the day.

Round 1: Primer, Fondation, Powder, Blush, Mascara

Together these brighten and perfect my skin while adding a subtle flush of colour and adding some definition to my eyes.  I always set my foundation with Smashbox's Halo Finishing Powder.  If I only have time for this I can add some gloss and eyeliner in the car or on the subway.

Round 2: Primer, Eyeshadow, Eyeliner, Highlighter, Brows

On ideal average days I get this round done.  If I am pressed for time I use Benefit Gimme Brow, but lately if I have a spare minute I reach for my new Dip Brow by Anastasia Beverly Hills.  A quick wash of Urban Decay's Sin primer followed by Kitten by Stila all over my lid and a gentle cat's eye using my Stila liquid pen in usually black but sometimes brown or navy.  I then dust some Laura Mercier highlighter on my cheek bones, under my eyebrows and along the bridge of my nose.

Round 3: Contour, More Eyeshadow, Lip Stick & Everything Else

This is where the fun kicks in.  I love adding lipstick, playing around with Urban Decay's Naked Palettes, and contouring.  I could go on and on with all the little things I could add in this round.  Suffice to say, I only get to this round if I have time to kill.

So there you have it.  How to prioritize your morning makeup routine depending on how much of a rush you are in.  Of course, if we all got up 15 minutes earlier we'd always look flawless.  But I love sleep, getting up is hard, and I am not about to sacrifice looking put together.  

What do you think of the black and white images I played around with?  Of course they're not to scale.

How do you get the essentials taken care of when you're in a rush?