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?

Deal Alert: Murale Spend $100 get $30

I just got this email, and I had to share it with you!  Now, I get beauty deal emails all the time, but if I shared all of them it would take up my whole blog!  With that in mind, I only share deals that look exceptional.

From July 31 to August 3, spend $100 or more at Murale and get a $30 Beauty Splurge card.

Last time they had a similar deal I was able to spend my points and still get the $30 bonus card.  I am going to ask and see if spending $200 merits me two cards.

If I make two $100 purchases here is what would be what went into my shopping cart:

Cart 1: $101, Out of Pocket $16 +tax

NARS Dual Intensity Eye Shadow Cassiopeia or Castillo $33

NARS Orgasm Blush $33

YSL Gloss Volupté #19 $35

***$30 card

Cart 2: $136, Out of Pocket $6 +tax

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Pink Quartz $51

L'Occitane Almond Oil $50

***receive $30 card

***spend $30 card on

NARS Dual Intensity Eye Shadow Andromeda $33

***spend $30 card

YSL Gloss Volupté #49 $35

Are you going to take advantage of this deal?

Face Of The Day: Date Night

Announcement!  I just joined Twitter.  Follow me @ClassyOnTheRun. 

Date night!  An excuse for a delicious meal, a cute outfit, and taking my usual make-up to the next level.

For my date night look I opted for a clean, but sculpted face with a subtle smokey eye.

Here are the products I used:

Face Products:

1. Benefit Porefessional Primer - All over my face.

2. Laura Mercier Concealer - Where needed

3. Make Up Forever HD Powder - Dusted all over my face.

4. Dior Hydralife BB Cream (Sample) - Applied all over my face

5. MAC Forever Marilyn Powder - All over my face

6. Lancome Bronzer - Along the jawline, lower cheek bone, and hair line using the Julep's tulip brush

7. Pink blush by Bobbi Brown - Apples of cheek blended back to the hairline 

8. Laura Mercier High Lighter - Top of cheeks, top of nose, under the eyebrow and in the corners of the eye

 Eye Products:

  

1. Urban Decay Anti-Aging Primer - All over lid

2. Clinique Eyeshadow Crayon in Grandest Gold - All over lid

3. Bobbi Brown Cream Eyeshadow - On first 2/3 of eye lid

4. Bobbi Brown Matte Brown Eyeshadow - Crease

5. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Taupe Eyeshadow - Centre 1/3 of eyelid

6. Urban Decay Double Ended Pencil in Sin - Lower waterline, under the brow, inner corner of the eye

7. Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow - Applied gently to my brows

8. Stila Liquid Liner Pen - Not pictured - Applied thinly with a gently cat's eye flick

9. Urban Decay Double Ended Pencil - Dark end - Upper water line

10. Lancome Hypnotic Drama Mascara - Two coats

Sephora sharpener to keep my pencils sharp

Just the lips left!

Lip Products:

1. MAC Lip Liner - Neutral Shade - Line lips gently, fill in the outer lips

2. NARS Copacabana Illuminator - Cupid's bow

3. Hourglass Lip Gloss in Child - Applied to the centre of the lips and gentle blended out

Finishing Touches

1. The Face Shop Hand Cream in Tiare - Applied to the hands and collar bone

2. La Petite Robe Noir - Pulse points, hair

Final Look: 

How do you get ready for going out?  

Make Up Forever: Smoky Extravagant Mascara

A few weeks ago at Sephora, I tried to pick up my usual mascara, Smashbox's Full Exposure Mascara ($22 at Sephora), but it was gone.  None left.  At all.  Not wanting to leave in bitter disappointment, and not wanting to have naked eyelashes (well, that's a lie- I have so, so, so many sample sized mascaras.  But that's not the point.) I took a gamble, and tried a new mascara with a massive brush Make Up Forever: Smoky Extravagant Mascara ($28 at Sephora) based on the Sephora lady's recommendation.   

In terms of price they are in a similar range for mid level luxury mascara (in other words, not Dior pricing, not Maybelline pricing).  With tax, its the difference between $25 and about $30.  

It has an interesting aerodynamic styled tube and a massive brush that tapers at the end.  I was pretty excited to try it.

I think I used it wrong the first time as it did not look all too different from my usual.  At first I wiped the excess product that wells up at the end back into the tube.  And then... a light bulb went off!

The aerodynamic tube!

The massive brush! 

I applied the first coat like normal.  But for the second coat I turned the brush vertical and coaxed the welled up product to the base of my lashes.  Then, I applied my second coat... and wow.

Look how long those are!  I have very blonde, average eyelashes.  Note: No eyelash curler used for this picture.

No need for fake eyelashes with this around!

My lashes felt massive.  I love it!  These lashes with a black cat eye and a bold lip stick?  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

Could this end up replacing the special place Smashbox mascara has in my heart?  I don't know.  Probably.  Yes.  Full Exposure seems a little lacklustre now.  I plan on buying this mascara again, now that I know how to use it, once I have gotten through a few tubes I have in my mascara jar.  I really need to declutter my make up counter.