Minimal Makeup for When You Just Don’t Care

When you’re not feeling well and have to go out, you may be tempted to go without makeup.  And that’s fine for a lot of people.  I personally have a very hard time going out without my makeup because I feel self conscious.  On days when I’m not feeling up to applying makeup, or even when I just don’t have enough time for my normal routine, simplifying the routine is often the better answer for me.  Below, you’ll see my alternate routine when either mood, illness, or time messes with my usual.

First, start with a clean face and a don’t care attitude.  So what if it isn’t how you normally do your makeup?  My don’t care attitude took over and I did the tutorial with a turbie twist still in my hair.  Honestly, I forgot it was there until halfway through.  My cold medicine makes me absent-minded.  At least that’s my excuse.

Moisturize (olay complete) and apply lip balm (softlips).

While you’re letting your moisturizer absorb into your skin, think about what parts of your makeup routine are most important to you.  Which parts would you feel uncomfortable without?  For some, it may be lipstick.  For others, eyeliner.  For me, it’s my eyebrows.  I feel that my eyebrows are very light and sparse, so I don’t like going out without filling them in.  I also like to at least apply foundation.  When I used to use liquid foundation, if I had a day like today, I would skip it and just dust my skin with loose powder.  But with mineral foundation it’s easy, so I don’t skip the foundation anymore, even when I’m feeling lousy.

After you’ve given the moisturizer a couple of minutes, proceed with applying your foundation if you like, or just dusting with loose powder if you don’t need the coverage.  I am using Everyday Minerals foundation and Maybelline loose powder because I need to use it up before I buy myself anymore loose powder.  I skipped concealer because I didn’t feel like it.

At this point, you can tend to the things you feel like you need to do.  In my case, my eyebrows.  I am using the dark brown shade from e.l.f. Brightening Eye Color in Butternut.

If you really didn’t feel up to doing anything else, you could leave it here.  I do like to take a couple more steps just to make myself look a little more alert or more rested.

Every woman needs a neutral eyeshadow that she can apply from lashline to brow in a hurry and not worry about precision.  A shade like shroom from mac or sahara from nyx.  Just look for a beigey nude shade with just a hint of shimmer.  You can also go the cheap route like me and use a shimmery bronzer.  I am using Acupulco Glow from Wet’n'Wild.  I probably got it for two or three dollars last summer when I was traveling.  I’ve never once used it as a bronzer, so I can’t comment on it’s abilities there, but it’s worked great to add shimmer to my eyes.  But getting back to business, if you feel so inclined, apply your nude shadow from lashline to brow just to even out any discoloration and brighten your eyes.

On days like this, I don’t tend to want to deal with regular mascara either.  I do appreciate what mascara does for me, I just don’t want to bother with it when I’m feeling lousy.  This is when I reach for my Neutrogena clean lash tint instead.  It won’t give you volume, it won’t lengthen your lashes, it does exactly what it says, it tints.  And sometimes lashes just a shade or two darker is all you want.  Especially since there are no clumps when you’re dealing with a lash tint and it’s near impossible to smear it on your skin by mistake.  As I said, don’t look to this product to do what mascara does, look to it to be easier to deal with than mascara.  It’s super easy to apply to upper and lower lashes without much thought.

And for me, that’s all I need to feel human enough to go out.  Do I look my best?  Probably not.  Do I look decent enough to not feel gross if I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror?  Yes, and that’s pretty much all that counts when I’m sick/PMSing/short on time.

The changes may be subtle, but I think we can all agree which photo I look more alert in.

So again, when you’re not well, you don’t have to go bare-faced.  You can simplify, and only take care of the things that matter most to you.  When I look better, I feel better too.  As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.