When I was younger, I used to like looking in the mirror and secretly playing with my mom’s make-up. Every once in a while, I’d convince her to give me an old eye shadow or blush or buy a tube of lip gloss from the drug store. Once I got my hands on those I’d apply them in excess and I know for a fact that I looked like a clown. I take that back. Actually, I looked like a clown who couldn’t do his makeup. That’s how bad it was. Since then, I’ve learned less is more. 

 

Nowadays my make-up routine is pretty basic and anyone who has any training in make-up or fancies themselves a make-up guru will probably cringe, but here it goes…a typical weekday morning beauty routine.

7:00 a.m. Alarm clock goes off. The sun is barely out. I groan loudly, hit snooze and try to convince myself that waking up for the day isn’t really essential.

7:05 a.m. Alarm clock goes off again and I drag my tushie out of bed begrudgingly. Commence eyes closed zombie walk to the Kuerig.

7:08 a.m. Grab first cup of coffee for the morning and head back to bed. I open up my laptop and do my daily internet rounds: email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Lovelyish and other miscellaneous blogs.

7:25 a.m. Today’s going to be a busy day of school and work and I don’t know how much down time I’m going to have, so I head down to do my workout for the day (yes, I do my workouts in my pajamas sometimes). I just finished Insanity a couple of weeks ago, so now it’s on to Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day-Shred. I start Level 2 today, so…here it goes!

8 a.m. Okay, now it’s time to make myself look halfway decent. I wash my hair over the sink with Carol’s Daughter Chocolat Collection Shampoo. No conditioner today. After I wrap it in a towel, I wash my face with regular bar soap and then use St. Ives Apricot Facial Scrub. Now that I’m feeling refreshed, time to moisturize. I’ve got some pretty smelling Pink Grapefruit body cream for my hands and arms and Aveeno Continuous Radiance for my face.

I unwrap my hair, spritz in some Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla leave in conditioner and brush my hair through. Next comes the Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Lite. I just put a little in my hands, rub them together, flip my head over and scrunch it in. I never blow dry my hair because I find it makes my curls dry and frizzy, which is no good — like ever.

You may be saying to yourself at this point, “Rebecca, you’re insane. It’s 12 degrees in NYC today and it feels like -5 degrees. Plus your walk to class is completely in areas shaded by buildings.” To which I will respond, “Sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” Now let’s just hope my hair doesn’t turn to icicles in the 10 minutes it takes to go from the parking lot to the building where my class is. I should also steel myself against my mom’s pleading with me to put a hat on or dry my hair because “going out with wet hair will make you sick.” 

8:20 a.m. Oh look, that only took 20 minutes. I don’t have to do anything terribly fancy today, so I’m rocking jeans (the ends are all frayed, I should probably buy a few new pairs), a black T-shirt, a purple scarf, and small black wedges.

8:30 a.m. Time to accessorize. I throw on my Choose180 dog tag (lately I’ve been wearing it almost every day, I think it’s SO cool) and my buckle ring. And then it’s time for the make-up. Like I said, I generally don’t wear a lot of make-up so I need just enough to make me look awake. First step: eye shadow. Just a simple brown with a tiny bit of shimmer to add dimension applied with *gasp* my index finger. (Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I promise to put on eye shadow like a big girl if someone can find me a good eyeshadow brush. Promise.) Then one or two coats of Maybelline Great Lash in Brownish-Black on my top lashes only. My bottom lashes are pretty long already, mascara just makes me look silly. For my lips, I use a pink lip gloss, slightly more vibrant than the color of my lips, just to add some color. Finish up with deoderant and a spray of Butterfly Flower Body Spray from Bath and Body Works.

8:40 a.m. Make my second cup of coffee in my travel mug and pop a waffle into the toaster to scarf down on the drive to school.

8:45 a.m. Grab my bag, my books, and my coffee and I’m out the door and onto my first big task of the day…ace-ing my Linguistics final. Wish me luck!

Hope you liked my morning routine, and keep an eye out for how other Lovelyish team members get ready in the coming weeks!

Do you have any special routines to get ready on a busy weekday morning?