Beauty tips for busy ladies

Hello everyone! A short and sweet post today from yours truly, I wanted to share a couple of tips I’ve picked up since my life has shifted dramatically from a uni student to a trainee teacher. I was used to one 9am a week and about 10 hours of compulsory time spent at uni, about 8 hours of work a week and the rest of the time I was pretty much a lady of leisure. Not to say that Uni workload is a walk in the park, because it most certainly is not! However shifting from a pretty relaxed weekly schedule, to 7:30am – 5/6:00pm days FIVE DAYS A WEEK is incredibly exhausting and it took me most of the autumn term to get used to it, plus three weeks of being bunged up and filled with cold. That’s just a standard part of teacher training I hear though, so onwards and upwards haha.

I have far too many brushes to justify for one person and on top of that, I used to actually stand and wash my brushes every two weeks which would take up hours of valuable time. This sounds so simple, but since I split my brush collection in half and used one pot each fortnight, I have found it so much easier! This way I spend less time washing them all and I only ever wash them ONCE a month, however – I still have clean brushes to use every two weeks which is so important for the skin. Continuously using brushes that have been caked in makeup for days on end is horrendous for the skin, so this way I’m able to have clean brushes and cut down the hours I spent washing. I feel like this was clearer in my head🙈, but basically split your brush collection in two and use the second lot as reserves for when the first get too mucky. Also I use this cheeky and very affordable brush mat dupe, which saves sooo much time – winning!

It’s no secret that water is the answer to the majority of life problems. Congested skin, headaches and a slowed down brain can all be helped with a litre or two of H2O. However often when we’re super busy, we forget to drink enough water and so many times this term my skin has suffered as a result. It has felt and looked so tight, dry and dull.  Since then, I’ve started sleeping in moisture masks twice a week because it just is a little hack that gives your skin the TLC it needs, without much effort on your part! I have a whole post dedicated to my favourite hydrating masks here, which you should totally have a read of ^_^ Similarly applying a sheet mask whilst watching some telly is a very easy way to add some hydration back into your skin. These ones I’ve been loving and they’re not too pricy either!

I wrote a post about this storage system I created from Muji a year ago (post here), and since then it has been fantastic for keeping my core everyday products all in one place. I now keep my corrector, concealer, eyebrow products, lip balm and my NARS sharper in the two drawers. Not only does this mean that I can get my makeup done in 5 minutes tops if need be, but I can also scoop everything back into the drawers in 30 seconds and leave my dressing table relatively tidy. A must for busy ladies, cause when you’re getting ready in a rush EVERYDAY your bedroom will end up looking like a mini tornado hit it!

This stuff, if you didn’t already know is essential for keeping your skin looking brighter and more even, which as you know from the points above my skin was/has been lacking since being so busy! There are many forms of glycolic acid you can try, I firstly purchased a value set of Alpha-H Liquid Gold, which I still use but stopped for a while due to IPL. It’s fantastic and I can see results within a two uses, its certainly lives up to it hype! However you can also spend a lot less on this superdrug version, which isn’t a dupe because this is more of a gel and less of a liquid, however you do see brighter skin in the morning and I think it’s one of my stand out skincare discoveries of 2016! Currently on offer for less than £3…winning! I also purchased a cleanser which contains glycolic acid as another cheat way of incorporating it into my routine, now I must point out here that I only use one of these products at a time and I’d never use glycolic acid consecutively – skip a day or two each time you use it because it can make the skin too sensitive! G.A is the ingredient you need if your skin is looking dull and lacklustre.

I tend to go for quite a natural lip colour for day-to-day, or a balm so I make sure I have at least one in my handbag and one in my car. This means that I can pop on my concealer, maybe some tinted moisturiser, brows and run downstairs for some breakfast before I jump into my car. The lips are often the finishing touch, I’d rather have SOMETHING on them than nothing at all. But keeping a reliable product in the car/in my bag means I can quickly swipe on a lil something and leave my car looking ready to roll.

A bit of a random post, but some little things that have made my beauty routines a tad bit easier since I’ve become a busy 🐝  of late!  Do you have any tips and tricks for hectic days?