Everyone’s experienced the horror of realizing you only have 10 minutes to get ready for school. However, even if you only have a few minutes, you don’t have to resort to going completely bare-faced. There are makeup hacks out there that can help you do your makeup in just a few minutes, looking just as amazing with surprisingly less time.

Focus on Your Skin

The first thing you should do when you only have a limited amount of time is focus on your skin as much as possible. Spend your time on primer and foundation, getting rid of the dark circles under your eyes before you care about your eyeshadow color. You can often avoid eye makeup entirely or only use a very minimal amount if you’ve focused on getting your skin looking beautiful. Use the same makeup colors as normal, paying close attention to the way you apply your makeup to avoid dark circles.

Make Your Cheeks Pop

Next, bring some extra color to your face. If the reason you only have a few minutes is that you didn’t sleep very well last night, you’ll probably experience some issues with lifelessness and dullness overall. Consider trying a brighter blush than usual, especially if your makeup routine for the day is mostly just going to consist of foundation and not much else. If you’re worried that the blush makes you look a bit like a clown, use some foundation on top to soften out the color.

Let Products Do Double Duty

If you can pull out fewer products, you should. It’ll make it easier for you to get through your makeup routine more easily. Use lipstick as your blush, apply eyeshadow as eyeliner, and use your brow gel instead of mascara. Pulling double duty with your products also makes it easier to do your makeup on the bus or in the parking lot. Your on-the-go makeup bag only has to include a few simple products.

Don’t Go Overboard

It’s common for people to worry that they need significantly more makeup than they actually do. Sure, going all-out with your makeup look is a great way to make your look stand out, but at an 8 am test where no one else slept well either, you don’t need too much flashy makeup. Everyone else is thinking about their own work, and that’s a promise.

Rock the Messy Look

“Second-day” looks are a great way to cut down on time and make sure you’re still getting a great look overall. Even if you have more than enough time to do a traditional makeup look, you’ve probably seen people striving for the “second-day” look, with messy buns and smudgy eyeshadow. Even if you only did the messy look because you didn’t have enough time to do something else, you can make this messy look appear as intentional as anything else.

Conclusion

A long, sleepless night can be frustrating enough on its own, but if you also have to do your makeup, the problem can feel completely impossible. However, if you’re willing to take a few simple shortcuts, which likely won’t even seem like shortcuts from the outside, you can finish your makeup in just a few minutes.

A great makeup expert can handle all sorts of looks in all sorts of situations. Whether you’re trying to do a bridal makeup look in an hour or a flawless natural look in 10 minutes, the jobs you’ll have to do as a makeup artist are varied and often difficult. If you find that you can switch gears like this quickly, think about signing up for the Ogle School cosmetology program, which will help you learn the skills necessary to make that your career.