You’ve spent all your money on £5 pints and dirty chips on the way home. You lost your voice at 2am in the at some crap club. You haven’t showered, and you probably woke up in your clothes. You were – to put it mildly – the highlight of work drinks. But now you’re hungover. AF. Well, fear not – if you need to look ship-shape sharpish for work/meetings/that date tonight these tips will sort you right out. Best of all, they are reusable (think: festival season, or maybe just Sunday morning)….
1. Get In A Shower
Look, I’m just going to put it out there – you probably smell quite bad right now. So get thee to the shower and scrub yourself senseless with something zingy (Original Source Mint & Tea Tree is your boy here). You’re going to need to wash your hair too, probably twice. Yes, it’s a hassle, but it’s the only way you can make sure every granule of last night washes out.
2. Wash And Moisturise Your Face
It’s a double cleanse kind of day. I always start with something oil based when I mean business, and for me, that means DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. Wash off and cleanse again. I’m a sucker for Anne French Deep Cleansing Milk because it’s cheap and not tested on animals (avoid if powdery/floral smells make you gag). Gently use a flannel to make sure you remove every last bit of 2am gunk. Alcohol + sleeping in your make-u- = reptilian skin so apply your favourite moisturiser liberally.
3. Drink Water
And lots of it. If you’re feeling particularly dehydrated go for an isotonic drink. Or if you’re as easily influenced as I, stock up on coconut water – the thirst quencher of our times.
4. Cover Up Eye Bags
Under eye circles are largely genetic (thanks, mum) but can get a whole lot worse on no sleep (thanks, rowdy tent neighbours). Luckily for you, my plight has resulted in a near obsessive search for the perfect concealer and I have finally found it: Trish McEvoy Instant Eye Lift. This creamy salmon pink concealer perfectly covers purple-tinged bags and – bonus! – fills in micro lines. Apply and buff in with a concealer brush. You could stop at this step and already look 100 times more awake.
5. Damage Control With Concealer/Foundation/BB Cream
Avoid a whole face of foundation if you can, as your skin is probably pretty dehydrated and caked on foundation will just highlight dry patches. Instead, cover up any spots etc. with a dab of concealer. In this kind of a situation, I love Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation, which is basically a giant concealer stick that doubles up as foundation. Apply where needed and blend in.
6. Chuck On Some Colour
By this point you’ll probably be looking like a thirsty, tired ghost, so it’s time to slap on some colour. Today is not the day to be pissing around with Kim-K inspired contour, so just stick to the basics with a bit of bronzer and blush. I used the cool bronzer shade by e.l.f and some pressed Lily Lolo blush in tickled pink to bring my face to life without looking full on Ronald McDonald.
7. Highlight
Feel free to skip this stage, but I think a healthy swipe of highlight makes skin look dewier and healthy, crucial after a night of alcohol abuse. My current obsession is Illamasqua’s new Beyond Powder in Deity which is an alarming sounding greenish gold colour. Somehow – miraculously – instead of making me look nauseous it makes me look…I don’t know, radiant is an egotistical and bold claim. Let’s go for glowy.
8. Open Your Eyes
Provided you haven’t totally wrecked your hand–eye coordination, use a curler on your lashes. It’s tedious but it will make your eyes look wider, and you need every millimetre you can get right now. Once you’re done curling, add a coat or two of your most trusted mascara (I’m loving Tarte right now). No more than a couple of coats though, think wider not spider.
9. Highlight Part II
If you have the wherewithal, grab your highlighter and apply a dab to your inner eye. Now, somewhat controversially, I also like to apply a bit to my lower lash line. Sue me. I think it looks less stark than white liner and opens your eyes up even more.
10. Fill In Brows
There is something about a full brow that just screams health so if yours are looking a little scraggly or sparse, fill them in with your weapon of choice. I used a greyish brown powder from an e.l.f palette and set in place with a Barry M brow gel.
11. Soothe Your Lips
Bring your lips back to life with a heavy duty balm mixed with a bit of colour. And there you go – ta da! – look at you looking a bit less hungover and ready to meet the world.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.