My Everyday Make Up Routine

As much as I love make up, skin care and general beauty stuff, I hate spending any more time on my everyday make up than I need to. 5 minutes are good, 7 minutes are ok if I do all three levels of my routine. Levels? Yes, I always do my make up in three levels (each consisting of three steps) and depending on what my plans are that day, I do one, two or all three of them. I got the idea from Bobbi Brown's Make up Manual, in which she talks about figuring out your three absolute essentials (desert island products) that you can put on in less than a minute. For me these essentials, the first level of my routine, are a tinted moisturizer, a brow pencil and any tinted lip product. For others, they might be concealer, mascara and blush, or blush, liner and powder. Whatever I am doing, whether it is just lounging at home or going out, I always use my three essentials first and then continue with level 2, if I want to look a bit more polished, or 2 + 3, if I want polish + more definition. Below you'll see some pictures of my process. If you want to know more about the products I use, my special occasion make up routine and how I organize everything, read this post.

Level 1 - Lounging, uni, weekends To even out my skin just a bit, I apply Bobbi Brown's Hydrating Tinted Moisturizer in extra light. I have pretty light and sparse eyebrows, so I always fill them in with a taupe eye brow pencil. Then, I put on any kind of tinted lip balm or sheer lipstick to make me look less washed out. My current favourite is a Revlon Lip Butter in berry smoothie.

Level 2 - Work, fun + casual activities I know most people would pick mascara as one of their essentials, but I only apply mascara if I have to :) My holy grail is the Lash Power mascara from Clinique - it is the only formula I've found that does not smudge on me. To make my lashes look a bit fuller I also apply a felt-tip liner just above the upper waterline, right between my lashes. Then, I usually add some cream or powder blush. In the picture I am using Eyeko's Fat Balm in cherry.

Level 3 - Special daytime events Applied with a light hand, I would still look relatively un-made up after the second level, that's why I always think of the third level as the 'real make up' make up. First, I apply some shimmery, taupey grey cream eyeshadow on my lid and then I line my lower lash line with Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in gunmetal. Lastly, I apply some lip liner to intensify whatever lip product I am wearing.