High Maintenance Tips to Keep Your Morning Routine Low Maintenance — Beauty on A Budget

Do you know how to make your morning routine low maintenance? I have a few high maintenance tips to make you low maintenance in the morning.

We’ve all been there; planning to wake up early the night before, but snoozing your alarm away until the end of time when reality actually hits.

Now, I know some of you are perfect and have no issue getting up in the morning whatsover. Good for you, but this article isn’t aimed at you, because you’re literally too awesome for that advice. I need the messy life girlies (I use it gender-inclusively here) to pay attention.

You need to start being smarter about the way you get ready. Keep forgetting your lunch at home? Put your keys on top of your lunchbag in the fridge the night before. You never check the weather forecast ahead of time and get soaked when it rains? Carry a shitty little umbrella in your purse of backpack and just leave it in there. You’ll be glad it’s there one day, trust me.

The rule I live by is that life has no rules.

I hate folding laundry, so I bought a shelf and containers are just store my clothes in there. I just divide them by type and use store them in the little bins.

My produce was always going bad in the veggie drawer of my fridge, so I started putting my condiments in there (works with beer too), and moved my produce to the forefront of my fridge. Let’s be honest, I’ll reach for that mustard or beer no matter where it is, but, despite loving it, I may forget I bought kale if it’s hidden. Object permanence is hard, people!

Back to getting ready in the morning. The way I see it, that thirty seconds I use to put on mascara is an extra thirty seconds of shuteye I could have gotten. So, what if I could look great without having to put it on in the morning. And NO, I’m not talking about wearing your makeup to bed!

Fake Eyelashes

Before you panic, I’m not talking about spending hundreds of dollars on professional lash extensions. Lash technician work may birth magnificent results, but they are not wallet-friendly.

I am referencing DIY lash extensions, or cluster lashes that you can apply under your natural lashes at home. They are affordable, come in a variety of sizes, thicknesses and lengths, and should not take more than the time it takes you to watch your favourite YouTuber’s new video to apply.

The concept is quite simple.

1. DO A PATCH TEST. I’m not kidding, these are your eyes. Patch test, always!
2. If all is well the next day, remove your makeup and clean your eyelashes.
3. Apply the bond, or lash glue, like mascara (a little goes along way).
4. Apply your favourite style of cluster lashes under your natural eyelashes with a pair of small tongs or tweezers. It takes a bit a practice to get it right, but even my first few times looked nice.
5. Coat the lashes with the clear seal to remove the tackiness.
6. Voilà! Enjoy your eyelash extensions.

Now, I have tried a few brands and kits, but I would say they are mostly similar in the end. I recommend choosing your preferred eyelash cluster styles, and buying anice bond and seal separately, for the ones included in the kits are usually unimpressive.

My go-to glue and seal are from Lilac St, but feel free to use whatever is available in your area!

For care instructions, I remove my makeup with cotton pads using an oil-free makeup remover. Oil will break down the glue, so be careful! Then, I wash my face like I regurlarly do in the shower, using, an oil-free, agains, facewash.

Dyed Eyebrows

This one might be a bit controversial, as not everyone has luscious brows to dye in the first place. I am lucky enough to be blessed (and cursed) with thick hair, so dying them has been a nice way to avoid filling them out in the morning.

I dye them with whichever hair dye I am using on my head at the moment, as I know the ones I use are safe for the brows. I apply with a cotton swab and simply wait ten or so minutes.

*Be careful not to get any in your eyes. You could get seriously hurt. Also, make sure the dye is safe for your face and DO A PATCH TEST, always!

If you really want the colour to stick, which I don’t recommend doing on your first try, you can add a bit of low-level developper (think 5 or 10, not 20 or more) to the dye mix before putting it on.

The best part is that the dye can be easily removed using rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad if you fucked up the application and ended up with a dyed forehead or something (ask me how I know, huh?).

The Results

When you’re done, you should have beautiful looking eyeslashes that make you look awake even if you’re not, and nicely dyed eyebrows that don’t need to be filled up for at least a few days.

Doing these two things once a week has saved me so much time in the morning, I feel less guilty playing video games and going to bed late, because I have less things to do in the morning.