7 Tips to Help You Look More Awake When You’re Actually Exhausted
1. Ice Cold Water is Your Face’s Best Friend
We’ve probably all heard that rubbing ice on your face is extremely beneficial for various reasons. It improves circulation, great for reducing puffiness around your eyes, helps fight blemishes; quite literally, it wakes up your skin. Well, we like taking it a step further. Rather than just rubbing an ice cube on your skin or splashing your face, treat your entire face to an ice bath. Fill a bowl with cold water, add ice cubes, and put your face into said bowl for up to 30 seconds 3-4 times. Not only will this wake you up, but your skin will feel and look significantly tighter and brighter almost immediately.
2. Prep with Spoons
Yes, really. Grab a couple spoons before you head out for the evening, and place them in the freezer (if you forget that night, you can also do this in the morning, as the spoons don’t need too long to get to the desired cold temperature). The next morning, go grab those freezing cold spoons, and put one on each eye. You’ll make circular motions with them until the spoons are no longer as cold. Within minutes (seriously), you’ll notice your dark circles will practically be gone and your puffy eyes will go down a great deal.
3. Hydrating Mist to the Rescue
Do you own a hydrating mist? If not, this is something you always want to have on hand (and not JUST when you’re feeling the aftermath of a night out). Personally, I love rose water mist, but there are so many great ones out there. Spray this when you wake up, again before you head out the door, and I’d even throw it in your purse to use throughout the day. It’ll give you an instant refresh and boost.
4. Don’t Skimp on the Moisturizer
You should already be moisturizing every day and night. However, moisturizing the morning after a late night is of utmost importance. Don’t just use one pump of your trusty moisturizer; your skin is begging for hydration the morning after lots of drinking, eating, and very little sleep. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! This is also something I’d throw in my bag to use throughout the day.
5. Play with White Eyeshadow and Liner
This is something you can really do at any time, as white eyeshadow/liner will instantly make your eyes look brighter. And this is certainly something you want to do when you’re feeling tired or under the weather. Put white liner on your waterline and/or use a dab of white/pale eyeshadow in the inner corners of your eyes. Your eyes will look whiter, brighter, and no one in the office will know you only slept two hours last night!
6. Go Light on the Makeup
You might want to go crazy with your makeup, as to try to cover up the tiredness in your face. However, it’s actually wise to go light on the makeup. Of course, concealer is your BFF right now, and you want to use some foundation, bronzer, blush, highlighter, all the usual suspects. You just don’t want to overdo it, as it might actually make your troublesome spots stand out more. And this is especially the case for lips. You might think going for red or something bold will detract from everything else going on, but in fact, a dark lip will actually bring out those dark circles under your eyes even more. Thus, go for a more neutral lip.
7. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!
This is a MUST, and it’s likely something you already do. Drink lots of water throughout the day leading up to the night of the party, and continue drinking it in between your cocktails. And, most importantly, drink a large glass before bed (with some Advil, too, if needed!). Once you wake up, drink a large glass again, and continue doing so throughout the day. You should be drinking tons of water all the time, but especially when you’re going to be drinking and eating more than normal.
