Give us this day our daily routine

This is how I get ready most days, at the start of 2016. At 28 years old, I am in possession of some pretty good skills at hair and makeup. I wear this look almost every day in one incarnation or another. Braids. Winged eyeliner. Blush. Here’s a before and after for you!

The lighting isn’t changed and both photos have the same filter. Makeup and hair makes a huge difference in my opinion. I don’t do them for anyone else, especially since my husband finds me to be a beautiful person overall and not just physically! I like the way makeup and hairdos make me *feel*.

It’s really important to me that as I get older, I continue to have this time to make myself feel pretty. It’s part of taking care of myself.

Today, my hair style is quite complicated. This is because I didn’t have to work on New Years Day, and I had a little time on my hands. Check out the process!

Shanghai-Proof, 12 hour teaching hairstyle:

1. Start with brushed hair, with a little lemon juice in it to try to brighten it.
2. Using a rat tail comb, section the hair into three parts on your head with parts running parallel to your face. Put the two sections at the back up, and comb the front one forward.
3. Now, begin a Dutch braid (tutorial here) starting at your ear. Pull the braid up and over your head to the other side, gathering hair as you go. Braid the remainder when all of this section has been added, and secure with an elastic.
4. Let the second section down and brush it out to get rid of tangles. Do the same type of braid (or a different one for more texture)  on the other side, starting at the other ear. Secure with an elastic.
5. Tug on the braids to make them bigger. You can find a tutorial for this awesome trick that I recently adopted here.
6. Braid everything into a single, large braid. Secure with an elastic, and pin it under to make a chignon. Pin the living crap out of that bun, to make it secure. Criss-cross the pins so that they lock together.

Tada!

With a little practice, this hairstyle could be done in ten minutes or less. I wear braids precisely because they are some much quicker than blow drying or straightening. Braids are feminine and secure for a long day of work, too.

Take a break for some tea.

Next is makeup. Follow these steps.

1. Moisturise. Dot some foundation under your eyes and on the chin. Don’t put it on your whole face, because this can look cakey. You want as much of your natural skin to show through as possible.
2. Add some peachy blush. Sweep it all on your cheekbones and up to the edge of your hair. Focus on the area just below your temples for a vintage look (tutorial here from 1948).
3. Add some shimmer with a few dots of highlight. Put them on the top part of the cheekbone and just under the eyebrows. I use Benefit’s High Beam, which I bought for my wedding and is only about half gone more than a year later.
4. I swear by NYX Milk as an eyelid primer. Smear it all over the eyelid and in the corner of the eyes to brighten. Blend it really really well, or you will look as silly as my picture up there.
5. Blend some light brown eye shadow on the outer parts only of the eyes. Blend with a brush. Blend. Blend. Blend again. Think you’re finished? Blend again!
6. Using a liquid liner in a dark brown, draw on a wing. Use it carefully and incrementally. It’s easier to add more than to remove the liner once it’s on. I only draw my eyeliner to the middle of my eye or just beyond the midline on the lid, because I want the white corners to stay as white as possible.
7. Two to three coats of black mascara. Check for stray bits of anything that inevitably fall onto the cheeks.

Ready!

How do you like to do your makeup and hair? What are the tricks you use to make it faster/easier?