At the end of those exhausting work hours, everyone's encountered a time where we have to quickly spruce ourselves up and freshen our makeup to meet up with friends for an impromptu drink, or maybe even head off to a date.
The challenge is updating your makeup from the simple-turned-greasy look into something bold and glamorous.
Here's how you can switch from day to night:
Touch up your base makeup: You don’t want to meet your friends with a greasy and smudgy face. Always have your compact/pressed powder on hand and use it to soak up all the oils collected during the day. Oil blotting sheets do the trick as well. Try not to play with creams and gels as those could crease and create a cakey look.
Bold lips: Work or class environments call for subtle and soft shades, but night outs are when you have to go bold with your lips. When packing your work bag, throw in a warm and bold lip shade – play it safe and go with something that suits you, so you always have something to apply for those sudden dinner plans. Opt for liquid to matte formulas as they don’t smudge or wear off during dinner and drinks.
Bold lips mean dramatic eyes: On the off chance you’ve packed a small eyeshadow palette, use the soft matte shade as the base and pop the glitter shade on the centre of your eyelid for a dramatic look. Brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Nars, Dior and Elf Cosmetics do great four to six shade palettes that can be easily packed in your bag.
However, if you don’t have a palette, you can get away with using your lip shade instead! Using your fingers, lightly blend your lip shade on the crease to give your eye some colour. You can use your pressed powder to set it so that it doesn’t look cakey. Swipe some volumising mascara, and you’re ready to go!
Here's how you can be prepared for spontaneous plans with minimal products:
Prepare your work bag: If you need to get to reservation without heading home first, have your go-to makeup products ready and stored in your bag. Travel size products of the basics – mascaras, lip shades, pressed powder, eyeshadows, blush and highlighter duos – work best for being prepared.
Have doubles: If you can afford it, have doubles of your favourite products or keep drugstore dupes to ensure you always have something to work with. You can even add one or two multipurpose makeup brushes – Real Techniques, Morphe and Beauty Bay have amazing travel-sized brush sets that are affordable too.
Invest in compact makeup kits: You’ve probably come across compacted makeup palettes that have all the powders in one place, such as foundation, bronzer, highlighter, blush and a few eyeshadow colours. These can be a bit pricey, but they are an investment that can save you some money that you'd typically spend on doubles. Benefit's Getaway Glam, Charlotte Tilbury: Instant Look of Love in a Palette, and Natasha Denonas’ Glam Face Palette are some of my favourite sets to work with.
Use these tips to help you prepare to look glamorous for those unforeseen night-out plans!
Edited by Amy Mullen-Brown