You've overslept. A lot. Or you've spent so much time trying to remedy a bad hair day that you have hardly any time left to make up your face. The easiest solution is to eschew makeup altogether, but for those who lack the confidence to pull off the barefaced look, here are a few suggestions to get you out the door feeling a little braver.
Camouflage Your Biggest Facial Flaws
Just like with a bad hair day, if you're too worried about every imperfection on display, you'll be too distracted to get anything done.
If your skin's blotchy in general, tackle that first, using mineral makeup for a sheer natural finish. Likewise, if your skin's reasonably clear, but a little pasty for your comfort, a bit pink or peachy blush (whichever flatters your skintone) will make you glow.
If your skin is nice save for a few discolorations, spot-treat those areas using a stippling technique and leave the rest alone; this is another good reason to make sure your foundation matches your skin tone. If zits or eye circles are your albatross, attack them with concealer, and set with a bit of powder.
Remember, this isn't the time to obsess over every flaw; just get the biggest one or two and move on to the next step.
Accentuating Your Best Features
Now that you've minimized your trouble spots, it's time to pick out your best feature and draw attention to that. Perhaps you have a great mouth, so work the glamor angle with a bright lipstick that flatters your skin. Maybe you have gorgeous eyes, so play those up with colorful eyeliner (pale gold to bring out blue eyes, purple to enhance green eyes, navy or turquoise for playing up brown eyes).
Finishing Touches for On-the-Go Makeup
All you have to do now is brush your eyebrows into shape, since nothing will throw off your look worse than the facial equivalent of bedhead. Now add a little mascara and you're good to go.
Since preparation is the best way out of a jam, buy or thumb through a few makeup books at your local book shop since most present-day authors will give some advice on pulling off the minimal-makeup look. Bobbi Brown's books are a good source and so is Carmindy's The 5-Minute Face.
Once you've tackled your worst features, and accentuated the best ones, nobody is going to pay attention to the rest, and if they do, they probably have too much time on their hands. Either way, you'll be out the door and ready to face the world without putting mascara on in the car.
