How to Simplify Your Beauty Routine

The simpler your beauty routine, the more likely you are to feel beautiful every day. I recently decided to simplify my morning makeup ritual. Here I share with you why I did and how my streamlined beauty routine has simplified and beautified my life!

Here’s what I use in my everyday basic makeup routine:

• Under eye concealer (Bare Minerals Well Rested)
• Regular concealer (Bare Minerals Bisque)
• Neutral eye shadow (Bobbi Brown or Maybelline combo sets)
• Eye liner (wet the darkest shadow and line with it)
• Foundation (Bare Minerals)
• Blush (Bare Minerals)
• Mascara (Maybelline)

Putting Beauty on Display

Several years ago, when our family had moved several times in just a few years, I got into the habit of putting all my toiletries out of sight. I didn’t want potential buyers snooping around my ‘paint and spackle’, and having clear counters made it easy to wipe them clean for a ‘show ready’ bathroom. Even after we settled into our current home, I stuck with the habit of keeping everything in the drawers.

My change of heart started when I had to organize all my beauty needs for a few trips I was taking one after another. In preparation I cleared out all the old things and cleaned my makeup brushes. On my travels, it was so nice to have just a few products out on the counter at the hotel. Getting ready didn’t seem like such a chore when I saw just the few things I needed to do all laid out before me. Once home, I decided to continue the practice.

Just the Beauty Basics

By displaying only the beauty products that I use just about every day, and not all those ‘extras’, putting on makeup seems less daunting. I used to open the drawer full of paints and potions and think – ug! Not today! Now I have a visual reminder that I really can do my whole streamlined routine in about five minutes.

Most of my beauty products come in simple, attractive containers. Those that don’t stay in the drawer! In addition to my basics, I keep a bottle of lotion out and any sample sizes on a pretty tray. (Mine is actually a very inexpensive molded glass relish tray that you can probably find for under $10. Mine was a wedding gift!) The bottle of lotion reminds me to put it on! As for the samples, I have a bad habit of keeping things to use ‘someday’. Having something out (only one thing at a time) reminds me to use it up and toss it out!

Keeping Beauty Products Clean

When my makeup was in the drawer, it was fairly well organized but it still got jostled around and mucked up (especially the brushes). It makes me feel better about my beauty routine when the containers are all clean and pristine! My new system makes it much easier to keep them that way.

For many of us, the morning beauty routine is an important way to care for ourselves. I hope this simplified beauty routine makes you feel more beautiful!