First Request! Makeup for work - a step by step guide.

If you're like me, you don't want to wake up an hour early to fix your makeup when you could be sleeping. Let's face it, sleeping is pretty awesome. The good news is that you don't have to spend much time each morning on your makeup to look good for work. Even better, with a few simple tricks, you won't have to worry about fixing up your makeup every few hours.

Step 1: Prepping your face for makeup

Before putting any kind of makeup it's important to prep your skin. Three simple steps are washing your face, using a toner to help close pores and clean any remaining impurities, and moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated and looking healthy. Your skin will feel and, most importantly, look differently if you regularly follow these steps every morning before applying makeup and every night before going to bed.

Step 2: Foundation Primer

Why foundation primer? Because it smoothes out your skin and makes your foundation last a lot longer! Just apply some of your favorite primer all over your face.

Step 3: Foundation

Depending on how much coverage you need, you could go for a tinted moisturizer for low coverage or a heavier matte liquid foundation for high coverage. I like to apply my foundation with a stippling brush because it gives the best coverage without leaving streak marks. Don't forget about covering your ear area and also bringing the foundation a bit down to blend with your neck so you don't end up with any abrupt lines.

Step 4: Concealer

Dab a bit of concealer on any areas that may need it. Don't worry about your eye area just yet, we'll worry about that after eye makeup is applies.

Step 5: Eye Primer

In order to avoid having to fix your eye makeup mutliple times a day, dab a bit of eye primer all over your eye lid all the way up to your brow bone.

Step 6: Highlighter

For my eyeshadows I'm going to use colors from the e.l.f. Beautybook - Bright Eye Edition (why, you ask? because it's cheap and gives you a lot of color options).  Use the top left color to apply to your brow bone and the inner corner of your eyes (your tear ducts). This will help define your eyes and make them look brighter and more awake.

here be this color

here be your browbone

Step 7: All over lid color

Taking a big eyeshadow brush, apply the second color choice all over the lid, blending into the highlighter color a bit so there are no obvious edges.

apply all over the lid

use this lovely color

Step 8: Giving your eye more definition

Taking a contour brush, apply a darker shade to the outer corners of your eyes. You don't have to go too dark with your color, just enough to give contrast. Get a big fluffy brush and blend it in a windshield wiper motion going in to the middle of your lid to blend the color. The purpose of this is to avoid any harsh lines as you want a really soft look.

Use this color

apply with a contour brush

blend with a fluffy brush

Step 9:  Lining your eyes

Since we're going for a soft look, I'm going to line my eyes with eyeshadow instead of liquid or gel liners. A pencil eyeliner can also work. Apply to both top and lower lash lines with an angled eyeliner brush. You can also add a white  eyeliner to your waterline to make your eyes look bigger and brighter.

using this color and brush

apply as close to the lashline as possible

Step 10: Finishing your eyes

I like to use a big powder brush to wipe away any stray eyeshadow that may have fallen on my cheeks. Apply concealer under your eyes. This will help clean up any fallen makeup as well. Curl your eyelashes and apply your favorite mascara.

Step 11: Eyebrows

Filling in your eyebrows can help give more structure to your face. You can use a brow pencil, powder or gel. After filling in your brows, be sure to set with a clear mascara or setting gel. This will keep your brows in place and will also keep you from smudging the color away (and only in one eye if you're like me)

With a pencil and brush...

...you too can have eyebrows!

Step 12: Contouring the face with blush, bronzer and highlighter

If you want, you can just add some blush to your cheeks. Apply some on the apple of your cheeks and blend the color back to your ears. To apply bronzer, suck your cheeks in and apply the color to the hollows created, starting by your ear and working the color down towards the middle of the cheek. If you want to create a more define chin line (or get rid of a double chin) you can add bronzer under your jawline to create an illusion of a shadow. To make your cheekbones even more defined, you can add a highlighter above your cheekbones and under your eyes.

apply blush here

bronzer goes here

highlight this area

Step 13: Lips

Line your lips with a soft pink pencil (or peach, depending on your choice of blush). Fill your lips in completely as this will help lipstick last for much longer. Add a bit of lipstick on top but avoid using anything too glossy or shimmery on top. Another good option is to use a lipstain as they last for several hours, but keep lip balm handy as your lips can feel dry without it.

line ALL of the lips

yes on the lipstick

Step 14: The finish!

Apply some powder on your face to set all the makeup in place and you're all set!

You can go from this...

... to this!

Obviously when it comes to makeup you can do as little or as much as you want. You don't have to contoure your face if you're happy with just adding some blush to your cheeks. You don't have to add more definition to your eyes and you don't have to fill in your eyebrows. These are just small steps that don't add too much time to your routine and can add a bit of dimension to your look if you so choose. With practice also comes ease in ability, so the more you do it, the less time it will take you to do each step. You should be able to do all of these steps in about five to ten minutes with a bit of practice.

What to keep in your purse: powder and brush, lipstick, concealer, q-tip to fix any possible smudging and oil blotting sheets if you have oily skin.

Actually useful tip of the day: have breakfast! Even if it's a protein bar on the run, it'll help you feel better throughout the day if you have some food in your stomach. Not very useful tip of the day: watching dogs and cats nap will make you want to sleep. If you want to feel sleepy all day, watch your pets nap all day long.