Sleeping with your makeup on or going to bed without cleansing your face is a cardinal rule that you shouldn't break. But for some reason or another, you did. It was a late night (or a really, really early morning) and you crawled into bed without washing your face, since a few extra minutes of sleep were way more precious to you at that time than clean skin. That is, until you woke up and looked like hell. It's cool. We've all done it, so there's no #SleepingInYourMakeup shaming happening here. Luckily, there are makeup hacks that you can employ to deal with the fact that you didn't wash your face last night.
Think of it as a creative way to, uh, recycle last night's or yesterday's makeup. You don't have to apply tons of product on top of the dirt and grime that has yet to be washed away, either. There are some simple things you can do that involve zero products or a single product.
While these eight hacks are largely ingenious, I do not recommend relying on them often or allowing yourself to get lazy about washing your face because these hacks are working out for you. These are temporary fixes, peeps!
1. Cold Spoon
Keep a spoon in the freezer and use it for mornings like this. Take it out. Let it warm up for a few seconds, but not too much. Place it on your bags or dark circles and watch them go bye-bye. Give yourself a pat on the back for withstanding the cold chill. It'll wake you up, which is an added bonus.
2. Repurpose That Leftover Mascara
When you didn't wash your face or didn't wash well enough, you often wake up with mascara under your eyes. It looks like migrated eyeliner. Instead of trying to wipe away the remnants of last night's mascara, make effective use them. Take a cotton swab or use your finger to smudge leftover mascara into your lower lash line and you've got instant sooty, rock chick eyeliner.
3. White Eyeliner
White eyeliner on the inner, lower waterline makes sleepy eyes appear brighter and lighter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you have black residue, mix it with a white cheapie and you end up with on-trend gray! That's a happy accident.
4. Do Lips
If you totally want to leave tired, puffy eyes alone, just throw on some oversized sunnies and focus on lips. Add a slick of pink lipstick or a gold gloss for a little glam.
5. Mix Master
I usually do a black liquid cat eye. But if you fall asleep, it becomes a hot mess. And not in a good way. It smears like crazy. Use the dark residue as a primer-like base. Pack some brown or black shadow over top and buff it out. It'll intensify a smoky eye.
6. Pinch An Inch
I spoke to NYC makeup artist Samantha Lennon, who has a simple hack to get some color rushing to your cheeks and to liven up your not-so-fresh face. She says, "You can pinch your cheeks to get a rosy flush and bite your lips to give them some color. Plus, it'll wake you up!"
Don't pinch too hard, though. You don't want to do any damage, so be ginger. I used a massage technique.
That pink flush? Yeah, that's not blush.
7. Blotter Sheets Are Your BFF
My friend Sammi Chichester, a busy magazine editor, doesn't sleep in her makeup often. But in the rare case that she does, she says she relies on Boscia's Black Charcoal Blotting Linens the next day. They absorb oil and reduce shine. In essence, they clean you up and make your face presentable. An added bonus? They don't disturb makeup when removing oil and shine, so if last night's makeup is somehow in tact enough to get you through the day, these won't make a mess of the remnants. ($10, sephora.com)
8. Witch Hazel
This is a new product — and a miracle in a bottle. When I didn't get a lot of sleep and navigating leftover makeup isn't helping, I dab three dots of this stuff under my eyes and it soothes, cools, and de-puffs. It makes me feel fresh.
I hope these hacks help your next slept-in-your-makeup morning.
Images: Amy Sciarretto (9); Courtesy Brands (2)
