10 Time-Saving Beauty Tips You Need To Try Right Now

When it comes to getting ready in the morning, I have several things working against me: ADHD, toddlers. Let me just stop right there. I should really get an award anytime I show up to anything on time because, I mean, c’mon. That’s why it’s incredibly useful to have a lightning speed get-ready routine in the morning. You need to try these time-saving beauty hacks – they will save you.

Skip face wash in the morning

Seriously, you don’t need it! The only exceptions to this are if you applied a product the night before (like a peel) that needs to be washed off, or if you have really oily skin. But for the vast majority of people, washing in the morning tends to be overkill and can even disrupt the skin’s moisture barrier and lipid function.

Serum + moisturizer + makeup primer in one

Talk about multitasking! The Glow First Priming Serum from Beautycounter is the all-star of quick beauty routines because having healthy skin in the first place is the ultimate time-saving beauty hack. This all-in-one serum uses key ingredients to let you skip about a million steps:

Around 4,000 encapsulated jojoba ester bubbles to hydrate and smooth skin and even out complexion, without feeling heavy or greasy.
Tripeptides help provide pollution defense from skin-drying environmental aggressors. Clinically shown to help brighten and even skin tone, boost skin elasticity, and minimize the appearance of skin imperfections.
Biopolymer: A natural film-former derived from red algae and tara gum that improves makeup wear and helps smooth the skin’s surface over time.
Responsibly sourced mica: for that shimmery, dewy glow

What’s amazing about this primer is that it’s clinically proven to increase skin's luminosity & radiance, reduce dark spots, improve skin texture, and improve foundation wear for 12 hours. No need to reapply to go from day to night!

If you’re a Beautycounter first-timer, you can save 20% your entire order with the code CLEANFORALL20.

Brow gel instead of brow pencil

One of the biggest time-savers in my beauty routine is definitely brow gel. I love this one in the shade dark. Brow pencil used to take me forever and it was soooo easy to mess up. I’d either end up looking like Frida Kahlo (who I love, but not the look I’m going for) or like abstract art with one of my eyebrows noticeably larger and arch-ier than the other.

Brow gel is a must-have in a quick AM routine. Your brows shape your whole face and the wand applicator makes it so easy. It thickens and shapes brows without the precision needed with pencil! As a working mom of two I try to shave off seconds everywhere I can. Plus they make my brows look fiiiiiiiiine.

Cream blush

Cream blush is versatile, hydrating, multi-tasking, and super easy to apply. It's like adult finger painting – It's fool-proof! The result is dewy and perfect for making skin look healthy and like you just took a yoga class (only minus the sweating). I especially love this one from Beautycounter. There are so many beautiful shades but my favorite is Truffle.

Why you need this: it’s not only makeup, but makeup and skincare in one: ingredients include moisturizing squalane (so color goes on dewy, not greasy) and jojoba esters to help moisturize, soothe, and soften skin.

What makes this even better is that the chic compact is refillable — and made from PCR plastic.

How to save time: Apply the blush with your (clean) fingers – no brush required – and add to cheeks, lips, and even eyes. This one product will give you a quick & easy pulled-together look.

Foundation brush instead of beauty blender sponge

Hoooooly moly. Why didn’t anyone tell me about foundation brushes before?! I was a beauty blender gal for a long ass time and lemme tell ya. I hated it. First of all, they last like 5 uses before they start to fall apart. They’re impossible to clean. They’re expensive and not very eco-friendly if you’re replacing often. I always felt like it ate a lot of product. End of rant.

Okay, they’re not that bad, but once I switched to a foundation brush instead of a beauty blender, I loved it so much more! I personally think it’s faster to use, but mostly I love that it’s easier to clean and I can use way less product. Seriously, I only use like half a pump of foundation now when I used to use two full pumps.

Skip lash curler

I used to use a lash curler to make my lashes appear longer and my eyes bigger, but this mascara from Ilia does all that for me! Bonus: it’s the only clean mascara I’ve found that doesn’t run after a few hours.

Apply as many things as possible with your fingers

While I’m a huge fan of my foundation brush and other beauty tools, ain’t like my own two hands. It’s faster and the end result is much more natural looking. Even celebrity makeup artist Bobbi Brown uses her fingers to apply makeup!

Use multitasking products

They say you should avoid multitasking when you have ADHD, but that doesn’t mean your products can’t do it for you. My favorites:

Lip + cheek color in one: Cheeky Clean Cream Blush from Beautycounter, Multi-Stick Cream Blush from Ilia
Moisturizer + sheer foundation + SPF in one: Dew Skin from Beautycounter
Eye color + highlighter in one: Lid Glow Cream Eyeshadow in Aura from Beautycounter
Serum + primer in one: Glow First Priming Serum

Headbands and dry shampoo

The dry shampoo thing is obvious, but have you invested in some quality headbands yet? I feel like dry shampoo can only take you so far, but a headband somehow covers dirty hair and looks put-together. I have a few really good ones from Anthropologie that I use several times a week. Here are some of my faves on their website currently:

Braid or twist your hair before bed

While we’re on the topic of hair, another time-saving beauty hack is to loosely braid your hair or put it in a twisted bun so you wake up to loose waves in the morning and can skip heat tools.

Friends, I’ve gotten this down to a science and it takes me all of 6 minutes to do my face routine in the morning. 3 minutes for skincare, 3 for makeup and voila. It really makes a difference for me mentally when I do this little routine. I’m always 10 times more productive than when I skip it. If you have any time-saving beauty tips, please share them with me!