Ten Minute Makeup | The Soft Glam Edit

These days, I'm all about speed. 

With two small children to get dressed, fed and out of the house, I have ten minutes tops to get my glam on. 

What is a beauty addict to do? Developing a quick and dirty routine with multi tasking products is the only way to go. This is something I've been working on since having my son five years ago, and I like to think I've got it down to a bit of an art now. 

So in celebration of all the time-poor working mums out there who still want to rock the war paint, I'm starting a series of posts dedicated to quick and easy looks, starting with this take on 'soft glam'. 

Soft glam is a very Instagram thing. It's all about trying to get that hyper-real gently, filtered look in real life. 

Glowing skin, glossy lips, warm eyes and fluffy brows and lashes are the goal. There should be no hard edges here - everything needs to look hazy and diffused. 

So what are the steps to getting there and how do you do it in ten minutes? 

Luminous Skin

Getting the painting right starts with the canvas. Soft glam makeup is actually more about good skincare than you might think, but that's a whole separate post. For now, I'll just say that nothing comes between me and my daily skincare routine. 

Makeup-wise, I start with the Elf Luminous Poreless Putty. This stuff is beautiful - a smooth, balm like texture that erases pores and gives a subtle radiance. 

After flirting with a lot of bases over the years, I've finally fallen for a classic - Estee Lauder Doublewear In 2N1 Desert Beige. It obviously lives up to the name, but it gives a much more velvety finish than I would have imagined before trying it. 

My under eye area is a constant problem, so I make sure to add a quick swipe of my ride-or-die concealer - Mac Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15. I work it in quickly using a sponge - I like the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge - and then dip it straight into the Revolution Pro Hydra Matte Setting Powder. 

Then with a large fluffy brush, I blend Beauty Pie One Powder Wonder in Exquisite Light over my whole face, which gives a wonderful illumination. 

Sculpted Cheeks 

You might not think that ten minutes would give you enough time to get your contour on, but that, my friend is where you would be wrong! 

I actually use two cream shadow sticks to make it quick. I love the Beauty Pie Wondercolour Shadow Sticks in Vanilla Whirl and Teddy Bare, because they are the perfect shades for it, and really long lasting. 

Vanilla Whirl is a matte light flesh tone. I draw it on down the bridge of my nose, under my brows, inner corners of my eyes and on my cupids bow as well as across my lids and quickly buff it in with a blending brush. 

Teddy Bare goes under my cheekbones, chin, bottom lip, in the corners of my temples, in my eyelid crease and down the sides of my nose, and blended out with a flat foundation brush. It might sound a lot, but it's a super-speedy, paint-by-numbers job that helps me cheat the cheekbones that Mother Nature didn't give me. 

I top this off with the bronze and blush shades from the Beauty Pie One Palette Wonder. 

Soft Eyes

Squeezing things into ten minutes doesn't leave much time for carefully blending eye makeup. 

I just press the light shade from the One Palette Wonder across my lids, take a bit of the bronzer from the same palette and fluff it into my crease (using powders on top of the cream sticks really gives it all staying power) and then pick up some of the darkest shade on an angled brush and use it as eyeliner, winging the shape out slightly. 

I then use the highlighter shade from the palette in the inner corners of my eyes to fake looking more awake. That's literally it and it's so quick! 

Fluffy Lashes And Brows

I've recently invested in the Lashify system and it's a complete game changer! 

It gives me the ability to do very high quality lash extensions at home. The kit takes a little getting used to, but once on the lashes are generally good for a while, and topping them up if they need it is only a one minute job. 

For my brows, the Beauty Pie Superbrow Angled Pencil in Hot Coffee fills them in so quickly, and then I use the Eylure Amplify Brow Gel to add dimension and set. 

Natural Pouty Lips

My lips are the quickest, easiest thing! I use a lip crayon as it acts as a liner and lip colour in one - Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Skin Deep or Beauty Pie Velvety Matte Lip Crayon in Nude Go To is my choice. 

Then I either swipe over some Beauty Pie Wondergloss Collagen Lip Oil+ in Nude Nectar or some good old Vaseline and I'm good to go!

 

The whole soft glam look is quick, easy and makes me feel pulled together and ready to face the world.