To echo Beyonce: I woke up like this. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

I know, I know, we’ve all had those mornings where one look in the mirror is enough to horrify you back in to bed. The static bed head, the puffy eyes, the pillow creases, topped off with a vacant expression that says: “YES! I can’t wait to go to work today.” The last year or so, I’ve become all too familiar with this. Let me preface this that I somehow had to make myself look alert and put together at 6:00am. In order to survive the endless early mornings, I slapped together a little morning routine that I did not, and have not, strayed from since. This is the once place in my life that I am admittedly a bit OCD about. I need my morning routine, things don’t feel the same without it. (And everything has to go in a specific order. Strange, I know, but when you’re sleep-walking through the morning, it comes in handy.)

Step 1: Basic Hygiene. Fun things like brushing one’s teeth, washing one’s face, applying deodorant and sunscreen. These are mandatory, I don’t care how early it is.

Step 2:  I turn to my fabulous makeshift vanity. You are correct, it happens to be on top of my toilet tank.

Products employed in Step 1: Sunscreen and lip balm. Also pictured is one of my favorite scents: Philosophy’s Unconditional Love.

Please disregard the hole in the wall- I have no idea why it’s there. It’s typically covered by the empty Baijiu bottle that I now employ, rather futilely, as a brush holder. 

As you can tell, I am a rather fanatic collector of lip products and also enjoy more than my fair share of Lush. More on that later.

Here’s where you can get really creative! If you’re awake enough, that is. For Step 2, I typically use the below pictured products:

To cut some corners, I enjoy using a BB cream. I can haphazardly apply this and not worry about looking unnatural. I am also unusually attached to my Mac Select Cover Up (I wear the shade NW20). If I had to pick only one product to apply, this would be it. I like to follow this up with NYC Sunny Bronzer, Tarte Amazonian Clay blush in “Exposed,” (for the most natural flush), and Mac’s In for a Treat PearlMatte face powder. I had no intention of buying this, but I stumbled upon one of the last few at the Berkeley Mac and couldn’t leave it. Who can resist those pressed flowers, especially when they give you a lovely glow?

I have to give a nod to Urban Decay’s Naked 2 Pallet; I was wary of purchasing this at first, but it has proven itself well worth the price. I use it every day, sometimes twice a day, and it is very well-loved. I usually top everything off with a bit of Mac’s “Jest” eyeshadow in the inner corner of my eyes to brighten everything up, as well as some of Clinque’s Lash Doubling Mascara.

If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll throw on some of my favorite liner from Mac (in “Prunella,” a dark eggplant shade), along with a quick swipe of a lip product. My current favorite happens to be one of the Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Glow that I purchased while in Auckland. Apparently this is not yet available outside of NZ/Australia, but it’s one of those self-adjusting shades that looks incredibly natural on.

Step 2 typically takes me a little over 5 minutes to complete. I tend to lean toward the more natural end of the spectrum when it comes to beauty/makeup application. Growing up I was never allowed to wear makeup, so when I did, it had to be as indiscernible as possible. The strict upbringing didn’t allow for a ton of fun, but at least it saved me from looking back on year book photos of myself covered in mismatched foundation and raccoon eyes. I guess everything has a silver lining, even with less than glamorous beginnings.

EVA ♥