I woke up like this.

Don’t you hate when a film shows a girl waking up in the morning and she’s clearly got a full face of slap on?

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I certainly don’t wake up with chiseled cheek bones and perfectly defined brows. It takes fifteen minutes for my eyes to stop sticking together. Give me another twenty minutes after that though, and I can create an entirely different face. It’s something many of us girls have become pro’s at over the years.

So in reverse ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’ fashion, here is my tired-and-pasty to sophisticated-lady make over…

I start off by cleansing and moisturising my face and I retie my hair so that no fly-away hairs get a coat of mascara. Then I start on my base. I have a few foundations and I choose which one I want to use based on what I’m doing that day. Today is Saturday and I’ll be out for the day and into the evening with no idea if and when I’ll be able to touch up so I’m going for the Giorgio.

One pump of the Luminous Silk foundation by Giorgio Armani is enough to cover my face with  one layer of foundation. (Layer? Coat? Coat sounds like I’m painting my face so I’m going with layer.) On a day like today, when I need good coverage that will be long-lasting, I do this twice. I spend a good five minutes buffing my foundation into my skin. It sounds excessive but I like to make sure it is completely seamless and worked into my skin so it’s less likely to slide off throughout the day.

My concealer is one of my favourite steps when I do my make up because it’s where I see the biggest difference to my face. Today I’ve used the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in the shade Fair (#1). I love this concealer as a much cheaper alternative to MAC’s Pro Longwear concealer which is my absolute favourite. I find one tube lasts me about 30 seconds but, in fairness, the amount of concealer I wear is over the top and ridiculous. It’s not Collection’s fault.

At this point I set all the areas I’ve applied concealer to with Rimmel’s Stay Matte powder and fill in my eyebrows. The eyebrows are a blog all to themselves if that’s something people are interested in seeing but I use a Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in the colour Hazel (#002) and the L’Oreal Brow Artist Genius Kit in Light Medium.

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Today I used The Nudes palette from Maybelline. This is a great one for pigmented, neutral-coloured shadows – some warmer, some cooler. Mine is looking a little battered because it’s a firm favourite.

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Even when I’m not planning to use the colours from this palette I still use this nude eye shadow to even out the skin tone on my eye lids. Does anyone else have those small, blue veins on their eyelids? I feel like I add an extra step to my make up routine every day just to cover those blooming things up!

This morning I used the taupe/brown colour below all over my lid. I applied it with a soft brush and concentrated most of the pigment on the lid, waiting until there was barely anything left on the brush to blend upwards.

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Then, to contour the crease, I used a smaller, more pointed brush to push in this darker colour and blended it out. This works in a similar way to contouring your face. It darkens the crease and defines the shape of the eye. Finally, I used a burnt orange shadow (the only colour not in the Nudes palette) and I blended this between the crease and the lid. I try to blend in as many colours as possible. I find that this creates a smokier look, as long as you take the time to blend them all thoroughly.

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I used Maybelline’s Eye Studio 24hr Gel Liner over my top lashes and created a flick in the outer corner.

I don’t always use eye liner underneath my eyes because they’re quite big to begin with and lining them all the way round makes them look even bigger. Instead, I’ve used the same dark brown colour I used in my crease to line just under my eye – as close to my bottom lashes as possible. This is a much softer look.

Finally for the eyes – mascara! I change my mascara every time one runs out but I often return to Max Factor Masterpiece Max for great volume and a very black black (if that makes sense).

I always finish off my skin with bronzer, blusher and highlighter. This morning I used the chocolate bronzer from Bourjois and an eye shadow by Clarins as blusher. I think it’s called Golden Rose – it’s a beautiful shimmery pink.

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I used ‘Shroom’ by MAC to highlight the tops of my cheekbones and just under my eyebrows. Again, this is an eye shadow but to be quite honest I very rarely use any make up product for it’s actual purpose. For my lips I used a Revlon ColorBurst Lacquer Balm in the colour Demure Reservee. So here I am, ready for Saturday! (Minus the time it takes me to shove my hair up in a slightly neater way. I’m rubbish at doing my hair so I generally don’t bother.)