After a night out, I often find myself deciding whether or not to take off my makeup before going to bed. If I choose yes, I have to wash my face and apply moisturizer. If not, I can fall into bed and wake up to deal with the consequences.
Glamorous: smudged eyeliner and mussed hair.
Not Glamorous: flaking foundation, lipstick on my chin, bits of mascara trapped in my eyeball.
I'm often tempted to use the "glamorous" side-effects to outweigh the negative, not-glamorous ones. But actually, smudged eyeliner and messy hair are both things that I can create later, after I wake up. It take much more work to remove stubborn makeup, deal with newly-formed acne, and risk an eye infection in the process.
Quick morning-after damage control:
- Leave your eye makeup alone for now.
- Wash base makeup off as soon as possible.
- Wash again, to be sure all the residue and sweat is gone.
- Find a gentle, moisturizing lotion, without scent. Use it all over the face.
- Use a tiny dab of the same lotion, on the tip of your finger, to wipe away eye makeup selectively. Leave some subtle traces of eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara, but tone it down.
- Put on some lip balm.
- Take care of the rest of your body. Drink water and eat something.
But when in doubt, just take it all off.
And consider one more thing: washing off makeup can be a soothing process instead of a hassle. Just like a hot cup of herbal tea, washing one's face at night can be the perfect relaxing routine before bed. Maybe you'll even fall asleep faster. And then, in the morning, we can all wake up to a clean slate.
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