Pretty In Bronze

Now that it’s exam season I’m sure that doing your entire makeup routine is the last thing that’s on your mind. Believe me, it’s the last thing on mine. But it’s been proven that feeling good about your appearance can improve your performance in general. It’s also important to do part of your makeup routine like applying your moisturizer and things that’ll help hydrate your skin (especially if you have a real winter like I do here in Canada).  Now because I’m in the same boat as you and have my own exams to write (5 of them) plus a part time job- I’m going to share a few tips on how to keep your skin looking (and feeling) good during the exam season and a simple makeup look that you can’t go wrong with on the day of your exams.

1) Drink 8-12 glasses of water every day. Try to have two as soon as you wake up in the morning as it’ll energize you and two an hour before you go to bed.

2) If you take one shower per day, take it as soon as you wake up in the morning. This will help wake you up and prepare you for a long day of studying (or for your exam. No one wants to sit next to someone stinky. Trust me, been there, done that).

If you take a shower when you wake up AND when you go to bed, try taking the colder one in the morning to help you wake up and taking a hotter one at night, which will help you relax more and sleep better.  This also won’t completely strip your skin of its natural oils as the cold shower won’t really do much if you just take a quick one with a bit of body wash. Use the warm shower for the exfoliating and papering.

3) Moisturize! You absolutely need to moisturize your skin. It doesn’t need to be a fancy shmansy moisturizer that’ll make you want to cry every time your entire pay check goes towards it. Something as simple (and cheap) as the Cetaphil moisturizer is gentle enough to help your skin out. If you want to pamper your skin even more you can add in a few drops of your favourite oil (mine is the Josie Maran argon oil) and this will help make your skin glow. You really do not want your skin to crack and feel dry. It’ll distract you from studying and it honestly just sucks in general. Just remember to moisturize (it only takes a minute) and you’ll be set.

4) Don’t over study. I know this isn’t a beauty tip, but studying too much can cause stress and you all know what stress can cause. Pimples! Stress pimples are horrible to deal with and they just make you stress even more and that’s when the ugly cycle forms. When you begin feeling yourself stressing just stop. Even if it’s for 10 minutes. Create a study schedule that’ll benefit you. If you feel like this will take a lot of study time away from you, make flash cards and carry them around with you. If you’re waiting for the bus, waiting for your food, or if you’re early for an appointment you can pull out those cards and get some quick studying in.

5) Go to bed progressively earlier before your exams start. This will ensure that you won’t be too tired for your early morning exams. If you don’t have any early exams then aren’t you a lucky one? All of my exams are at night except for one 9:00 one and one 12:00 one which to me are way too early. You can still wake up earlyish to get a few hours of studying in, but getting enough sleep is probably the most important tip to being prepared for an exam and looking good while writing it.

An as promised, here’s a quick and easy makeup look that anyone can achieve for writing an exam. I hope you like the makeup tutorial and subscribe for more videos (that won't always be posted on here!) :)

Products Used:

1. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream
2. L'oreal True Match Lumi in colour N1-2 (Classic Ivory)
3. Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser
4. Dior Creme De Rose lip balm
5. Rimmel Stay matte Pressed Powder in 004 Sandstorm
6. NYX  The Runway Collection pallette in Bohemian Rhapsody
7. Anastasia Brow tool (double ended)
8. Be a Bombshell Cosmetics Eye Base in colour Submissive
9. Essence "Get Big Lashes" Mascara
10. Essence Silky Touch Blush in colour 10 Adorable
11. Lipstick 1: Lancome cream lipstick "Pale Lip"
12. Lipstick 2: Maybelline "Healthy Rose"
13. Lipstick 3: Rimmel London "Jet Set Red"
14. Luseta Volume Reviving Dry Shampoo "Lemon Verbena"