I am a mom of a two year old early riser and as such the one thing I don’t have is time to waste. In the mornings, I get ready in 10 minutes or less. As you can imagine, my routine is minimal as my time is precious.
That being said, I am still the type of person who likes to look put together and chic. While in the past I allowed myself to indulge in lengthy beauty treatments, regular salon visits and 13 step makeup routines, these days I find myself looking for shortcuts. Ways to achieve the same glow and sense of impeccable self without the time investment.
So here is a sneak peek into the high maintenance things I do that allow me to be low maintenance.
Nails
I do my own nails at home.I don’t do fake, gel, acrylics any of that. One, I find them super damaging to the nail bed, two it costs money and I’d rather spend that £50 somewhere else. Three, I simply don’t have the time, energy or desire to take myself to a salon and just sit there for two hours while someone is working on my nails. And finally, my nails simply grow too fast. I know some girls get their nails done once every 3-4 weeks but that simply isn’t an option for me. I hate seeing the overgrown nail that needs an infill so instead I do my own nails weekly. I have become super efficient at it and tend to do it on Monday mornings while on a lengthy Teams call. Talk about multitasking.
Skincare
I am religious with my skin care. Sheet masks, oils, retinol, SPF, at home face massages… These are non negotiable. I take really good care of my skin which means I don’t have to worry about makeup all that much. I really dislike the feeling of foundation on my skin and who has the time to blend and contour for ages every morning anyway. I definitely don’t. So instead, I make sure my skin is healthy and glowy from the inside out. I am actually wearing a sheet mask while typing this.
Gold jewellery
I never take off my jewellery, ever. Shower, sleep, gym I wear it all the time. You can only do that with precious metals. Any custom jewellery while eye catching and trendy, tends to tarnish quite fast and needs to be taken off. Ain’t nobody got time of that. Instead I invest in classic gold and silver pieces that I can wear all the time. This type of jewellery doesn’t tarnish or turn that horrid green colour.
Sleep
I am super protective of my sleep. My job is demanding and so is my life at home, so me lacking in energy is bad news for everyone. In order for me to function at an optimum and not look like a zombie, I need my sleep. That means no late nights, no scrolling on TikTok till the small hours, no social events past a certain hour. The sluggishness I will feel the next day and the huge dark circles under the eyes make any social event past 10pm just not worth it. I go to bed at 10pm, no exceptions, I have a relaxing pillow spray to help relax, black out blonds AND curtains. As you can tell, I take my sleep extremely seriously.
So there you have it, a few of the high maintenance things that help me save precious minutes and stay low maintenance.
