Top Ten Ways to Fake a Good Night's Sleep

I don't like going to bed.  At all.  I put up a bigger fight than the Tornado about going to sleep even though I'm supposed to be all logical and know what's best for me.  Once the Tornado is in bed and the older kids have wandered off to do whatever it's time for me to unwind and do what I want to do and I want that time to last as long as possible!  Normally I do fine on about 5 hours sleep but every once in awhile it catches up to me.  Every once in awhile I wake up with puffy eyes, blotchy skin and a head full of gravel.  It's always on days I have to look presentable about an hour earlier than normal.

So here are the ways I manage to fake it!

1. Good Exfoliator - I love this Vasanti BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator I got from Birchbox a few months ago.  It's gritty enough to brighten up my skin without irritating it.  Exfoliating makes my skin look better and the grit and the water wakes me up a little bit.




2.   Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller - To be honest, I don't love this product for everyday use but when I wake up with super puffy eyes it's amazing.  I put this on first and then top with my regular eye cream and moisturizer and begin to look almost human. Not only does it seem to deal with the puff pretty well but it feels cool and refreshing going on which add a little jolt of awakeness.

3.  BB Cream or Tinted Moisturizer - A nice BB cream, tinted moisturizer or light weight foundation will help even out any blotchiness.  I find wearing any kind of heavy makeup when I just want to crawl back in bed makes me look more tired than going sheer.  I love Cover Girl's BB Cream because it's a great value but am thinking about branching out a little.

4.  Concealer - to finish turning tired skin into wide awake looking skin I love Maybelline New York Instant Age Rewinder in brighten - I generally do a wide circle around my eyes including lids and then very lightly blend.

5. sheer balm  - Once again I always go light on days like this.  I like to do a sheer but vibrant color like Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry

6. mascara - while I always find that doing a heavy eye makes it more obvious that they started out on the puffy side I find mascara helps camouflage it.  L'Oreal Paris Voluminous Mascara in carbon black is the one I always go back to.

7. dry shampoo - Normally when I wake up feeling like death warmed over I'm running late and don't have much time to do anything with my hair.  A quick flip and a spray of dry shampoo gives my hair a little volume and shine and helps make it look a little more "done".  My favorite is amika Obliphica Perk UP Dry Shampoo which is another product I discovered through Birchbox.

8.  coffee followed by green tea - Coffee is a given.  I can't coffee how many times I've woken up and thought "there's not enough coffee in the world to make this better".  While coffee gets me started drinking green tea through out the day tends to keep me going and I don't have that caffeine crash halfway through the day.

If there's time:

Normally when I'm running late and moving slow everyone else in the house is too so there's not much time for anything but the basics and half of them are done in the car.  If I do have time though I try to get these last two in.

9. quick exercise - It can be anything from a few jumping jacks or the fast feet football run for a few minutes.  My favorite quick exercises are this fat burning cardio or this Great Gatsby inspired dance workout both are from blogilaties and both are around 5 minutes.  Anything works as long as it gets your heart started pumping to get rid of the last bit of sleep deprived fog.

10.sugar scrub - this is the one I almost never have time for but if I do it definitely makes for a better day.  A hot shower with a sugar scrub makes me feel like I got 3 extra hours of sleep.  I like sugar scrubs that smell either minty or tropical.  I really like Tree Hut Shea Sugar Body Scrub in Coconut Lime.