If you hit the snooze button more than once, feel grumpy when your alarm goes off, or need at least one coffee before you can have a sensible conversation then we hate to break it to you, but you’re not a morning person.
While there’s no shame in it, it can be frustrating when you need to be up and running or on your A-game, but everything about you is saying that you would just like to go back to bed. The good news is that there are some sneaky hacks that you can use to fake that ‘I love mornings’ vibe.
Whether it’s your skin looking grey and drawn that gives you away, a surly, low-energy demeanour or a ‘sleep face’ you can’t shake until lunchtime - we’ve got you covered.
Fake it 'til you make it Unlike your attitude, your skin can’t hang on until you’ve had your first coffee, and if you look tired and drawn it’s something you need to address the second you get out of bed. Charlotte Tilbury Unisex Healthy Glow Tinted Moisturiser, £35, is a seamless way of adding that ‘I’ve just been to the gym and did two classes before 8am’ brightness and health to your complexion. The white cream turns into a translucent canvas of wellness on application and also hydrates so the skin you’re hiding looks and feels better for wearing it. M&S Autograph Luminosity Radiant Skin Primer, £12.50, will leave your skin looking radiant and your face wide awake, so with any luck people will think you've been up for hours, even if you've only been up 5 minutes.
Pep up your skin Vitamin C is well-known for offering brightening as well as being energising when applied topically to skin. It’s a fantastic anti-oxidant and is a popular ingredient in anti-ageing skincare and when your skin looks tired there’s nothing like it for giving a ‘boost’. The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%, £4.90, gives a dose of brightening Vitamin C - it’s a high dose that may tingle the first few times while your skin gets used to it - and hyaluronic acid, so skin is revitalised and nourished. And that’s what we all need in the morning, right?! M&S Formula Absolute Ultimate Sleep Cream, £22, will trick your skin into thinking it's had the eight hours of zzz it's missing.
Facial massage There are those mornings when you just don’t get enough sleep, you’re in dire need of a holiday or you, erm, just overdid it the night before. On those days you need the FaceGymPro, £399. This is a cult beauty tool used to depuff and tighten the complexion - it’s a win/win for skin. It’s so easy to use and, if needs be, you can do it while half asleep. It will instantly lift, tighten and sculpt your complexion, showing results within minutes. Whether you opt for using it the night prior or even put it to use when you're on-the-go, it will reduce any puffy signs of tiredness if your face is showing how much sleep you're lacking.
Citrus scents Sometimes you need to trick yourself into thinking you’re more awake than you really are and there is no better way than with a fragrance. What might smell delicious to the people around you is actually you sending a message to your olfactory system that you’d like to be awake, alert and energised. The best scents for this are ones that are heavy on citrus notes such as Jo Loves Mandrine, £70 for 100ml and L’Occitane Citrus Verbena, £46.
The finishing touchesNeed to quickly style your locks, but worried they won't stay put? Ouai Memory Mist, £25, will lock in any style right through to the next shampoo. It cleverly 'remembers' your hard-worked styles, meaning you can wake up with your pre-curled locks and pretty much head straight out the door. But not before you dab a little ASOS Highlighter Stick Illuminator, £9, along your cheekbones and to the inner corners of your eyes, to instantly wake up your complexion.
