Beauty Tips for the Busy Woman

As soon as the alarm clock sounds, it can seem like a mad dash to the finish line — but just because you have to hurry doesn’t mean your beauty routine has to suffer. Here, experts reveal how to slice minutes from your grooming while maintaining great skin, healthy hair, and a pulled-together look.

Start With Concealer

Creating a brighter and more even complexion is often the most time-consuming part of makeup application. Cut minutes from the job by strategically dabbing concealer on pigmented areas — under-eye circles, say, or blemishes — then brush your teeth or fix your breakfast before applying the rest of your makeup. This gives the concealer time to melt into your skin more smoothly and to set, so you won’t have to use as much makeup over it.

Use a Multitasking Moisturizer

Score a three-for-one punch by choosing a moisturizer that, in addition to having an SPF of at least 30, contains antioxidants. That way, you can hydrate, sunblock, and get the anti-aging benefits of antioxidants all at once.

Focus on the Three E's

If you’re in a serious rush (or you've hit the snooze button one too many times), just focus on the three E’s — eyebrows, eyeliner, and eyelashes. Brush and fill in brows if necessary, line your upper lashes with chocolate brown (light complexions) or black (deeper complexions), and slowly wiggle a mascara wand through lashes for definition. If you’ve got under-eye darkness, a quick touch of concealer may be necessary. Add a slick of lip balm or gloss to finish — and out the door you go!

Always Be Sandal Ready

Rough calluses can turn a pedicure into a project, so it’s smarter to do a bit of maintenance regularly to always be ready for your favorite strappy sandals. Keep a foot scrub, foot file, and callus softener in the shower year-round, and spend 30 seconds on each foot at least twice a week. And when you moisturize your body after you shower, don’t forget those feet! Putting on a pair of cotton socks afterward will intensify the absorption of moisture.

Detangle in the Shower

Not only is detangling hair a nuisance when you’re in a rush, but you’re more apt to rip through the strands, causing damage and split ends. To save styling time, keep a large-toothed detangling comb in the shower to smooth out your hair while running conditioner through it. Once you step out of the shower, you’re ready to style — or just go.

Use Primer

It may seem counterintuitive to add a product to your makeup routine when you’re going for efficiency, but starting with a silky face primer will cut down on the amount of makeup you have to apply — and reapply later. Primer gives skin a smooth, retexturized appearance, so you use less product, and it extends makeup wear by hoursApply primer all over the face and allow it to set for a moment while you work on eyes or lips; then apply face makeup over the primer.

Find One Magic Makeup Shade

If you’re traveling or simply don’t have the time or energy to fuss with multiple pots of color, your blush can double as eye shadow. Fair skin tones should use bronze shades, while medium and dark complexions can use pink and sweep color onto the apples of the cheeks, and then apply on the eyelid, up to the crease. It instantly pulls together even a minimal look.

Create Effortless Waves

What’s a girl to do when there’s no time to blow-dry? Simply work an antifrizz serum or cream through strands (if you have curly hair), and quickly weave hair into a loose three-strand braid. If there’s an extra minute to spare, you can wrap the braid into a bun and bobby-pin it in place. Once your hair dries, you can unbraid it, releasing beautiful waves that effortlessly take you to cocktail hour or dinner, says Potempa.

Avoid Mascara Mishaps

If you’re one of the many women hooked on mascara, you know that cleaning up smudges and retouching surrounding eye makeup can kill precious minutes. To avoid the mess, hold a tissue under the lash line when running bristles through lashes — any excess mascara will conveniently end up on the tissue. Tissues are especially helpful if you apply mascara to your lower lashes.

Buff, Don't Paint

Sometimes there’s just no time for a manicure, even though your nails are in need of some serious love. Try buffing instead, which gives nails a super-shiny, healthy appearance. Look for a four-sided numbered buffer tool — it indicates the order of sides with which to rub nails. Then smooth on your favorite hand cream. Quickly buffing and hydrating will do a world of good — it’s a quick way for your hands to look and feel clean. You’ll have brilliant shine with zero drying time.

Home Remedies for Colds

Are cold symptoms making you feel miserable? Here are 12 cold remedies you can use right now -- at home -- to feel better.

Cold Remedy 1: Drink plenty of fluids to help break up your congestion. Drinking water or juice will prevent dehydration and keep your throat moist. You should drink at least 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water daily. Include fluids such as water, sports drinks, herbal teas, fruit drinks, or ginger ale. Your mother's chicken soup might help too! (Avoid cola, coffee, and other drinks with caffeine because it acts like a diuretic and may dehydrate you.)

Cold Remedy 2: Inhale steam to ease your congestion and drippy nose. Hold your head over a pot of boiling water and breathe through your nose. Be careful. If the steam burns  your nose, breathe in more slowly. You can buy a humidifier, but the steam will be the same as the water on the stove. Moisture from a hot shower with the door closed, saline nasal spray, or a room humidifier is just as helpful to ease congestion.

Cold Remedy 3: Blow your nose often, but do it the proper way. It's important to blow your nose regularly when you have a cold rather than sniffling mucus back into your head. But when you blow hard, pressure can carry germ-carrying phlegm back into your ear passages, causing earache. The best way to blow your nose is to press a finger over one nostril while you blow gently to clear the other.

Cold Remedy 4: Use saline nasal sprays or make your own salt water rinse to irrigate your nose. Salt-water rinsing helps break nasal congestion while also removing virus particles and bacteria from your nose. Here's a popular recipe:

Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in 8 ounces of warm water. Fill a bulb syringe with this mixture (or use a Neti pot, available at most health foods stores). Lean your head over a basin, and using the bulb syringe, gently squirt the salt water into your nose. Hold one nostril closed by applying light finger pressure while squirting the salt mixture into the other nostril. Let it drain. Repeat two to three times, and then treat the other nostril.

It's important to note that, according to the CDC, if you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, use distilled, sterile, or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution. It’s also important to rinse the irrigation device after each use and leave open to air dry.

Cold Remedy 5: Stay warm and rested. Staying warm and resting when you first come down with a cold or the flu helps your body direct its energy toward the immune battle. This battle taxes the body. So give it a little help by lying down under a blanket to stay warm if necessary.

Cold Remedy 6: Gargle with warm salt water. Gargling can moisten a sore or scratchy throat and bring temporary relief. Try a half teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 ounces of warm water four times daily. To reduce the tickle in your throat, try an astringent gargle -- such as tea that contains tannin -- to tighten the membranes. Or use a thick, viscous gargle made with honey, popular in folk medicine. Steep one tablespoon of raspberry leaves or lemon juice in two cups of hot water; mix with one teaspoon of honey. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before gargling.

Cold Remedy 7: Drink hot liquids. Hot liquids relieve nasal congestion, prevent dehydration, and soothe the uncomfortably inflamed membranes that line your nose and throat. If you're so congested you can't sleep at night, try a hot toddy, an age-old remedy. Make a cup of hot herbal tea. Add one teaspoon of honey and one small shot (about 1 ounce) of whiskey or bourbon if you wish. Limit yourself to one. Too much alcohol inflames those membranes and is counterproductive.

Cold Remedy 8: Take a steamy shower. Steamy showers moisturize your nasal passages and relax you. If you're dizzy from the flu, run a steamy shower while you sit on a chair nearby and take a sponge bath.

Cold Remedy 9: Try a small dab of mentholated salve under your nose to help open breathing passages and help restore the irritated skin at the base of the nose. Menthol, eucalyptus, and camphor all have mild numbing ingredients that may help relieve the pain of a nose rubbed raw.

Cold Remedy 10: Apply hot packs around your congested sinuses. You can buy reusable hot packs at a drugstore. Or make your own. Take a damp washcloth and heat it for 30 seconds in a microwave. (Test the temperature first to make sure it's right for you.)

Cold Remedy 11: Sleep with an extra pillow under your head. This will help relieve congested nasal passages. If the angle is too awkward, try placing the pillows between the mattress and the box springs to create a more gradual slope.

Cold Remedy 12: Learn about natural remedies like zinc, echinacea, and vitamin C. People looking for natural cold remedies often turn to supplements.

Zinc: While early studies showed that zinc could help fight off a cold more quickly, the latest consensus seems to be that zinc has a minimal benefit at best.

  

Echinacea: While echinacea was once a very popular cold remedy, the latest science indicates that it does not appear to prevent colds and is not an effective treatment. Researchers are continuing to study echinacea’s effects on respiratory infections to determine if there is some benefit.

Vitamin C: What about vitamin C? A recent survey of 65 years' worth of studies found limited benefit. The researchers found no evidence that vitamin C prevents colds. However, they did find evidence that vitamin C may shorten how long you suffer from a cold. One large study found that people who took a vitamin C megadose -- 8 grams on the first day of a cold -- shortened the duration of their colds.