“The best thing is to look natural, but it takes makeup to look natural.” – Calvin Klein

Wow, I couldn’t agree more with the American Fashion Designer. When it comes to no excuse beauty, I’d like to take the approach of using makeup to look presentable, ready, and alert. You just never know when opportunity strikes. Might as well look fabulous before it strikes!

There is something empowering about looking your best. Trust me, I know there are plenty of confident women out there comfortable in their own skin who choose to forego makeup altogether. I applaud these women! For those up to the challenge of No Excuse Beauty, I am aware of how busy life can get, and also how not every woman owns cosmetics from Chanel, Estee Lauder, or MAC Cosmetics.

Today’s No Excuse Beauty post is about Beauty in a Flash. For the woman who literally has 5-7 minutes to apply makeup. Ironically, I used my beautiful friend, Kristen, as a model to demonstrate this technique. We literally had minutes to do this photo shoot before Kristen had to leave for her workday. So I got creative. We gathered up several items quickly to present a real life scenario some of you may encounter. Some of the products are from drug stores, and others are from the Cosmetic counter from a department store.

Beauty in a Flash Items

1. BB Cream

2. Concealer

3. Mineral Powder

4. Blush/Bronzer Duo

5. Eye Liner

6. Mascara

7. Lip Balm

Step One: Applying BB Cream

BB creams are awesome for women on the go. BB (which stands for Blemish Balm) helps to even out any skin imperfection very quickly. It has the power of a tinted moisturizer, camouflages pores and wrinkles, offers sun-protection, and all while reducing redness in the skin.

Step Two: Concealer

If you have bags under your tired eyes, quickly spot treat with some concealer about 1 shade lighter than your skin. This will help to brighten up the eye area creating more fresh, alert eyes.

Step Three: Powder

We had some mineral powder foundation on had. Take a powder brush and set your face with some powder. This will help make your face look more evened out and flawless.

Step Four: Blush/Bronzer

A great Blush/Bronzer duo is perfect for beauty in a flash. Grab your blush brush, smile looking to a mirror and lightly brush the apples of your cheeks. With the same brush apply some bronzer and apply along the cheekbones, temples, and along the jaw line. This adds extra warmth to the skin, and looks great!

Step Five: Eyes

Quickly line the bottom lash line with some eyeliner. If you have some time to spare, line the top lash line. Apply mascara to complete your look.

Step 6: Lip Balm

Add a beautiful lip color of your choice. Since Kristin likes a natural look we opted for a slightly darker natural lip balm.

Kristen looks amazing in a matter of minutes. Considering we did not apply eyeshadow did cut out some time. If you have some extra time to spare, you can apply a light shimmery or light semi-matte eye shadow color on your eyelids to make them pop.

Please comment, send me your questions, and share some tips you may have for express makeup application. If you want to learn more about what makeup brushes to use for your makeup application, check out Makeup Brushes 101.