The best time-saving beauty hacks

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2014/oct/24/best-time-saving-beauty-hacks

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Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor

Like many women, my morning routine is about using every second of time in between getting kids ready for school. That and caffeine. I get up before everyone else, put the kettle on and plug phones in, deal with emails, make tea, then turn on the coffee machine to heat up. Then shower and pull on clothes before I get the kids up.

I get my clothes together the night before. It always starts with a practicality, whether that’s flat shoes for days with loads of walking or having to look smart for an event, and I have formulas for each eventuality.

While the kids get dressed, I do hair and makeup – it takes three minutes, four max. I have whittled it down to eyebrow pencil, mascara, powder. My skin eats anything else; if I put on foundation at 7am it will have disappeared by 9am, so there’s no point. And I don’t carry makeup out of the house with me.

Hair is a ponytail or a messy bun (the messiness comes naturally when you do it in 30 seconds).

I do my daughter’s french plait in the time it takes for her porridge to cool down.

I brush my teeth with the kids so I can supervise them.

I knock back espresso while checking school bags.

Then, I grab phone from charger and run …

Also, I wear tooth-whitening strips while going for a run. It’s brilliant because (a) you look stupid running anyway (OK, i do) and (b) it makes you feel incredibly smug.

Imogen Fox, head of fashion

My ultimate time-saving hack – aside from just wearing a navy blue tracksuit all the time and thus saving valuable decision-making time – is using the Tangle Teezer. I used to have to comb wet hair in front of a mirror, and with my fine, ultra-knotted hair this used to take five minutes. With a Tangle Teeze it is five seconds with one hand, no mirror – and I can even do it while emptying the dishwasher.

Hannah Marriott, deputy fashion editor

Recently, for reasons of speed, I have decided to eschew makeup altogether unless I am on my way to the sort of occasion that requires the giving or receiving of greeting cards.

I have also been known to eat my lunch on the tube and to whiten my teeth at the office – which is also the perfect place for breaking in new shoes.

Increasingly, I cycle or occasionally run to work, negating the need to worry about exercise at the weekend while protecting my fellow human beings from my reprehensible behaviour on public transport.

Morwenna Ferrier, acting online fashion editor

I love hacking – in fact, my entire routine can be broken down into a natty grid of multitasking and juggling.

For example, while I brush my teeth in the shower, turn on the oven long before I’m ready to eat and hard-boil my eggs for breakfast while steaming my face (both take 9-10 minutes)

If I’m making tomato passata at the weekend, I’ll slow-cook the onions for about 20 minutes, during which time I’ll do a yoga tutorial.

I use a peach hair dye that takes four minutes to sink in. I do it three times a week and juggle the waiting period with either cutting my toenails, running the bath or boiling the kettle for my tea.

Lauren Cochrane, assistant fashion editor

As my colleagues would no doubt attest, timekeeping is not my strong suit. In a bid to at least try to shave a little off my usually late arrival, though, I have picked up a divisive habit: I do my makeup on the tube. Not the messy bits – tinted moisturiser is done at home – but mascara, concealer, cheek tint and eyebrow pencil. It takes less than five minutes, and on particularly busy mornings I have been known to check my emails with one eye while wielding a mascara wand on the other. I have been tutted at, stared at and people have moved seats. But I soldier on – when you’re naturally tardy like me, you need all help you can get.

Do you have any time-saving beauty hacks? If so, do share!