6 Tricks Beauty Editors Use to Wake Up on Time
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There's nothing worse than the fury that overtakes your body the minute you open your eyes and realise you’re already late. It’s the kind of anxiety that doesn’t go away once you’re safely at your desk but rather marinates all day long while you actively attempt to return to normalcy. In an effort to leave such frustrating troubles behind, I asked the rest of the Byrdie team for help, advice and a little bit of therapy on the subject. They obliged, and I soon realised that we all have had to work hard to consistently wake up refreshed and without stress. Needless to say, the phrase “I’m not a morning person” came up a lot.
So without further ado, these habits are our tried-and-true ways to keep it together. Follow each short step to get a good night’s sleep—and make it to work on time without going totally nuts. Because, truthfully, we’ve all been there.
“I’m really, really not a morning person, which secretly is one of the reasons I wanted to hit up my fellow editors for advice. I find that if I can snooze, I will. Sometimes even when I shouldn’t. My best advice is to shower before bed. It sets me up so that when I wake up, I have fewer things to worry about doing before I can leave the house. It’s also helpful in feeling better come morning—I’m clean, my skin’s plump, and my hair isn’t greasy—so when I look in the mirror, I’m less apt to want to hide under the covers. I also always have a glass of water and a cup of coffee while I scroll through morning emails and get set up for the day. It’s helpful to know that I don’t have to jump out of bed and rush around like a crazy person, but rather wake myself up slowly and gently.”
“I almost NEVER wake up on time. I am what I believe one would call a sloth—early to bed, late to rise. But I have one tip that does help me wake up more easily, and that’s to make sure I have thoroughly removed all my makeup from the night before. There’s nothing that makes you feel as groggy and gross in the morning as your lashes sticking together from leftover mascara and the feeling of day-old foundation caked on your face. If I’m careful to double-cleanse at night with Decléor’s Micellar Oil (£21), which can truly melt even the most stubborn waterproof makeup, and Renée Rouleau’s Rosemary Mint Cleanser (£26), followed by toning with Pixi’s Glow Tonic (£18); then I wake up feeling fresh, clean and much more ready for the day.”
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“I’m a morning person by nature. So for me, waking up feeling refreshed is all about getting a good night’s sleep. I stop eating after dinner (which hopefully ends before 8 p.m.) to give myself time to digest. I find when I eat right before bed, I don’t sleep as well and wake up feeling, for lack of a better word, bleh. I’m also a light sleeper, so sleeping in darkness is key. I wear Flight 001 Eye Mask to prevent the morning sun from waking me up before I’m ready. I also don’t linger in bed. When my alarm goes off, I give myself two minutes to get out of bed. I’ll go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water. Once I get up and moving I rarely, if ever, crawl back into bed. But if I stay put it makes it harder to eventually get up.”
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“First off, the biggest thing for me has been consistency. It’s a rare morning that I don’t wake up at 7 a.m. on the dot—even on weekends, unless I’ve been out really late the night before. It has become such an ingrained habit that my body literally anticipates it—most mornings, I actually wake up just a minute or two before my alarm even goes off. If I wake up earlier, I feel utterly exhausted; if I sleep in later, I feel unproductive. And it’s actually science—our bodies have their own clock (called circadian rhythm), and if you allow yourself to fall into a routine, you’ll sleep better and wake up feeling more alert. I also like to go beyond that by making every morning a series of rituals—in addition to waking up at the same time every day, I always have water with lemon, coffee and the same breakfast (a green smoothie). I’m even consistent in the way I catch up on news and emails. Establishing a routine makes me look forward to every morning—it’s my favourite time of day. (And I hated mornings for years.)
“One tip I always give people who are looking to reset their internal rhythm—keep your curtains open! Waking up with the sun is the most natural thing in the world, and way less jarring than the marimba ringtone on your phone. I also always sleep/wake up better when I don’t eat after 8 p.m. the night before and shut off my electronics an hour or two before bed, but I am woefully horrible about following either of those habits.”
“Oof, this is a tough one for me because I always wake up exhausted, but planning out everything I need for the morning ahead of time always helps. This way I’m not stressed in the morning or waking up in a panic that I forgot something. I also love doing beauty treatments at night, like a sheet mask (like SK-II’s Facial Treatment Mask, £13) with a nice cup of tea to soothe and pamper myself before I hit the pillow.”
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“I am the opposite of a morning person, but I have found a few tricks throughout the years that encourage me to wake up on time (read: not press snooze for the fifth time in a row). First, I will pick out a few makeup products I’m excited to try out the night before and lay them out on my bathroom counter; I have a constant rotation of beauty products going, and this helps me 1) remember to use the newest ones and 2) get excited about waking up and using them. Right now I’m really excited about Son & Park’s Glow Ring Foundation (£22). Second, I always keep two cold spoons in my freezer. I usually wake up with puffy, swollen eyes (cute visual, right?), and pressing the cold spoons against them wakes me up and helps decrease puffiness. Win-win.”
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How do you make sure you wake up refreshed? Let us know your best habits in the comments below.