Tips for disguising lack of sleep

Had a bad night? Lack of sleep can mean a bad start to the next day. But apart from the obvious solution – grabbing a nap when you can – there are other ways of hiding those signs of tiredness and making yourself feel better in the process.

Here are our top tips:

Feeling better

Take a shower: You’re guaranteed to feel better after an onslaught of warm, running water.

While showering, rub your face with a gentle exfoliant to brighten dull-looking skin caused by lack of sleep.

Lack of sleep leaves you dehydrated so moisturise well.

Again, because of dehydration, drink lots of water, eat lots of fruit and try to avoid salty foods.

Step outside for a few minutes (if it’s not raining) and enjoy a blast of fresh air. Better still, take a brisk walk with baby in the stroller.

Reducing puffy eyes

There are lots of home remedies for puffy eyes  — slices of cucumber, teabags soaked in cold water. These are cooling and astringent so help tighten the under-eye area but, with small children, who has time to lie down for 10 minutes with cucumber slices on your eyes?

You could try a cold compress: cotton swab cooled in the fridge or freezer and placed on eyes for a couple of minutes.

Puffy eyes are a sign of water retention which, ironically, is caused by dehydration. So, again, drink lots of water.

Concealing dark circles

Use an under-eye concealer with yellowish tones to help mask purplish shadows.

Avoid black eyeliner on the lower lids. Instead, apply nude-coloured eyeliner on the lower lashline.

Disguising red eyes

There are some good over-the-counter products for clearing red eyes. You could also try applying warm compresses a couple of times a day.

Also, try these make-up tricks for red eyes: Apply blue eyeliner on the upper lash line to make the whites of the eyes look whiter.

Use white, blue, or gray eye shadow on the upper lids for the same reason.