I’m A WFH Mom & This Is My 5-Minute Makeup To Look Alive On Zoom

No one loves the feeling of clicking into a Zoom meeting only to see their own wonky hair situation staring back, or to realize midway through the call that the bags under your eyes look way worse than they did earlier in your bathroom mirror. (Staying up late to finish a good book comes at a cost these days.) So, in these in-between summer weeks when I’m working from home and my 3-year-old is out of school, I usually struggle to keep him somewhere in my bedroom or bathroom while I throw on a clean T-shirt and brush my teeth. But after much practice and culling through many products, I’ve perfected a 5-minute face that takes me from mom zombie to well-rested, very-alert-looking employee in the eye of my laptop’s camera.

It feels important to add a disclaimer here: It is not necessary to wear makeup every day, or ever, to look professional or do your job well. Most days, I don’t bother. But dotting on a few products helps me feel like my best and brightest self. When I’m meeting someone new over Zoom or have an important interview that day, I enjoy the ritual of applying makeup as a way to mentally prepare. So, if I know I’m going to want a little confidence boost, here’s how I go about giving myself one (quickly, with a 3-year-old touching everything on the counter as I go).

An Easy, Glowy Complexion

I’m not a huge fan of wearing foundation under my glasses. Having it rub off on the nose pieces is just a big sensory nope for me. So, if I apply anything all over my face, it’s a moisturizer with SPF (usually good ol’ CeraVe) or a tinted SPF. I’m currently trying out the Lion Pose Ghost-Buster SPF, which the brand says is tested on a diverse array of skin tones. It adds a little glow and evenness to my very fair skin, FWIW. When I run out, I want to try the Bliss Block Star for something similar but more affordable that I can pick up at Target.

Whether I use a tinted or regular SPF, next comes concealer. Sephora’s Best Skin Ever Hydrating Concealer recently dethroned my old go-to (the Maybelline Fit Me Natural Finish Concealer). I just blend a little under my eyes and over the lids, in my T-zone (between the eyes, nose, and chin) where I get blotchy, and over any mega zits that would be visible on Zoom. Then, I throw a tiny bit of my Kosas Cloud Set powder over the bridge of my nose and under my eyes to hold the concealer in place.

A Liquid Blush With Staying Power

I’m admittedly very into testing new blushes these days, and my collection runneth over. My favorite of all time is the Saie Dew Blush, because the color is so precisely what I want and haven’t found elsewhere for an everyday blush. I use the shade “Rosy,” which looks incredibly natural and like I’ve gotten just the right amount of sun. I just dot it on and blend it out with a brush over my cheeks and nose. It requires zero fussing to make it look good and adds a little healthy glow, which is why I come back to it again and again on hectic mornings.

I have also used and adored the e.l.f. Putty Blush, Flower Beauty Blush Bomb, and RMS Lip2Cheek, and would recommend them all depending on your skin type, the finish you want, and whether their shade ranges work for your skin tone.

Brow Pencil & Gel, AKA My Face Bra

If I have 60 seconds to do something to my face before my toddler makes a break for the stairs, it's going to be my brows. Something about having them done just makes me look and feel more like I have my you-know-what together. I will literally use any micro brow pencil from the drugstore (I've paid for the Anastasia and other high-end ones, and it's just not necessary). There's currently a L'Oréal one on my counter, and it's doing the trick.

As for gel, I really love the Benefit 24-Hour Brow Setter—the little comb separates your brow hairs easily, and the gel doesn't dry all white and flaky. I'm on the hunt for a cheaper option, though, and am currently using up a tube of the NYX Brow Glue. It's flaky if you use too much, but if you don't have the wiriest, most stubborn brow hairs of all time (hi, that's me), it probably won't give you any trouble.

Mascara, Of Course

Trying to recommend a mascara is nearly impossible — how one will look on you depends so much on what your natural lashes are like, whether your skin is dry or oily, and maybe also the alignment of the stars when you apply it; I'm not sure. My eyelashes are long and dark, and for that, I am lucky, so I go for mascaras that separate. I've been pretty faithful to my Benefit mascara for the last 10 years (it's the only one that never, ever smudges on me), but I've also come to love the Saie Mascara 101 for days at my desk when a wee smudge is easily wiped away.

The Only Lip Oil I’ll Ever Need

What you put on your lips may vary every day; it certainly does for me. I am the woman with 1,000 lip glosses, balms, and oils, and I fall victim to every single new lip product release I see on the end cap at Walgreens. But among all the tubes of sparkly goo I own, the one I actually move between purses right now so that I’m never without it is the e.l.f. Glow Reviver Lip Oil in the color Jam Session. It looks so good on its own — it has the perfect amount of pigment to look like maybe you just are a living Renaissance painting, and not like you’re wearing anything obvious. It fills in all the lines of your lips so they look healthy and hydrated, and it actually makes mine softer.

If I want my lips to look a little more “done,” I fill them in all the way with a brownish liner and layer the lip oil over top. (I use the Makeup Forever liner in the shade “Anywhere Caffeine,” but I don’t think you have to spend $24 to get a good lip liner, so do with that what you will.) I have also been known to keep one of these Almay Color & Care Lip Oil sticks in my desk drawer. They’re literally $5, and they’re beautiful on the lips and rubbed quickly on the cheeks for those times your boss says, “Can you hop on a Zoom real quick?”

Whether you do your makeup every day or once in a while at best, it’s nice to know which products do what they’re supposed to without a ton of work on your part. These babies all get the job done for me — fast enough that I’m usually done well before my kid gets bored with lining up all my nail polishes on the floor.