Your morning beauty regime takes you exactly 12 minutes. First comes the face wash, then the astringent, followed by the moisturizer. And the list goes on. It's become such a chore, but wasn't there a time when this routine was fun? Well, we decided to take you back to the days when applying makeup was a treat by giving you some innovative beauty tips and tricks to spice up your routine.

To get this insider information, we contacted Carmindy, resident make-up artist on TLC's "What Not to Wear," and author of The 5 Minute Face. Here are her 10 beauty tips to leave you feeling fresh and fabulous.

Beauty Tip # 1 - Make perfume last.

A few spritzes of perfume in the morning will not carry you through the day, no matter how expensive your bottle may be. To make your scent last, try this beauty tip: put an unscented moisturizer on first and then spray on your perfume a few seconds later. "There's so much alcohol in perfume," Carmindy explains, "that if you spray it on dry skin, a lot of times it evaporates so quickly. But if you have moisturizer on your skin it adheres much better."

Beauty Tip # 2 - Lip gloss without the goop.

Instead of directly putting the tube of gloss to your lips, Carmindy recommends adding an extra step to ensure less stickiness. "I like to put lip gloss on my fingertips first and then just pat it onto the flesh of my lips. And this way you'll get a little bit of glow, but it won't be too goopy." Also, try a moisturizing lipstick or a lip stain first before you add the gloss to make sure the color stays put.

Beauty Tip # 3 - A sweet scrub.

"The best exfoliate in the world is regular white table sugar." If every scrub out there contains some form of sugar, like "Almond Sugar Scrub" or "Brown Sugar Scrub," why not just use what's in your kitchen cupboard? "What happens is that the small crystals dissipate in water so they don't tear your skin." And, if you have sensitive skin, don't fret. "It even works better because with other products you might not like a fragrance or a lot of ingredients," states Carmindy. When you're in the shower, all you have to do is lather your face up like normal and then get a handful of sugar and scrub your face. And if you run out you'll be able to ask your cute neighbor for a spot of sugar!

Beauty Tip # 4 Ditch your spot concealer.

Instead of fumbling around your makeup bag for multiple concealers in the morning, just stick to one, advises Carmindy. The reason why? Because you can actually use the foundation stuck to the top of the cap of your liquid all-over concealer as your spot-treatment. "It oxidizes there so it becomes a little bit thicker." Plus, she says, "It's the same shade as your foundation, so it will instantly erase your blemish." To apply, just take a small tip concealer brush and dip into the cap of your foundation, or the nozzle if you use a spray. Then brush it on the spots and you're ready to go. Now it will be a good thing when your foundation lid gets cakey.

Beauty Tip # 5 - Recycle: Good for the earth, good for your lips. What are you supposed to do when your four best lipsticks are almost gone and your finger is tired from scraping out the remnants below? Carmindy suggests combining the half-used sticks into your own lip pallet. "Go to the drug store and purchase a plastic pill box and dig out the lipstick that's left in the tubes. Then put each color into a different little section of the pill box." You can mix and match the colors or even put Vaseline in one of the sections to make your own lip gloss.

Beauty Tip # 6 Celebrity-size lips.

To get fuller lips people often outline them with a pencil, but most of the time it looks noticeable and unsophisticated (especially when the lipstick comes off and you're left with just that awful line). To get invisible enhancement, Carmindy recommends you take a Q-tip and dip it in a little bit of white shimmer eye shadow and lightly trace the outside of your lips. "What will happen is that the shimmer will capture the light and make your lips seem larger." You won't be able to see it, but the slight glimmer will do the trick. Great if you don't have any collagen handy.

Beauty Tip # 7 - Bronzed but not dirty.

Dusting bronzer all over your face can make you look like you've been rolling around in the sand box all day or have picked up a part time job as a chimney sweep. Carmindy prefers a spray bronzer to get the appearance of a fresh summer tan. "I like to spray a sponge and then what I do is just push it onto the skin--on the temples and then right underneath the cheekbones because this is kind of where the sun would kiss your face. And if you like powder bronzer you can apply it in the same places too."

Beauty Tip # 8 - Brow breakthrough.

If you've been awarded barely there eyebrow DNA, you've probably tried everything to make them visible--and figured out that most of the time these products end up rubbing off by the end of the day. If you still want eyebrows at five p.m., Carmindy advises buying waterproof liquid eyeliner that matches your hair color like black, brown or taupe. Then, she says, "You can take an angled brush and feather the liquid eyeliner on to your eyebrows and it will stay put all day long. It looks more natural than a pencil and stays longer." It's a win-win.

Now if you're like me and are on the opposite end of the brow spectrum you might need some help keeping your out-of-control brows in check. To do this, "Take a spooly brush or an old tooth brush, put a little hair gel on there and just brush it onto your eyebrows to have them stay put."

Beauty Tip # 9 - Not your average smoky eye.

"What I like to do is take a color like a navy blue or a sparkling kind of burgundy purple and just line the inside rim and right along the upper and lower lash line and then smudge it with a Q-tip. That way, there's no eye shadow pushing the eye back, but you still have the smoky effect because they're lined with color. If you have deep-set eyes, Carmindy advises you to avoid putting dark shadow on your eyelids because it will make them seem even more pushed back. "There are so many ways to do a smoky eye, but people always think there's only one way to do it."

Beauty Tip # 10 - Save time and eye shadow

Running late in the morning? The best thing you can put on is white shimmering highlight powder. "If you highlight three key places you set of the planes of your face--you don't even need eye shadow," says Carmindy. These key spots are underneath the eyebrow, on the inside corner of the eye and on top of the cheekbone. "It brings sparkle to the eye; it lifts up the lid and draws attention to the top of the cheekbone." Now all you need is a big cup of coffee to actually feel as awake as you look.

Who says your beauty routine has to be boring--especially now that you can take a box of sugar with you in the shower or turn a pill box into a personalized lip pallet. With these beauty tips You just might have to rethink your 12 minute routine after all.

Carmindy is on TLC's "What Not to Wear" which airs every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Her new book The Five Minute Face is available at amazon.com. Visit her site at .

About the Author - Leslie Barrie, Savvymiss.com
This article was originally published on http://www.savvymiss.com, a free website community dedicated to connecting, empowering and informing women everywhere. SavvyMiss.com features articles on dating, love, careers, fashion, health, beauty and important societal issues. Members also use message boards and blogs to build relationships with other members.

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