Life Sucks: A Girl's Guide To Success in Life

summer morning routine

I figured I should start y'all off with my personal summer morning routine just to get the ball rolling. You can use mine or switch it up depending on you. (This routine is assuming that I wake up around 8 or 9.)

1) Get my sorry butt out of bed and stretch it out. I usually do some toe touches and arm circles to start my morning off not as stiff as a telephone pole. It also wakes me up. (This is where healthy, motivated people insert their morning workout. Alas, I'm out of shape and out of motivation so I mainly just lay on the ground and stare at my feet while imagining myself super buff. Depressing, I know.)

2) Watre*. Once I finish stretching, I'm thirsty. Cue the opening of my ten millionth plastic water bottle. I usually drink 16 ounces right off the bat to get me up and rolling. Hydration is good for the skin and a glass of water is beneficial for waking up, actually moreso than coffee.

3) Wash my nasty-a face/body. I typically shower during the night during school but here we are, free as a bird in the summer. If I'm only washing my face, I use my Clean and Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub. (Long name but it's worth it. I actually found out about it through my favorite YouTuber, Summer McKeen.) Once done with that, I rinse my face with cold water and moisturize using my face lotion. I also brush my teeth right now.

4) Brush the bird's nest off my head. I use a Wet brush to get out all the knots and tangles from leaving my hair down overnight or to straighten it out after being in a high bun all night. I start brushing from the bottom up because that gets rid of the knots without ripping my hair out. I personally don't have a soft head so the occasional tug doesn't hurt me but for my sensitive-headed people, I recommend doing that.

5) Eat something tasty. I don't know about you, but I'm starving after I wake up. Sometimes my parents are awesome and have breakfast made. Other times, they're at work. I either make myself a cup of hot chocolate using vanilla ice cream as creamer, a fruit smoothie using milk, or buttermilk pancakes. (I set an awful example today as my first meal of the day was at 12:30 and it was a bowl of gross spinach ravioli.)

6) Makeup and hair, babe. Contrary to popular belief, I don't actually wake up looking like the Greek goddess of sexiness. (Surprising, I know.) I do my hair and makeup after breakfast. (I use mouthwash, too, before I do my face.) I usually put my hair up in a ponytail, braid, or messy bun when I go out. Makeup is always at a minimum because you never know when you're going to get shoved in a creek over the course of your summer. Just a basic poreless powder foundation, my favorite chapstick, a swipe of mascara (sometimes waterproof, I'll include both), and sparkly gold bronzer as highlight, eyeshadow, and bronzer is all I need to feel and look natural and beautiful when I'm spending my day out on the town. Seal it with some setting spray and I'm good to go. (All specific beauty products are at the bottom of the page.)

7) Get dressed. If it's a lazy day, I'll put on a sweatshirt over my t-shirt and chill in running shorts and Puma socks. More often than not, though, my chill, motivated friends want to do something like ride bikes around and get snow cones. In that case, I put on some shorts, a cute shirt, wrap a sweatshirt around my waist, and slip into my Nikes. (I live in a subartic zone where it's snowed in July and hailed in August before so we have to be ready for anything.)

Beauty Products Used:
-Clean and Clear Morning Burst Facial Cleanser
-Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Powder 
-Clinique High Impact Mascara
-Maybelline New York Lash Sensational
-RK by Kiss All Over Glow Bronzing Powder
-LA Colors Setting Spray
-EOS Chapstick in Coconut Milk
-Nivea Soft Refreshingly Light Moisturizing Creme

If you didn't notice, all of the makeup besides the Clinique mascara and Nivea moisturizer is from the dollar store.

Moral of the story: you don't need a lot of money for an easy makeup look for summer. I'll be doing a specific tutorial later in the book.

*Yes, I'm aware, I spelled water wrong but hey. This is a no judgement zone bro.