TIME TO FACE UP IN THE OFFICE
If you have to go in to the office, you might as well look cute, writes Harriet Pudney.
Ican’t speak for New Zealand workplaces, but across Melbourne where I am based, we are all being dragged back into our offices. Trams are full, traffic is bad, and everyone’s spending $17 a day on parking. Petty complaints are at an all-time high.
I don’t mind going into the office – I like my workmates, and they make better conversation than my cat. My dream would be to go in two to three days a week, rather than the four that seems to have become standard across the city, but I am not seeing this as the greatest hardship.
Except for the morning rush. Where
I could previously get up at a leisurely
8am, work out to a yoga video, make a smoothie, and read while sipping a coffee, I now find myself sprinting to the tram stop. It is thoroughly undignified.
Having to wear real clothes and look presentable four days a week is a level of effort I am no longer used to.
I am having to get back into the swing of things, and having to look vaguely professional at the same time.
Clothing-wise this is reasonably straightforward. I am not a lawyer or an accountant, so I don’t have to wear a suit.
A couple of pairs of wide-leg trousers, some fine-knit tops, great jeans, oversized blazers, and a camel coat set me up well.
More challenging is the face and hair scenario. The lighting in my work bathrooms and lifts would be best described as misogynistic. Every flake of dry skin, every fine line, every piece of frizzy hair is not just visible but highlighted.
When you have to be somewhere more than half the week, this is deeply troubling. I want to look as good as I can, but I do not want to get up at 4am, Cassie from American teen drama Euphoria-style, to make this happen.
Blessedly I have been training for this. My beauty philosophy has always been about minimum effort for maximum results, and that is what is required when you need to get out the door significantly earlier than you are used to.
It is all about a combination of layered skincare and subtle coverage. I wash my face with water, then add a hydrating serum, eye cream, moisturiser, and sunscreen.
The La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5 Serum, $66, adorebeauty.co.nz (1), is a winner. Hydrating, healing and soothing, this is an ideal winter option, and ideal on sensitive skin. This stage takes about 90 seconds, including me checking the time and realising I’m already late.
From there, I will put on a tinted moisturiser with more SPF in it, a little concealer, blush, mascara and a tinted lip balm. A touch of powder through the middle of my face won’t stop me thinking I look like a dead body at 5.30pm, but it does help.
A great everyday lip option than the Kosas Kosasport LipFuel Hyaluronic Lip Balm, $33, meccabeauty.co.nz (2), in rosy shade Rush. I know I have mentioned this before, but it is that good. The colour of a sheet lipstick, the feel of a top-tier balm.
There is also an argument to be made for a well-stocked desk drawer, if you are at that desk pretty regularly. Mine contains the usual mints, tissues, pens and porridge sachets, as well as hair serum, hand cream, and perfume.
The Davroe Argan Oil Instant Treatment, $34, adorebeauty.co.nz (3), is ideal, as is the Grown Alchemist Hand Cream + Free Tube Key $29, grownalchemist.com/nz (4). Hydrated hands and hair make everything feel a bit more in control.