How to master two minute make-up

It’s the new cosmetic trend, with looks that take seconds — thanks to multi-tasking products...

HAVE months of wearing hardly any make-up left you barely able to remember how to apply it — or why you used to spend ages doing so each morning?

If so, rest assured you’re far from alone. During the first year of Covid, 72 per cent of us spent less money on make-up, according to researchers Mintel.

And experts say this year will now see a revolution in the way we get ready, with women demanding a polished pre-pandemic look, without the pre-pandemic faff and fuss.

Coming to the rescue are clever new products that can be used on several areas of the face, making application quicker than ever.

Still buying separate lipstick, blusher and eyeshadow? There are now products that can do the job of all three in one.

These hi-tech heroes often do away with the need for brushes or sponges altogether, leaving those in the know with what beauty forecasters are calling the ‘twominute make-up bag’.

The idea is that you can be ready to go — to work, a party or a date — in the same time it takes to brush your teeth.

Clare Varga, Head of Beauty at forecasting company WGSN, says the two-minute make-up bag will be one of the year’s top trends.

‘Consumers now want easy-toapply, multi-tasking products that create a look in just minutes,’ she says.

In essence, we want to look as glamorous as we did in the good old days — but simply cannot be bothered to spend all that time in front of the mirror, especially after nearly two years of a lower-maintenance daily regime.

So Clare predicts a surge in the launch of ‘smarter beauty [products] that deliver better results but with a lot less effort, cost and commitment’.

But can we really have our cake and eat it? We challenged five top make-up artists to create an elegant look that any woman can do herself in just two minutes — then put their routines to the test with a stopwatch.