# How to Look Good While You’re Drowning

- Link: https://bethebetty.com/desperado-how-to-look-good-while-drowning/
- Published: 2016-02-28T04:55:00-06:00
- Author: Bonnie Beta

I’ve had two days off in the past eight weeks. Two. I know that number exactly because
I counted it, and counting things is what I do instead of crying about them. Here’s
how to Fake It Till You Float:

## So how am I keeping that dewy, lit-from-within, main-character glow going all day, every day, even after ten-hour shifts?

Great question. Cool story. I’m not. Nobody is. Anyone who tells you otherwise is
either lying or selling you a $68 serum, and possibly both.

Ten-hour days, six hours of sleep, a few too many glasses of wine, and a bad mood
do not, shockingly, make a woman prettier. And yet you still try. I still try.

## Here’s what actually gets me through it, no filter, no “just drink more water and manifest it” nonsense.

**Long days, longer nights.** For the love of Pete, take your makeup off before 
bed. I don’t care how tired you are or how good the couch feels. Swipe off the eye
makeup, swipe off the foundation, rinse, moisturize. That’s it, that’s the whole
ask. Falling asleep in a full face is how you wake up looking like you fought a 
raccoon and lost. This is not optional. This is the floor.

**Drink like you mean it.** Stay hydrated — actually hydrated, not “I had a coffee,
that counts” hydrated. My go-to after a rough night is a big can of Mexican coconut
water with the pulp still in it, plus a B vitamin, plus water all day, every day,
like it’s a part-time job. You lost a lot overnight between the wine and the crying
and the not-sleeping. Put some of it back.

**Cold masks are cheating, and I don’t care.** Keep an eye mask in the fridge. Cold,
gel, whatever’s on sale — the point is it’s chilled and it’s going under your eyes
for fifteen minutes while you lie on the bathroom floor questioning your choices.
It genuinely helps with that evil, swollen, “did I cry or did I just exist” eye 
puff. Follow it with an eye setting base before you do anything else to that area—
it gives your concealer something to grip instead of sliding off by 10 a.m.

**Dry shampoo, but make it colored.** My [colored dry shampoo](https://amzn.to/4zX2DrA)
is a literal life raft for the days you cannot, will not, physically cannot deal
with your hair. Spray it, work it in at the roots, and if you have dark hair, get
the tinted kind — the white-cast, powdered-donut look is not the vibe we’re going
for here, no matter how tired we are.

**Fake it till you break it.** This is where concealer, highlighter, and what I 
lovingly call “the lifter” earn their keep. Color-correct if you need to, concealer
in the inverted triangle under the eye and blend it out, a touch of highlighter 
on the inner corners and the tops of the cheekbones to bounce light around and fake
a night of sleep you did not get. It’s not lying. It’s marketing.

**Rosy cheeks, glossy lips.** Apparently this makes you look alive, which — bar’s
on the floor, but I’ll take it. A cream blush dabbed high on the cheeks and a swipe
of gloss over anything, even chapstick in a pinch, reads as “healthy” instead of“
hollow.” Works every time.

**Caffeine and a multitude of other pharmaceutical wonders** may get you through
the rest of the day. If they don’t, look in the mirror, take stock, and know that
at least you still look good. That has to count for something. It’s basically the
only thing I’ve got left to hold onto by 3 p.m.

Excuse me, I’m going to go lie down and rethink my life [choices](https://bethebetty.com/brow-trends-through-the-decades/).

Please leave your brightening, awakening, refreshing, and uplifting tips for the
rest of us on the edge below. I need them more than you know.

![Doll head with long black hair, painted eyes, and an exaggerated frowning expression](
https://i0.wp.com/bethebetty.com/wp-content/uploads/Bonnie-Barbie-Ugh-Face.webp?
resize=400%2C346&ssl=1)

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