Having a hangover is bad enough, but walking into work and looking like you raged the night before is too much for anyone clutching a coconut water and rocking sunglasses indoors can bare. Whether you’re at brunch, a family function or work, no one wants to address the big drunk elephant in the room.
If you’re paying for all of yesterday’s whoo hooing today (doubly if you drunk texted your ex), here are a few tips to banish that “Why, yes, I am completely hungover, thanks for asking” look.
Water, water, water.
We don’t just mean guzzling the entire contents of your Brita. Chances are you fell asleep without washing your makeup off. The hardest part of the morning after is getting up, but you have places to be and your skin won’t hydrate itself.
Dip your face in a big bucket of ice water, Molly Lamb, paramedical skin technician and owner of Skin By Molly Facial Studio, said. The icy blast will constrict blood vessels and decrease puffiness.
Lamb said a little light exfoliation is also a good idea. “Something quick, because most likely, you’ve overslept,” she added
More moisture.
Lamb said she suggests humectants with ingredients like hyaluronic acid or other “things that are going to bind moisture to the skin.”
Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring sugary molecule in the skin and connective tissue. Hyaluronic acid can retain close to 1,000 times its weight in water and keeping moisture in helps as skin gets drier and sags with age (or with a few too many tequila shots).
“Put on a really good moisturizer,” Lamb said. “Something that is really rich to give yourself that glow so you don’t look so dehydrated.”
Lamb said her favorite choices come from the DMK family.
“Their moisturizers are transdermal, which means ‘through the dermis,’” a thick layer of skin below the epidermis, Lamb explained. “You mix a cream and a spray and they hydrate your skin so well. The spray you can mist throughout the day” to keep your face hydrated and ensure your makeup doesn’t cake.
“And it helps with hangover face,” she added.
Facial massage.
While exfoliating and moisturizing, Lamb said a light massage with your most gentle finger can do wonders to drain lymph and battle puffiness.
“The lymph is the buildup in the skin basically that makes you puffy,” Lamb explained. “It’s basically a colorless fluid that contains white blood cells.”
Using your ring finger, gently massage around the eye area to drain the lymph trapped in your skin’s tissue.
Preventative care.
If you think about it as you fall into bed, sleep with an extra pillow. Keeping your head elevated can help prevent puffiness.
The secret weapon.
The number one “cure” for hangover face is red lipstick.
“You automatically looked pulled together,” Lamb said.
Swipe on some red lips, curl your eyelashes and pull your hair into a slicked back ponytail to look fierce instead of fatigued.
