You know the annoying friend you have who get’s cranky and whines all day if they don’t squeeze in a workout? That’s me, I’m totally that friend. So in order to be less of a nuisance to the people around me, I try to squeeze in my workouts when it’s convenient for everyone and to return to normal life as quickly as possible. Often this happens to be in the middle of the day so taking an entire shower and starting from scratch is not an option. . .but neither is running around being smelly and sweaty so I have had to come up with ways to compromise.

So here are my five tips on how to look good after the gym.

1. Dry Shampoo: This one is pretty obvious, but still worth mentioning. If you have a gym bag there should be a can of dry shampoo in it pretty much all the time. Even if you don’t get super sweaty, most likely your roots are going to need a little bit of a boost when you’re done. Personally I’m a big fan of the Batiste hint of color formula these days, and I really like the medium brunette shade but it’s hard to find so I often settle for the deep dark brown, even though I feel like the dark color get on my hands and grosses me out a little. At least it doesn’t leave white patches in my hair though, thats the main thing!
2. The Upside Down Blow dry: If your gym has those little built in blowdryers in the locker room, take advantage! For the longest time I never used those because I thought “I’ll never wash my hair at the gym, I’ll be here all day!” Which is true, but they do come in handy. After you pop a little dry shampoo in your hair, flip your hair over and use the little blowdryer to dry your roots. You’ll be amazed at how much volume this will bring back to your hair. Even if you are going to put it in a bun or a ponytail, it will look fresher and more polished. And because the blowdryers at the gym are usually the tiny little weak ones like they have in hotel rooms, you don’t really run the risk of making a windblown mess out it either.
3. De-grease Your Face: If you have made a mid day trip to the gym and you already had a full face of makeup on, you may find yourself with a shiny face wondering what to do with it. Adding another coat of foundation will make you into a cake face, wiping it will smear everything - now what? You have two options. If you aren’t SUPER shiny then you can add a little bit of a translucent powder. I usually carry an inexpensive pressed powder in my gym bag because pressed is easier to carry than loose, and if it breaks in my bag it wasn’t expensive so I won’t be heartbroken. My powder of choice for this task is the Rimmell Stay Matte Powder. If you are WAY shiny and sweaty, then powder is only going to look gunky and cakey, even if it is a powder than usually performs well. This is where blotting papers come in. They do a great job of sucking up the excess oil without ruining your makeup. In my experience most blotting papers work the same, so I usually grab an inexpensive pack of the NYX ones. Sometimes blotting with the papers and THEN dabbing on some translucent powder is the perfect recipe to get the job done.
4. Fix your brows: There are some really incredible waterproof (and mostly sweat-proof) eyebrow products out there, but odds are you aren’t using that on a daily basis, and you leave the gym with half filled wiped off eyebrows. Personally, I use different brow products all the time, but for post gym touchups I always go with a pencil. I find that it’s the easiest way to just touch them up on the go. I alternate between the Anastasia Brow Perfect Pencil and the Anastasia Brow Wiz, but both work really well, and whatever brow pencil you prefer will probably get the job done. Filling in your brows brings definition back to your face and makes your whole look much more finished even if everything else isn’t 100% neat and fresh anymore, so touching up the brows is a quick way to get everything back in order.
5. Freshening Up The Body: Pretty much everyone keeps deodorant in their gym bag, but deodorant only helps to refresh the smell of your pits. Let’s be honest, the rest of you could probably do with some freshening up too. I didn’t even know that “Body Wipes” were a thing until I got some in my Birchbox a while ago and it was like a revelation! I’m sure there are a few different kinds out there, but I really enjoy these LA Fresh ones because they have a little mintyness to them, which is refreshing but won’t overpower your perfume with a scent or anything. They’re just enough to make you feel fresher without taking an entire time consuming shower. They are a gym bag godsend!

So those are my tips on how to look good after the gym . . .and smell good too! If you have any mind blowing post-gym beauty tricks please share, you know we all want to be as fresh as we can after our mid-day workout! 😉