6 Beauty Hacks for Your Nighttime Routine

Here's how to get ready for bed faster (and wake up looking flawless the next morning).

By Alexandra Churchill, Martha Stewart

At the end of a long day, it's easy to immediately unwind and head for bed. But your evening beauty routine is just as important as your morning routine -- if not even more so! It doesn't have to be time-consuming. All you need are the right multitasking products and even small tweaks to the way you sleep. 

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Combine two steps in one

The first step? A fresh face. There's no need to use two different products -– makeup remover and skin cleanser -- to tackle the day's buildup of dirt and natural oils. On busier days, disposable cleansing cloths will do the trick. Keep them in your medicine cabinet, or even in your handbag while you're out and about.

Skip exfoliating

Common beauty wisdom tells us that you should cleanse first, exfoliate second. But at sundown, night-based products already tend to be stronger in concentration, so exfoliating can cause further irritation. An exfoliating wash cloth that gently buffs away dead skin should be enough.

Pick a toner that does triple-duty

You need a skin toner for your body, a skin toner for your face, and an aromatic spray for your bed. Combine them in one easy-to-use tonic that you can leave by your bedside. There's nothing more soothing than a spritz of lavender as you drift off to sleep.
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Invest in a Sleep Mask

It sounds like an indulgence, but it's not often that we have time to sit with a full face of thick paste, like traditional face masks. Instead, do it while you sleep!
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Use quality eye cream

(You'll thank yourself later in life.) The skin underneath your eyes shows signs of aging more readily than other parts of your face, not to mention it doesn't moisturize itself, so it needs a little TLC at night. Delicately dab it on with your ring finger and gently blend in with circular motions. This will help to prevent wrinkles and fine lines, and allow you to skip slathering on extra products. (So say goodbye to crow's feet!)

Let steam do the work for you

Want a beauty secret that works while you snooze? You can soothe dry skin and keep hands and lips feeling supple by sleeping with a humidifier in the room.

Need more help? Martha Stewart's personal makeup artist, Daisy Schwartzberg, has a great 5-step evening routine tutorial to wake up feeling refreshed the next morning.

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