8 Simple Steps to Look Less Tired (Even on Zero Sleep)

There’s being tired, and there’s looking tired. While you might be able to power through the day on five coffees and sheer determination, unfortunately, your face won’t always play along. 

Whatever the reason, you’ve woken up with bags under your eyes, a somewhat grey complexion and the overall appearance of a man who’s just come off a three-day bender. Only problem is you haven’t (this is just what being an adult can look like).

We could sit here and tell you to drink more water, get eight hours of sleep and establish a consistent bedtime routine. But that’s not going to do you much good right in this moment, is it?

What you need are a few tricks to make you look alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic, so we called in professional hair and makeup artist Heidi Wilson, who regularly gets male clients looking fresh for photoshoots and events, to share her best tips for looking less tired.  Because while you might feel like death warmed up, there’s no reason you need to look the part.

Why Does Your Face Look So Tired?

Before we get into the quick fixes, you might be interested to know why a bad night’s sleep can leave you looking like you’ve aged five years overnight.

For starters, the skin around your eyes is quite thin, which means the blood vessels underneath can be more noticeable. So, when you’re sleep-deprived, your complexion can also appear paler, making those dark circles stand out even more. Then there’s puffiness. Fluid often builds up around the eyes overnight, especially if you’ve had a salty dinner, a few drinks or a less-than-restful sleep.

And while tiredness certainly doesn’t help, dark circles aren’t always caused by a lack of sleep. Genetics, allergies, pigmentation and the natural ageing process can all contribute to dark circles under your eyes. 

So, if you’ve been sleeping like a champion but still look permanently exhausted, your bedtime routine might not be totally to blame. The good news is, while you can’t necessarily get rid of dark circles or under-eye bags in ten minutes, you can make them a bit less obvious. 

How to Look Less Tired in Five Minutes

If you’ve woken up looking especially rough and need to leave the house in approximately five minutes, there’s no time for a complicated routine. Thankfully, Wilson’s approach is pretty simple: add hydration, even out your complexion where necessary and focus on a few small grooming details. Each step below should take you a minute or less. 

1. Wash your face and apply a cool, damp cloth around your eyes. This helps freshen the skin and can temporarily reduce puffiness.
2. Apply a hydrating serum and moisturiser. This is good for making dry, dull-looking skin appear smoother and more refreshed.
3. Apply a little colour corrector or concealer under the eyes. This can help disguise dark circles and discolouration.
4. Use a tinted moisturiser or a light dusting of face powder. This evens out skin tone and helps manage excess shine.
5. Tidy your brows and hair, apply lip balm and finish with sunscreen. A simple step, but it can help give your overall appearance a more groomed finish.

Now, you don’t need to do all of these things every morning, and if you don’t have any makeup lying around, don’t stress. You can skip the makeup steps if you want and still come away looking less tired, but it’s absolutely worth investing in a good concealer for the best results.

8 Steps to Looking Less Tired

1. Give Your Eyes a Cold Compress

If you’ve woken up with puffy eyes, applying a cool compress around your eyes can help temporarily reduce swelling, especially when the puffiness is caused by fluid retention. A clean face washer soaked in cool water is all you need. Then, gently hold it against your closed eyes for a minute or two while you’re sitting upright, and let the cool temperature do its thing.

You could also use a chilled eye mask if you’ve got one handy, but avoid putting ice directly against your skin. The area around your eyes is delicate enough without giving it a mild case of frostbite.

Just keep your expectations realistic with this trick. A cold compress can help with temporary puffiness, but it won’t magically erase genetic eye bags or pigmentation. Still, a small victory is still a victory.

2. Hydrate Your Skin

When you’re tired, your skin can look a bit dull. And while a moisturiser isn’t going to fix everything, it can help your complexion look a little healthier. Hydration is one of the first things Wilson focuses on when preparing male clients for photoshoots and events. Her advice is to start with a basic skincare routine, including cleansing and moisturising. Then, bring in a hydrating serum that contains hyaluronic acid, which helps the skin retain moisture.

But there’s one area men tend to overlook: their lips. Wilson’s holy grail product for locking in moisture on the face and lips is Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, which you can pick up at Chemist Warehouse for about $30. 

And while you’re at it, drink some water. Dehydration is one of the biggest contributors to a dull-looking complexion, particularly around the eyes (although knocking back a litre of water isn’t going to instantly reverse a sleepless night, but it’s a good start!)

3. Conceal Those Dark Circles

If there’s one thing that tells everyone you had a rough sleep, it’s a pair of dark circles under your eyes. And like we’ve mentioned, while dark circles can be caused by genetics and other factors, for many people, it’s simply the result of not enough shut-eye. 

The best way to reduce the look of dark circles? A little concealer. Yes, guys, we’re talking makeup, and yes, you can wear it. Wilson recommends choosing a colour-correcting concealer that targets the specific discolouration under your eyes. For example, for blue, purple or grey-looking circles, peach or light peach tones can help neutralise the colour on lighter complexions. Meanwhile, deeper orange or red-orange correctors often work better on deeper skin tones. Pink-toned correctors can also help brighten certain dull or sallow areas.

The important thing is choosing a shade that suits your complexion. Walk into any Mecca, Sephora or beauty retailer, and someone will definitely be able to point you in the right direction.  And when it comes to applying it, less is definitely more.

“Use concealer sparingly only on the dark or discoloured area,” Wilson advises. If you’re worried the concealer looks a little too obvious, Wilson has a handy trick: “Tap in a little moisturiser on top of the concealer to dilute the pigment and sheer out the product.”

4. Even Out Your Skin Tone

Dark circles aren’t the only thing that can make you look tired. An uneven, dull-looking complexion can also give away the fact that you’re running on fumes. And if you’ve got an important meeting, a date or an event where you’d prefer not to look painfully tired, a little complexion product can make a big difference. 

For guys who want something very natural, Wilson recommends Chanel Les Beiges Water-Fresh Tint, which is a lightweight skin tint that provides a sheer wash of colour. Alternatively, she suggests MAC Mineralize Skinfinish, which can be swept lightly across the face with a fluffy brush.

Both can help even out the appearance of your complexion, just with different finishes. A skin tint is good for someone who wants a little hydration and a fresh-looking glow, while a powder can be handy for reducing shine. And if you’re worried about looking like you’re wearing makeup, the trick is to start with a small amount and build only where necessary.

5. Get Rid of Excess Shine

Now, there’s a difference between healthy, glowing skin and looking like you’ve just finished a run. And for men with oily skin, applying moisturiser can sometimes leave the face looking shinier than intended.

“Some men can look shiny after applying moisturiser,” says Wilson. “If this is the case, I use a soft sweep of translucent powder or mattifier through the T-zone to mattify the skin and make the skin look more fresh.”

The T-zone, for the uninitiated, is the area across your forehead and down your nose and chin, where oil tends to be more obvious. Wilson recommends Elizabeth Arden translucent powder or Rae Morris Invisible Mattifier for keeping shine under control.

6. Give Your Brows and Hair a Quick Tidy

Sometimes, the key to looking less tired has nothing to do with your skin and more to do with looking like you’ve made some effort to get ready. You could have a perfectly fine complexion, but if your hair’s sticking up in six different directions and your eyebrows have one rogue, you’re probably not going to look all that refreshed.

Wilson says grooming the brows and hair is one of her easiest go-to tricks for making male clients look more awake before photoshoots and events. All you need to do is run a comb or your fingers through your hair, tidy any particularly unruly sections and use a little styling product if needed.

For your brows, a clear eyebrow gel can help keep stray hairs in place without adding any noticeable colour. No brow gel? No worries. Smear a small amount of Vaseline across your brows, and you’ll be good to go. 

If you’ve got facial hair, give that a quick once-over, too. A tidy beard or moustache can make you look more refreshed even if you haven’t had the energy for much else.

7. Try a Face Mask

If you’ve got an extra ten or fifteen minutes before heading out, a hydrating sheet mask can be a nice way to give dry, tired-looking skin a little extra moisture and vitality. Wilson specifically recommends the Go-To Skincare range.  They’re very easy to use too. All you do is cleanse your face, apply the mask for the time specified on the packaging (usually 10-15 minutes), then remove it and gently pat in any remaining serum.

Just don’t go trying any new products for the first time immediately before an important event, particularly if you’ve got sensitive skin. A surprise rash is the last thing you need. 

8. Consider a Little Colour

If you’ve woken up with a particularly grey or washed-out complexion, self-tanning drops can help bring some colour and aliveness back to your face. 

Wilson suggests mixing a single drop of facial tanning drops into your daily moisturiser and applying it to the face, neck and upper chest for a healthy-looking glow. Bondi Sands’ self-tanning drops are great for most skin types, and you can pick some up for about $17. 

Just remember that most self-tanning formulas take a few hours to develop, so don’t expect an instant tanned look. And remember, a self-tan doesn’t replace sunscreen. You’ll still need SPF protection during the day.

Fake It Till You Make It (To Bedtime)

So, there you have it. A few tricks to help you look a little more alive on those mornings when you feel anything but. However, if you’re legitimately exhausted, the best thing you can do for yourself is prioritise some rest when you get the chance.

But in the meantime, if a little grooming can help you make it through that 9am meeting without someone asking whether you’re feeling alright, we’d call that a win.

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