This Easy, Night-Out Makeup Tutorial Will Take You From Beach To Bar In Literally 5 Minutes

Show of hands for how many of you reading this think doing a full face of makeup and styling your hair in five minutes is a complete sham. Oh, all of you? Well, I can't blame you. I was one of you. For so long, I laughed at the prospect of getting anything other than my mascara done in five minutes. However, I've now made it my personal mission to prove both myself and all of you wrong. Enter: Elite Daily's newest series, Ready In 5. Consisting of actually cool beauty tutorials, this series will break timely beauty looks down into five simple steps, all of which, together, can actually be completed in five minutes, so you have more time to focus on the plans that come next.

As summer quickly approaches, there's only one thing I can think about: going on a beach vacation with my friends and never leaving... like, ever. The sun on your face, the calming sounds of the ocean, the laughter of your friends making you forget about anything else going on in your life — it all sounds like blissful perfection. That is, until your friends are ready to ditch the beach for the nearest bar in five minutes, even though you just walked out of the ocean with tangled wet hair and a lobster-like sunburn. Luckily for anyone who meets this fate, I've concocted an easy night-out makeup tutorial that'll actually take you from the beach to the bar in just five minutes, wet hair and all.

Even if you aren't at the beach, this look is still a prime pick for a night on the town with whomever — a date, your friends, or just yourself. It doesn't involve a fancy blowdryer and hours of hair curling, and you don't need to set aside at least four hours for perfectly blended eyeshadow, a sharp cat-eye, or a Kardashian-level contour. All you need is five minutes, a can-do attitude, and to fill your beach bag with the below beauty buys. Let's go, beaches.

Step 1: Prep

Time: ~40 seconds

When you've been lounging on the beach all day like the mermaid you are, your complexion's bound to get a little color. However, if you are a fellow #PaleGirl like me, then that color is usually... red. Because preventing any further sun damage is of the essence (during the summer and also any time), you should always prep your skin with a sunscreen.

I recommend always keeping an easy-to-use sunscreen stick in your bag, because they're mess-free, easily portable, and foolproof to use. To prep my skin, I took Bare Republic's Mineral SPF 50 Sport Stick Sunscreen ($10, Bare Republic) and simply drew a few lines with the product on my face. Then, I used my fingers to blend it all out.

Now, about that redness I mentioned... Getting a little (or a lot) red at the beach happens to the best of us, and it's nothing a little color corrector can't fix if you want to tone it down. To help combat my own redness, I used Sephora Collection's Bright Future Color Corrector in Green ($14, Sephora). The formula itself is a green cream that you apply directly to areas of redness with the product's cushion applicator and simply buff out with your fingers or a makeup sponge. You'll immediately notice that the green neutralizes the redness of your skin (because red and green are complementary colors).

Step 2: Complexion

Time: ~90 seconds

OK, so if your complexion looks a little pasty at this point, don't hate me, because we're not done yet. We've still gotta put on some foundation to even everything out. I always take a full-coverage color-correcting cream (a CC cream) with me on vacations when my skin is going to see the sun, because a CC cream contains light-diffusing particles in its formula, in addition to the tint, that work to create an even-toned complexion. It's the perfect pick for a trip where you know the color of your skin might, well, change a bit.

For the next step, pump just a single pump or two of your foundation — in this instance, I used IT Cosmetics' Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50 in Light ($39, IT Cosmetics) — on the back of your hand, and use a damp makeup sponge to blend out the product all over your face and into your neck. If you've been on the beach for a while, chances are, you've gotten a good amount of color on your face so you don't have to go wild with 87 layers of foundation unless you want to. Let that beach-y, bronzed glow shine through.

Where there are beaches, there is sun. Where there is sun, there is heat. And where there is heat, there is profuse sweating. This means it's pretty crucial to set your foundation with some sort of powder so it doesn't crease. Why not make that powder one that has — wait for it — SPF in it? In case I haven't made myself clear, you should literally slather all the freaking SPF you have on your face. Anyway, Colorescience's Sunforgettable Brush-On Sunscreen SPF 50 ($65, Colorescience) offers sun protection in powder form, meaning your skin is shielded and your foundation is set... literally.

Step 3: Eyes

Time: ~ 120 seconds

The key to any sort of going-out look is a bold eye look. But if you're at the beach, and you only have five minutes to get a whole look done, that doesn't always seem feasible, right? Allow me to change your mind. Rather than breaking out a full-on eyeshadow palette and your liquid liner, reach for something that's equally bold, makes a statement, but takes seconds to apply: I'm talking about glitter gel.

While there are plenty of cosmetic glitter gels out there, I always reach for Lemonhead LA's Spacepaste Glitters ($22, Lemonhead LA). The product goes on super smoothly with a brush or with your fingers and stays where you put it. No, really. I've kept this stuff on for hours, and it still looks just as good as when I first put it on. For this look, I applied the shade Mulholland with an angled eyeshadow brush on the outer half of my lid, shaping the glitter into a wing at the outer edges. Then I applied the shade Phantom on the inner portion of my lid, blending it into Mulholland to create a two-toned eye look.

For everyone out there who would feel naked if they skipped eyeliner, I see you, and I feel you. To define my eyes just a teensy bit more, I smudged a little bit of Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Market ($22, Urban Decay) along my upper lash line and the outer corners of my lower lash line. It doesn't need to be pristine. It doesn't need to be super sharp. (Bars are relatively dark; no one will notice a crooked line anyway.)

It's my belief that no eye look is ever complete without mascara, and you can 100% quote me on that. To seal the deal on the eye(lid) look, I quickly swiped some of L'Oreal's Unlimited Lash Lifting and Lengthening Waterproof Mascara ($13, L'Oreal) a few times on each eye. A fun fact about this product: Not only is it waterproof (no sweat-induced mascara streaks here), but the wand is bendable, so you don't have to do any arm gymnastics when you're switching from eye to eye.

Normally, I am someone who spends at least 15 minutes just doing my eyebrows. However, when you have just five minutes, a full-on Instagram brow with a highlighted arch and brow bone isn't happening, you know? Luckily, a brow gel will get the job done. Glossier's Boy Brow ($16, Glossier) gives you the natural, yet still full and brushed-up brow look you're after, without spending a solid seven minutes on each arch.

Step 4: Lips

Time: ~20 seconds

I know you've heard of that tired old beauty rule that dictates you should pick between a bold lip and a bold eye, but "never do both at once." I want you to take that rule and chuck it out the nearest window. You don't have to pick between one or the other if you don't want to. YOLO, goddamnit. Do the bold lip and the bold eye and watch in awe as everyone cowers at your audacity.

To complement my bold glitter eye, I took a cue from Rihanna and used Fenty Beauty's Stunna Lip Paint in the shade Unlocked ($24, Fenty Beauty), an electric hot pink that you can spot from a mile away. As for your own look, swipe on your fave wild shade, kiss yourself in the mirror, and get ready to sashay away, because we are almost! Done!

Step 5: Hair

Time: ~30 seconds

All right, you guys, we're almost there! No, I mean it! I promise! You are about 30 seconds away from a kick*ss margarita! The last step of this look doesn't involve any sort of madness with updos or hot tools. Instead, you're gonna enhance your natural waves and then accessorize your hair the same way you accessorize your body — with lots of jewelry. Even better, this hair look works on wet and dry hair.

First, reach for a wave spray, a sea salt spray, or something similar to give your hair a super textured, slightly roughed-up look, as if you've been in and out of the water all day. On my hair, I sprayed OGX's Sugar High Tousle Spray ($9, Ulta) all over and scrunched the ends of my hair upward with my hands to enhance the shape of my waves. I opted for a wave spray over a full-fledged sea salt spray because my hair is pretty dry on the ends, and a sea salt spray tends to dry out your strands even more.

Now, the only thing you have left to do is part your hair wherever you wanna part it, and use festive bobby pins and clips on either side to pin your hair out of your face. On my hair, I used a couple of statement rhinestone bobby pins from Scünci ($5, Walgreens) on one side, and Kitsch x Justine Marjan's Glam Rhinestone Bobby Pin ($29, Kitsch) on the other. For some finishing touches, I placed a few Scunci Mini Metal Rhinestone Jaw Clips ($5, Walgreens) near the other bobby pins to give my hair a fully embellished look.

And at last, I have transcended from my beachy mermaid self into my party mermaid self who's ready to hit the bar with some friends — and yes, that metamorphosis happened in just five minutes. All you need is SPF, a few statement beauty products, and the knowledge that a cute AF cocktail and your BFFs are waiting for you to get your butt to the bar. An hours-long going-out beauty look? Beach, please. You'll be ready in five.

So, how does that sound? Still don't believe me that I (and you!) can get this look done in five minutes? Hey, I get it. Seeing is believing and whatever. So, in the spirit of giving, I present to you proof that miracles really can happen: a #ReadyIn5 video tutorial.

In this tutorial, I'll take you through the steps and products needed to complete the look as we race against the clock. It's thrilling. It's suspenseful. But most importantly, it's funny AF to watch. Get comfy, and follow along with the video below to see how my look is actually ready in five. Comment on the video or DM me on Instagram to suggest looks you'd like to see broken down in the future: