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LIKE many middle-aged women, I know that when I wake up in the morning, I have a lot of work to do before I can take on the world.
I often suffer from dark circles under my eyes, my face is swollen and my hair looks like a haystack.
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But according to a new TikTok beauty trend called the morning shed, paying a little extra attention to your makeup before bed can leave you looking radiant and without a single bit of makeup required.
The technique has been viewed nearly 100 million times and involves applying multiple skin care products in layers, from retinol eye patches to anti-wrinkle neck pads.
Some even use chin straps to get a tighter face shape, and silk caps to keep their hair shiny.
The big — and often shocking — reveal is when they “throw away” all their beauty products to reveal glowing skin and perfect waves. It looks impressive online, though it’s not exactly a new idea.
I remember my grandmother going to bed with her hair in curlers, a hairnet around it and her skin covered in cold cream.
But can today’s high-tech beauty products really do their job while you sleep? I put the morning shed to the test for five days…
DAY ONE
BEFORE going to bed I usually brush my teeth, wash my face, put on some moisturizer, and get between the sheets. Total time: five minutes.
But tonight I spent 40 minutes trying to figure out where all my different patches should go.
Most TikTok creators get their products from Amazon, so I get them from there too. I spend about £100 on patches and gadgets for a week.
First I try hydrating hydrogel under-eye patches (£6.95) to see if they can help my usual dark circles. They are so slimy they slide down my cheeks like a snail.
NextI used three heatless foam rollers (£8.39) on my slightly damp hair and placed them under a silk cap (£15.99) to keep them in place. These promise to give me a “blow-out look” in the morning.
I also place a jaw strap (£9.99) under my chin and secure it to the top of my head. This should help define my jawline and also force my mouth shut so I have to breathe through my nose.
This beauty trick is praised by actress and lifestyle entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, who says it forces you to breathe more deeply, resulting in a better night’s sleep.
Considering the chin strap makes me look like someone who just had a facelift, it’s surprisingly comfortable.
The mantra of the makers of morning sheds is: “you have to look ugly to look cute the next day”.
You have to look ugly to be cute the next day
But I am not happy with the thought of my husband Anthony, 59 years old and a journalist, seeing me in this state.
And when I walk into the bedroom, he looks shocked.
When I wake up, many of the patches I applied the night before are gone, and I find them rolled up like little pieces of gum in my sheets.
It is a Nice I am surprised that my hair is not as tangled as usual and that the rollers give it a nice, bouncy wave.
The patches seem to reduce the dark circles under my eyes and my jawline also looks more defined.
DAY TWO
TONIGHT I am in a hotel with my husband for a weekend away. But with this outfit on, all romance is out of the question.
To beautify myself, I apply a set of collagen patches to my forehead and cheeks (£5.99), which look dry and stick onto my skin with water.
These products claim to dissolve collagen in the skin, making it look more radiant.
The next morning they are still there, but there is glue residue and red spots underneath, making my skin look uneven.
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DAY THREE
As well as the usual silk cap, jawline and eye patches, I add a lip mask (£4.79) which, according to the manufacturer, nourishes my lips and smoothes away fine lines thanks to the avocado.
It’s made of a thin, jelly-like material and is so slippery that I can’t move my face without it falling off.
And to make matters worse, it keeps falling on the carpet.
The whole process feels like hard work. I seriously wonder how these beauty influencers do it.
The next morning, my husband notices that my skin looks fresher when I ask him.
DAY FOUR
ONE surefire way to instantly improve your complexion is to apply a little Dove Self Tanning Moisturiser (£8.75).
I also try a lip stain (£18). As we age, the colour on our lips fades, making them look dull and lose their definition.
Wearing the chin strap around my head every night is starting to compress my head so much that I’m getting headaches
This Wonderskin Wonder Blading lip mask promises to “deposit color into lips and create a long-lasting, water-resistant, transfer-resistant stain.”
The downside is that it gives my lips a scary electric blue color.
The next morning I wake up with a light tan and when I remove the lipstick residue, I have a rosy complexion. pink lips without even a hint of lip gloss.
But because I wear the chin strap around my head every night and also wear the night cap, my head starts to get so compressed that I get a headache.
DAY FIVE
For the final evening I try a brightening sheet mask from 111Skin (£21.99), which hydrates my face.
I’m nervous because the instructions say to remove it after 20 minutes. I’m leaving it on overnight.
This is the scariest look yet. It’s rose gold with just slits for my eyes, nose and mouth. I look like an alien.
But I have to say that when I remove it the next morning, my face glows.
I do draw the line at mouth patches, though. Many influencers claim that these H-shaped stickers, which hold the lips together, help them wake up feeling refreshed by having to filter air through their nose instead of their mouth.
My lip mask and chin strap have the same effect as keeping my mouth closed while I sleep. The main effect I noticed was an uncomfortable claustrophobic feeling.
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PRONUNCIATION
The morning slumber is an extreme form of excess of beauty.
It’s true that my skin looked radiant and hydrated, but I would only do that for special occasions.
A lot depends on how you sleep. I’m lucky that I usually go out like a light.
But for those who struggle with insomnia, applying all of these products to your face is unlikely to help you achieve the most important beauty goal of all: sleep.
And no matter how good your skin looks the morning after, nothing will happen in your love life the night before.
Overall, I’d say my Amazon shopping cart was the ultimate winner.
And honestly, I can’t wait to be able to sleep again with just a lick of moisturizer.
OVERLOADING CAN BE RISKY
You need to be careful about leaving products on overnight and blending them, says Dr. Ross Perry, medical director of Cosmedics Skin Clinics (cosmedics.co.uk).
He adds: “If you wear too many products on your skin you run the risk of overload, and multiple patches with ingredients will have the same effect.
“The skin may become more sensitive and prone to irritation once the patches are removed, especially if they are left in place for several hours.
“There are also a number of ingredients in skin care that should not be used together because of the side effects.”
Even the results of plasters and chin straps are only temporary.
Restricted breathing, for example through the use of mouth tape, can also be dangerous. This makes it difficult to breathe during sleep.
