Looking tired at work is a problem I regularly face at work, and being a woman, it takes the shape of extremely unattractive dark circles, grayish skin, and above all, considerably less attractive. Not everyone gets the privilege of a comfortable, eight-hour sleep. The end result of that is being – and looking – too tired at work.

I actually don’t know how it came to be that I started waking up every morning feeling exhausted. Luckily, I’ve figured out a few ways to hack the refreshed look (i.e. looking good even if you’re actually very tired).

9 Ways to Effortlessly Avoid Looking Tired at Work

1. Sleep with an Elevated Pillow

Many times, even if you’re getting a full eight hours of sleep, you wake up feeling tired and exhausted. Longer hours given to your sleep do not guarantee you a refreshed look in the morning. If you’re not sleeping well, you’ll be waking up feeling spent and cranky. A good way to avoid the swelling and puffiness of the face is elevating your head when you sleep the night before. This goes especially well for the nights you’re going to be getting less sleep.

2. Take a Cold Shower After Waking Up

Taking a cold shower before work is one of the best ways to look refreshed. It also wakes you right up and you’ll even feel revitalized. Cold water constricts your blood vessels underneath your skin so that it gives you a smoother, toned complexion and successfully waking you up.

3. Review Your Diet

The amount of coffee and sugar you consume will soon start to catch up to you. While they certainly help keep you awake, the inevitable withdrawal will leave you feeling drained. Junk foods like these also certainly do not help your skin in any way. In fact, they cause more harm than good. Review your diet plan. Eating greens will make your skin appear livelier and fresh.

4. Line Your Inner Lids

If even a day goes by when I don’t line my inner lids, people automatically start assuming that I look tired, exhausted, or I’m just not feeling well. Truth is, applying kohl or a liner on your inner lids make the whites of your eyes appear brighter than they are. It also gives your eyes an amazing look!

[RELATED: How to Wake Up Early and Enjoy Your Morning]

5. Don’t Use Smoky Shadows!

No, you’re not being smart when you try to hide the bags under your eyes, or over them, with smoky shadows. They’ll just give your eyes a heavier look, which will make them appear even more tired. Instead of using dark colored shadows, try a nude tint, and do not make the mistake of choosing a shade lighter than your own. To make your eyes shine, you can even opt for a gold eyeshadow.

6. Apply Bright Lipstick

Applying bright lipstick succeeds in successfully diverting someone’s attention from the rest of your face. It livens up your face and also gives you a glamorous look. It’ll also help if you smile more often. It’ll warm up the tone of your face and diminish the dullness which comes with being tired. I don’t know about you but wearing lipstick actually makes me feel more confident. This goes the same for mascara, which I’ll cover in the next point.

7. Brush it Up with a Touch of Mascara

The combination of kohl, lipstick, and mascara is sure to make you look simply smart, professional, and irresistible. Even if you don’t apply makeup, you just need to apply a dash of mascara to complete your look, and you’ll appear well groomed. Mascara also hides the puffiness of your eyes and makes them appear less closed up, so that’s one less thing to worry about too. Applying two coats of mascara can very well serve to give your eyes a wide-opened effect.

8. Eye Drops

In the event when you’re just simply too tired or hung-over from the night before and you wake up feeling bleary eyed, you can apply eye drops to reduce the redness of your eyes. According to makeup artist Kristie Streicher, it also has an instant “wake up” effect.

9. Under Eye Concealer!

Concealer was sure to be covered when you’re talking about the bags under your eyes. And reiterating my previous point, choose a warmer shade instead of a one lighter than your own skin tone. That’ll just accentuate the tiredness of your eyes. The cream ones work the best and blend easily. Apply to the dark areas and don’t forget the inner corner of your eyes next to your nose. They’re often the darkest. Apply a bit of concealer over your lids as well to complete the refreshed look of your eyes.

Keeping in mind these tips, you can fool pretty much anyone and appear completely refreshed during the early morning meeting at nine. No one can be able to tell that you spent the night preparing for the said meeting or were just awake the whole night having a lot of fun!