3-Minute Back-to-School Skin Care

Whether you're packing your kids' lunches or preparing to hit the books yourself, the new school year is fast approaching, and it's easy to let your skin-care and makeup routines fall short amid all the back-to-school chaos. Dr. Howard Sobel, a dermatologist in New York City, and celebrity makeup artist Eric Sakas explain how to stay on top of your routines in three minutes or less. Their trick? Use multi-use products…

Cleanse and exfoliate: 60 seconds.

It's important to treat sun damage accumulated over the summer months before you head into autumn. Your sunny glow may have turned into patchy pigmentation, so the first important step is exfoliation. Look for a gentle exfoliating wash, such as DDF Glycolic 5% Exfoliating Wash ($35, ddfskincare.com) or the exfoliating Purifying Cleanser by Petite Marie Organics ($25, petitemarieorganics.com), and use it in the morning. This exfoliation will help get rid of dead skin, which has been shown in clinical studies to stimulate new collagen production and help improve the signs of photoaging.

Moisturize and protect: 60 seconds.

Just because summer is over doesn't mean that your sun protection is. Make sure you use a broad-spectrum sunscreen daily — even on overcast days — and choose one that moisturizes to get two steps for one! Look for a mattifying moisturizer with sunscreen properties, such as the GoClear Moisturizing Sunscreen SPF 15 ($33, sephora.com). Another one we like is SkinMedica Environmental Defense Sunscreen SPF 30 Plus ($40, skinstore.com).

Get Pretty

Celebrity makeup artist and founder of Vapour Organic Beauty Eric Sakas suggests these two speedy tricks when you're rushed.

Cheeks: 30 seconds.

You don't want to lose that gorgeous glow from summer, so try Vapour's Aura Multi-Use Blush stick ($28, vapourbeauty.com) in colors Crush or Spark. These can be used on your cheeks, eyes, or lips. For best application, apply Aura in a circular motion to the back of your hand (this will warm it up and blend the formulation, creating a beautiful tone). Apply to freshly moisturized (and sunscreened!) skin, and blend with fingertips or brush.

Lips and eyes: 30 seconds

Take a neutral-toned pink lip pencil like Philosophy's The Supernatural Lip Pencil ($12.50, philosophy.com) and apply all over lip to create the appearance of full lips. You can also use it to line your upper lash lines! This neutral-tone pink pencil will define the creases of your eyes in a very subtle way.