Kayla Young
There is no “one way” to describe beauty. As David Hume once said, “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”
However, that doesn’t stop us from looking in the mirror and trying to make ourselves more visually appealing. For most of us, that means creating an even skin tone, covering pimples, and emphasizing our favorite body parts.
The best way to feel attractive is to recognize your own confidence in your appearance. Once you start seeing yourself as beautiful, your personality will become more alluring allowing more people to gravitate toward you. You’ll be creating a positive spiral of attractiveness, as their compliments secure your radiant confidence.
But it’s one thing to say “be more confident” and another to feel that way. We have 30 essential beauty tips to help you feel proud of your physical appearance, create clean and clear skin, and educate you on how to maintain your healthy glow.
Contents
1. Moisturize Twice A Day
As you get older, your skin will lose its ability to retain water. This makes your skin dry, rough, and wrinkly.
To ensure your skin stays smooth, you should moisturize in the morning and in the evening. This will give moisture back to your skin, keeping your cheeks plump, and preventing cracks.
Medically speaking, if you don’t moisturize, over time your skin will become irritated and your natural protection barrier will be lowered. This means scabs will take longer to heal, and spots will become more frequent. You may even develop wrinkles earlier than you expect.
Ideally, women should start moisturizing in their teens. As puberty changes their hormones, the effects of dry skin become more apparent. The earlier they start to protect this important natural barrier, the longer it will take for the aging process to begin.
2. Wear SPF Every Day
This one is obvious, but it bears repeating. Don’t forget your sunscreen.
SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. It’s a cream or spray which protects your skin from UV radiation that naturally emits from the sun. The higher the SPF number, the more protection you will receive.
If you live in a hot country, or a country that experiences a lot of sunshine, then you should wear SPF creams daily. Even if you don’t live in a hot country, the effects of climate change mean that more people are expected to develop skin cancer due to the strength of the sun’s UV radiation.
Although this issue is important for health, UV radiation can also hurt us in other ways. Being overexposed to the sun can cause wrinkling, irregular skin pigmentation, and red blotches. These are all visual signs of aging, which means too much time sunbathing can make you look old.
Wearing SPF every day will prevent you from developing these negative side effects to the sun – protecting you even if you’re not spending hours outside.
3. Use A Retinol
Retinol is an ingredient used in skin care products. It is the over-the-counter, non-prescription version of the powerful skincare product Tretinoin, and it works wonders for many skin issues like aging and acne.
If you’ve already developed wrinkles, fine lines, sun spots, or any uneven skin tones, using products with retinol can treat these beauty issues.
The earlier you start using this treatment the less work the retinol has to do, which means your skin will recover quicker.
4. Drink Water
We have already talked about adding moisture to your skin through moisturizers. However, a more natural way to accomplish the same response is to drink lots of water. Granted, moisturizers can add in more pumping and healing elements to your skin, but drinking water will help your whole body stay healthy.
Your skin has 3 layers – subcutaneous, dermis, and epidermis. Looking specifically at the epidermis (the top layer), we can see that its main job is to stop foreign objects from entering your body – such as viruses, bacteria, and dirt. It also ensures that you don’t sweat too much, retaining your moisture levels.
If your epidermis is monitoring your water levels and realizes that releasing too much sweat will dehydrate you, then it won’t be able to cool you down. Less water in your body means less sweat can be produced. With less sweat, your skin will crack quicker causing pimples and scabs to form.
Drinking lots of water stops this problem from happening. Your epidermis doesn’t have to choose between keeping your skin protected or cool.
5. Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep
When you get enough sleep your eyes are less puffy and you’ll be less likely to develop dark circles. When you become sleep deprived, the opposite happens.
This is because your blood hasn’t been able to flow properly at night. During your nighttime rest, your mind quiets, and your body can spend time repairing from the previous day. However, if you don’t allow your mind to “switch off”, then your body has to concentrate on your actions rather than repairs.
As your blood isn’t able to flow in the restful state, it can get trapped or collected under your eyes. Seeing as your skin is so thin there, this issue is very visible.
Without a completed rest cycle, your skin can look dull, your hair can seem flat too. Allowing restful sleep stops these issues from occurring, so prioritize sleep as part of your beauty routine.
6. Exfoliate Regularly
Exfoliating is a process of removing dead skin cells from your skin, to stop them from clogging your pores and causing spots.
The process is easy, simply pick up a scrub, sponge, or brush and rub your skin to remove the dead skin cells that naturally build up over time.
Depending on your skin type, you may need to take extra care. For example, those with rosacea shouldn’t exfoliate at all.
But if you have dry skin, you should exfoliate daily and then moisturize straight after to remove any flakes and promote hydration.
Those with sensitive skin should exfoliate gently and irregularly, to prevent irritation.
And lastly, if you have oily skin, you should exfoliate daily and may not need a moisturizer to top up your hydration.
7. Never Sleep With Makeup
Accidentally leaving your makeup on overnight isn’t going to ruin your beauty routine, however making it a normal practice will clog your pores. You can easily develop microcomedone after a while, which is when you break out in acne caused by bacteria nestling in your pores.
For many people sleeping with makeup causes a negative spiral. They wake up with a pimple and decide to keep adding makeup layers to hide it. Not wanting their partner to see the spot, they sleep with makeup again, only making the situation worse.
If this sounds like you, stop this cycle now. Wash your face, use anti-pimple cream, and prepare for a new acne-free life.
8. Add Vitamin C To Your Skincare Routine
Vitamin C contains anti-inflammatory nutrients, antioxidants, reduces signs of aging, and hydrates your skin. Admittedly you need to ingest this vitamin on a large scale to create noticeable effects, however, it is an easy task to accomplish.
Fruits and vegetables often contain vitamin C, but the best sources are oranges (or any citrus fruit), strawberries, potatoes, and broccoli.
If you eat too much vitamin C, you may develop stomach pains and flatulence issues. So simply eat a couple of oranges a day to up your Vitamin C intake without overindulging.
And don’t forget Vitamin C Serums! These serums plump your skin and combat the fine lines, imperfections, and wrinkles.
9. Skip The Sunbed For A Self-Tanning Product
Sunbeds are just as detrimental to your health as overexposure to the sun. Multiple studies have shown that frequent use of sunbeds will increase your risk of skin cancer. The risk doubles if you have been using sunbeds before the age of 25.
As we said before, overexposure to UV light can cause life-threatening health problems, as well as physical damage to your appearance. The issue doesn’t change just because the UV light has come from a sunbed instead of the actual sun. Wrinkles, sunspots, and uneven skin will still become an issue for you.
Instead, using self-tanning sprays and creams can give you a tanned glow without harming your skin. So make the swap to keep your skin and body healthy without changing your preferred style or appearance.
10. Prime Your Eyes And Face Before Makeup
As part of your makeup routine, you should be using a primer as your base before you put on any foundation.
Primer allows you to smoothen your face and creates a barrier between your skin and your makeup. This will make it easier to remove later in the day and will stop flakes of makeup from getting stuck in your pores.
Clear pores mean fewer pimples.
Depending on your skin type, you should use a mattifying primer if you have oily skin, hydrating primer if you have dry skin, and a color-correcting primer if you have patchy skin.
11. Fill In And Shape Your Brows
This advice is less to do with skin health and more to do with fashion. Right now, filling in your eyebrows is the fashionable choice to make your brows feel luscious and shapely.
If you were part of the 00s and 90s hype of plucking your eyebrows to high heaven, then you will be one of the millions of people who now need to draw on their eyebrows to not look like an alien.
However, if you aren’t part of that generation, you may still want to fill in your brows if there are gaps in the hairline or if your brow hair doesn’t match your head hair. Flecks of gray can be easily removed with an eyebrow pencil, while dyed hair can match your brows by matching dark hair with dark eyebrows and light with light.
12. Regularly Use Lip Balm
Lip balms don’t need to be expensive to work. They are designed to give your lips the moisture they need without tasting disgusting. Although you should be moisturizing every day, you don’t need to use lip balm daily.
Instead, when the weather is hot and dry, or when you’re feeling thirsty, use lip balm to stop your lips from cracking.
Your lips will be naturally plump and don’t need to be protected as much as your skin does. However, as soon as a crack develops, you can taste blood – this is what we want to avoid. When the dry days come, or if you’re having a couple of cocktails, be sure to use lip balm to protect your lips against dehydration.
13. Double Cleanse
Double cleansing is when you wash your face with two cleanses. The first cleanser should be oil-based and the second should be water-based.
The idea is for the first cleanser to remove all of the debris from the day, while the second cleanser rehydrates and removes the oil.
This method is very effective for people who wear makeup, as the oil cleanser can cut through your foundation, allowing the water cleanser to pick up any remaining dry skin.
14. Indulge In A Face Mask
Face masks are a great way to give your skin a boost of health. If you have been through a stressful period, a night of drinking, or an event that stopped you from doing your beauty routine, then using a face mask is the best way to get you back on track.
Depending on your skin type, you should look for face masks with the following ingredients.
For acne, look for AHAs and salicylic acid. These will exfoliate your skin and prevent your pores from clogging.
For dry skin, look for hyaluronic acid. This acid can hydrate your skin adding a hit of moisture to restart your routine.
For fine lines, pick anything with vitamin C, E, and antioxidants. These will help keep your skin plump and hydrated.
15. Know When Not To DIY In Your Routine
It can be tempting to create your own at-home remedies. Not only are they more eco-friendly as there won’t be any packaging, but they will also be cheaper. However, unless you have a scientific degree in the subject of human biology, you may not be creating something healthy.
Take home-bleaching as an example. Millions of Americans bleach their hair, but this disinfectant wasn’t designed to touch human skin. It even says it’s corrosive on the bottle. Deciding to dye your hair blonde using this method can easily lead to baldness and in some cases scalp scarring.
When this type of dying goes wrong, the victims are often left with irrecuperable damage.
If you aren’t confident in the DIY method, don’t try it. You could end up making a mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your life.
16. Get A Water Filter For Your Shower
This tip is a little technical but bear with us. Generally speaking, there are two types of water – hard and soft. Hard water contains a lot of minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Soft water has been stripped of these minerals.
You can often tell what type of water you have by tasting it and seeing how long your water-based appliances take to break. If you can taste a metal or earthy taste in your water, it’s hard. If you taste nothing, it’s soft. If your water-based appliances quickly develop limescale, your water is hard. If it takes years for any limescale to emerge, your water is soft.
Most people prefer soft water as it is less likely to damage their water-based appliances, and it tastes nicer. However, there are health risks and benefits to both.
If you have sensitive skin, your hair and scalp could be reacting to the additional calcium and magnesium in your shower. This can cause dandruff, make your hair dull and dry, and irritate your skin.
To solve this issue you don’t need to move to an area of soft water, instead install a water filter. These machines remove the extra minerals before they reach your skin.
This simple fix can stop your skin from becoming irritated by the water that’s meant to clean it.
17. Treat Yourself To A Spa Day
When you feel good you look good. Although confidence is a massive personality trait that excuses beauty, being happy, content, and relaxed is another.
One of the best ways to feel that moment of beautiful relaxation is to have a spa day. Professionals massaging out the stress you’ve been carrying is the perfect way to get you standing up straight again.
Release the tension with regular spa days, to help you remain calm and collected adding to that layer of attractive confidence.
18. Let Your Hair Air-Dry At Least A Little
Air drying is when you don’t use a hair dryer or other mechanical method to dry your hair. Instead, you let nature do its work and wait for your hair to dry from the air alone.
Although hair dryers can help you shape your locks and allow you to leave the house earlier than air drying can, it damages your hair through heat. If done too often, you will end up with dry locks that have less color and life.
To keep your hair healthy, allow it to air dry every once in a while. The lowered amount of heat damage will keep it bright and healthy for longer.
19. Tanning Drops for Face Tanning
Tanning drops are a type of tanning method you can use on your face. Just like tanning sprays and creams, the formula allows your skin to develop a deeper complexion to match your aesthetic.
The difference between tanning creams and drops is their use for sensitive skin. If you prefer the tanned look, but can’t have heavy creams on your face, using tanning drops can help you achieve the same appearance without producing pimples.
20. Color Toning Shampoo
Color toning shampoo is essential for people who dye their hair. Toning shampoos designed to help balance your hair color, while keeping the permanent or temperature change for as long as possible. It removes color overtones that you don’t like.
You choose the shampoo color tone based on the color wheel. You use a shampoo color that is the opposite of the color you want to get rid of. By using the opposite color, the unwanted tone will be neutralized.
If you’ve got brassy yellow tones in your hair, you’ll want to use a purple shampoo.
If your hair has turned orange (a common issue when bleaching black hair), then pick the blue toner.
Lastly, if you’re developing an unwanted red tinge, pick a green toning shampoo.
These color combinations are opposites on the color wheel and battle each other, forcing both to lose in the color race.
If your hair color isn’t so easy to pair, talk to a hair stylist about your options.
21. Update Hair And Makeup Every 2 Years
To make sure you stay with the fashionable concepts of the time, you should evaluate your style every two years.
Style changes quickly in our social media world, and it can be easy to fall behind on fashion trends. And although you should learn about the styles that you enjoy the most, you can easily seem outdated if you don’t mix up your aesthetic every once in a while.
Ideally, you should have a concept that screams “you”, and then mix it with the new trends floating around social media. This will keep you centered on your own aesthetic, while still experimenting with new ideas.
22. Red Light Therapy
If you have scarring, stretch marks, or wrinkles that dampen your perception of yourself, then try red light therapy.
Scarring, stretch marks, or wrinkles don’t need to be changed, as they don’t cause any medical problems, however, they can take their toll on a person’s mental health and self-image. In these times, you can use red light therapy (RLT) to promote skin growth around the affected area.
Admittedly the process is considered controversial as there isn’t a lot of evidence to suggest that the treatment works. However, the risks of the treatment are also low. This means you may end up paying for something that doesn’t help your scarring, but at least it doesn’t harm it.
23. Use An Under Eye Cream
Although we’ve already discussed the importance of sleep to reduce dark circles under your eyes, there is another way to prevent this issue. Under-eye creams are designed to keep your eyes looking healthy while reducing puffiness, dryness, and dark circles.
They are particularly helpful to people in their 30s or older, as it’s at this age when our skin begins to show signs of aging. Because your eyes have the thinnest layer of skin, the aging process happens quicker in this area.
Using under-eye cream can prevent crow’s feet and bags while helping you look alert.
24. Oil Your Hair
If your hair is often dry, then oiling it can help bring it back to life. Some people have dry hair due to excess heat styling it (like using hair dryers or straighteners), or simply due to their natural hair type. Whatever the reason, hair oils are designed to increase the shine and moisture in your hair, and boost their nutrition with vitamins and minerals.
The most common oil for hair is coconut. This is because the aroma is delightful, you can use the oil like a bar due to the coconut’s consistency and it is often cheaper than the almond or sesame alternatives.
However, depending on your hair type you shouldn’t simply pick up the cheapest options. Instead use this quick guide:
- Frizzy hair – sesame oil
- Damaged hair – coconut oil
- Hair that struggles to grow – almond oil
- Dry scalp – jaborandi oil
25. Condition Your Hair Properly
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know how to use conditioner properly. Because of this, they’ll end up causing a conditioner block on their scalp, making their hair greaser faster and even causing dandruff.
To use conditioner properly, you need to first remove all of the shampoo from your hair. Next, use a small drop of conditioner (read the bottle to see the recommended amount), and then massage it into the ends of your hair.
If your hair is long, you can spread it up to your chin or even past your ears if you need it, however, it shouldn’t be put on your scalp. Conditioner has a thick and creamy consistency, which means it can easily clog up your pores even if you thoroughly wash the top of your hand.
Once you’ve massaged it in, let it sit there for a couple of minutes. When it’s had time to set, wash the conditioner off, removing everything until you are left with light-feeling hair.
26. Provide Proper Nutrition To Your Body
The best way to look and feel beautiful is to eat well. Greasy foods create greasy skin, as your body tries to eject the toxins in its body.
When you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, your body can function as it should. This means an easier digestion system, and less focus on getting the main nutrients to your organs.
With an easier digestive system, you’ll be less flatulent, feel less bloated, and won’t be as uncomfortable. With the nutrients not being processed on high alert, your body will have vitamins left over to offer to your hair and skin.
27. Avoid Smoking And Limit Alcohol Consumption
Although greasy foods are a type of toxin, the real chemicals you need to avoid are cigarettes and alcohol.
Not only are both of these drugs bad for your health, but they can also age you aggressively faster than any other issue we have already mentioned. Smoking can make your fingers, teeth, and eyes yellow, as well as create a gaunt face and deep wrinkle lines.
Drinking is just as bad, however, instead of looking like a skeleton you’ll start to puff out – creating baggy eyes, yellowing spots, and thinning hair.
These issues often take decades to present themselves, so don’t believe you’re safe from the decline if the change hasn’t occurred yet.
28. Never Skip Your Skincare Routine
There will always be times when life gets in the way of your routines. However, if you allow yourself to skip one day, you will create a new routine where your skincare isn’t as important as it once was.
Although skipping one day won’t cause a massive issue to your health, it can create this new routine where you eventually put less and less effort into your skin.
If you have forgotten a day, or your plans meant the routine couldn’t be completed, be sure to get back into the habit. Don’t allow another break until enough time has passed to re-secure your routine.
29. Tanning Water
Tanning water is like a regular fake tanner, but it’s clear. There are no bronzers, and no mess. Apply tanning water before bed, and in the morning, you’ll have a luscious tan without stained sheets and frustration. The water includes dihydroxyacetone to react with your skin but only on the surface level. It allows your body to act as if it was reacting to the sun but without any of the harmful UV radiation.
This means you get the most natural-looking tan without using a sunbed or sunbathing.
30. Look After Your Teeth
Lastly, your smile can affect your entire appearance. You’re showing everyone how well you can look after your body, care you have for yourself, and the natural perfection you have within.
Although most of us need braces or other dental corrections at some point in our lives, that doesn’t change the instinctive reaction we have when seeing good teeth. We automatically think that this person has a healthy body when we see those pearly whites glistening.
And when there is no food stuck in the gaps, and their breath is minty fresh, we know they have good hygiene.
You could argue that no one actually noticed when you have good teeth, but they do notice when it’s bad. Either way, you want to be on the positive side of that argument.
Summary
These beauty tips come down to 3 main points. 1 – know your skin and hair type. 2 – create a daily routine. 3 – make changes to create a healthy lifestyle. The first point might take a while to understand, but take time with your body to see how it reacts to different situations. Once you’ve created a routine, these tips will seem like second nature to you.
