My Least Favourite Beauty Rituals & How To Work Them Into Your Routine
As someone who writes about beauty on regular basis, you might think I have some great practices. But you would be wrong, oh so wrong. I'm trying to right my wrongs though and implement some great beauty routines into my life so I never have to do a micellar water cleanse again. So if you want to up your beauty routine also, keep on reading.
TAKING OFF YOUR MAKEUP
Whilst I never go to sleep in my makeup, because that the ultimate beauty blogger sin. Something I'm very guilty of is whipping off my makeup with a micellar water and then crawling into bed without a second thought. So a good habit I've tried to get into is that once I'm home for the day then I take my makeup off as soon as I get in. When you've worn your makeup all day taking it all off is almost as good as when you take off your bra when you've had a long day and we all know how euphoric that feeling is. I find that by taking it all off when I get in I don't tend to pick at my eyelashes to remove any mascara remnants and can enjoy rubbing my face without smearing foundation everywhere. By doing it as soon as I step in the door or shut my laptop lid it stops me from getting cosy under my blanket fort on the sofa making up excuses to myself as to why I can't be bothered to wash my face properly.
USING HAND HAND CREAM
One of my worst habits, in general, is ripping and pulling at the skin on the side of my fingers. It's something that I do when I'm anxious or upset and I can make such a mess of my fingers. So I rely on hand cream quite a lot to try and keep them as healthy as possible and I always make sure I apply it before I go to bed and use something lighter in formulation when I'm sat at my desk. It's one of those hard habits to get into but we use our hands so much and it's one of the areas of our body that can get the most sun exposure too so it's important to keep them topped up with moisture. Applying before bed means that can let it work its magic overnight and it certainly makes midnight scrolling less tempting.
KEEPING HEAT TOOLS AT A MINIMUM
When I decided that I wanted my hair to be white blonde/grey during my university years and bleaching it to the point of no return. When I had to cut it all off to have a somewhat healthy head of hair something else I did was really minimise the use of heat on it. However, with my sad Afghan hound tresses, I do rely on heat quite a lot to get my beloved messy waves so I trade curling for blowdrying, unless I'm in a rush and have to blow dry it. In general, washing my hair in an evening has been such a good habit to get into as it means I can let it dry naturally overnight and I'm not applying an unnecessary heat to it. Of course, this does depend on your natural hair as I know for curly haired girls or girls with really thick tresses this might be a struggle but for all you fine haired girls it works wonders.
hair masks
Something I don't do enough now my hair is regularly cut is use hair masks. When my hair was much longer I got into a good routine of slathering them on and leaving them to work their magic for hours. The only thing to be wary of is products that contain keratin as using that too often can make your hair too strong so that it snaps which is not something we want. If you do have hair that is easily tied up a great way to add that extra nourishment is coconut oil which I'm guessing in an ingredient that most of us have in our kitchen cupboards at this point. A little bit goes a long way but massaging the warmed up oil into your hands and through the ends of your hair then twisting it up into a bun. Is such an easy way to add nourishment but not have to faff around waiting hours for something to work its magic in between washing. After using coconut oil in your hair though you must do a double wash otherwise, it's absolute nightmare to remove.
moisturising your limbs
So many of us take so much pride in moisturing the skin on our face but when it comes to looking after the skin on our body we don't seem to care that much. I have to say, when I'm wrapped up in a million and one layers then I'm certainly not as fussed about slathering myself in moisture but as soon as I start to get my limbs out for the world to see as soon as it's over 10 degrees I wish I'd been a little more regimented with my body care routine. When it gets warmer it certainly makes the process a little more desirable as when it's -6 outside and the bathroom feels like an igloo you don't want to wait around. So as soon as I step out the shower or bath I reach for a lotion that I put within arms reach. I also make sure it smells delicious so it makes me want to use it more, as well as being hydrating of course. Once you do it enough times then it becomes a habit and by using something really rich it means if you're lazy with your body you don't have to do it twice a day and can skip it if needs be as the moisture hangs around.
The dreaded makeup brush wash
Out of everything I've mentioned in this post I can feel the eyes rolling at me with the mention of the dreaded task of washing our brushes. It's something that we all know we should do because there are only benefits from doing it but that doesn't mean it's a fun task. I always reserve brush laundry for the weekend, on a Sunday after I've done my makeup as I find doing my brushes when they're damp with product means they come clean way easier than when they're dry and everything is really stuck in there. Popping on a podcast and using my brush cleaning board definitely makes it the menial task a little better. And the way best I've found to get it to work in my routine is to make sure it's done at the weekend so then when a fresh week rolls around I can reach for something different products without the worry of a dirty brush.
