When it comes to beauty, we’re bombarded with tips and tricks to fake a healthy glow, wind back the clock, and apply makeup like a pro. Many of these tips and tricks we’ve heard all before, and often, this “expert” advice requires a major investment and far too much time and maintenance. Not this time; buckle up for the best, easiest, and most affordable beauty advice you’ll ever hear.
1. The Secret to Faking Glowing Skin
Your skin gets thinner and dryer with age, and making it look young and radiant seems impossible, no matter how many expensive skincare products you layer on. Try this simple trick: add a healthy dollop of face oil to your moisturizer and apply it for an instant dewy glow. You don’t have to splash on luxury products; get a good dermatologist-recommended pharmacy moisturizer like CeraVe, add some vitamin E oil (Trader Joe’s has a good one), and wait until you see the difference.
2. How to Create a Fuller Pout
Your lips also lose their fullness with age, but resist the urge to invest in expensive fillers, as you can end up with the dreaded trout pout. Instead, fake a full lip by lining your lips with lip liner just outside the natural line of your mouth and then apply lipstick a little messily with your fingers. Ensure the lipliner complements your lipstick, and use a hydrating satin formula. If lipstick bleeding is the bane of your existence, try a lip stain that will stay on for hours.
3. Buy this Cheap Multi-Tasking Moisturizer
You honestly don’t have to spend a fortune on moisturizers, and instead of buying a separate one for your face and body, go to Whole Foods and get some coconut oil. Yes, the one you cook with. It’s ultra hydrating and nourishing for your skin, and you can use it on your face, body, elbows, feet, nails, and even as a hydrating hair mask.
4. How to Show Off Chiseled Cheekbones
Heavy matte powdered blushes can settle into fine lines and wrinkles, making your skin look dry and aged. A better tip for giving your cheeks a sexy flush and making your cheekbones look more chiseled is to apply a liquid-illuminating highlighter or bronzer. Use your fingertips and apply from the apples of your cheeks up toward your temples to glow with radiance. You’ll be amazed by how many compliments you get about how amazing your skin looks.
5. Slogging Your Skin is Better than a Facial
If you’re unfamiliar with slugging, it’s a beauty editor’s trick to give your skin a serious hydration hit. After your usual nightly skincare routine, apply a thick layer of an occlusive product (emollients like Vaseline, petroleum jelly, or lanolin work a charm) and leave it on overnight. This creates a barrier on the skin that prevents moisture loss and helps the skin better repair itself overnight.
6. Trade in Your Scrub for Liquid Exfoliant
Exfoliating your skin 2-3 times per week removes dead skin cells and makes your skin smoother and more radiant. But don’t use physical scrubs with beads, as they can damage your complexion and cause microtears. Some skins also can’t tolerate harsh exfoliants, so a better approach is to buy a liquid exfoliant. Look for ones with gentle BHAs or AHAs (if you can tolerate them) that you can apply each night rather than do it as an extra step in your routine. It’s a slower, more gentle approach.
7. Cover Your Grays More Instantly
Home hair dyes are messy and can damage your hair, and salon jobs are ridiculously expensive. Get a dry shampoo or root touch-up spray in the same shade as your hair to banish grays instantly. L’Oreal Magic Root Touch-Up costs under $13 from the pharmacy and truly is magic in a bottle.
8. Hydrate from the Inside Out with Celery Juice
You need to drink 2.7 liters of water daily to keep your skin and body hydrated, but juices also count toward that quota. Instead of starting your day with apple cider vinegar or lemon water, which is acidic and bad for your teeth, switch it out for celery juice. It’s super hydrating, great for your digestion, and aims to flush out toxins and make your skin glow with vitality.
9. Sleep with Your Socks On
If you have unsightly cracked heels or rough, dry feet, nourish them with foot cream or coconut oil and sleep with your socks in. This will lock in the hydration, prevent moisture from escaping, and make your feet smooth and supple faster.
10. A Glistening DIY Tan is Easy
The safest tan comes in a bottle, so always apply SPF every day and steer clear of sun beds. Self-tanners are also messy and can give an uneven look, but you create a glistening glow on your skin easily. Just add a dollop of bronzer to your body moisturizer and slather it on.
11. Lift Droopy Eyelids in a Heartbeat
Droopy eyelids and brows are one of the biggest indicators of aging, so always apply mascara to the top and bottom lashes and have a well-manicured brow. But for an instant eye lift without surgery, buy those eyelid tapes. Eye Magic Premium Eye Lift is available on Amazon and will instantly wind the clock back ten years.
12. Stop Using Matte Foundation
Heavy matte foundations look dry and cakey on the skin and settle into fine lines and wrinkles, making you look older. So, switch out your usual foundation for a tinted moisturizer or a hydrating satin formulation. You want your skin to look natural and glowy, so only apply it where you need it, and instead of setting it with heavy powder, spritz it with rose water to create that watery look. Again, you can get a good one from Trader Joe’s.