Beauty Mistakes that Could be Adding on Years

Of course, it is hard to see any lasting damage as it does take time but one day you may feel like your skin is drier than usual, your hair is flatter than it used to be, and your eyes look more tired than ever. Wouldn’t it be great if you could stop the clock by just changing up a few things you have sworn by in your beauty routine and even take a few years off in the process!

There is nothing wrong at all with keeping your face moisturised and trying to get rid of a little wrinkle along the way, in fact, keeping your face smooth and hydrated is encouraged! However, relying alone on anti-ageing creams and hoping that you can turn back the clock without putting in any other efforts will probably not give you the skin you really desire. If your cleansing routine is not up to scratch and you re-apply make-up on top of make-up, you may find that you are clogging your pores and causing breakouts that you didn’t account for.

The trick is to go with a combined beauty routine that will see your skin beautiful and beaming at all times and that way finding fine lines will be the least of your worries. We can’t escape the dreaded wrinkle, but we can make the appearance of our skin better thus holding off the ageing process and keep us not only feeling young but looking young too.

If there’s one chore we all loathe each day, it’s taking make-up off each night and cleaning your skin, just when you are ready to go to sleep. But it is important none the less! How many of us are guilty of leaving a full face of make-up on after a long, hard day and just hoping for the best? I know I have done this a few times and regretted instantly when I woke up to oily broken out skin. It just isn’t worth it, plus it can be really unhealthy for your skin to have all that product sitting on your face day after day, not to mention how bad it can be for your eyelashes and the skin around your eyes.

Eyelashes for one, can become infected at the root if eyeliner and mascara are left on overnight. It isn’t a definite thing, but is it worth risking? Probably not! It should be easier now to cleanse at least this part of your face with handy eye makeup removal wipes that you can even use from the comfort of your own pillow.

Eye infections are another nasty one to avoid, this can be caused by makeup seeping into your eyes while you sleep and even if infection doesn’t take hold, you may fine you wake up with dry and sore eyes that tell a tale of your age that may not even be true.

Skin needs a chance to breathe and when better than when you are sleeping, it is the time your body rests and recuperates and the rest promotes healthy cell renewal so you can wake up feeling more revitalised and ready for the day. That alone can take years off you, so remember to keep your face nice and clean at night and reap the benefits for years to come.

The thing with foundation is that a lot of people use it to balance out their skin tone, to hide blemishes and to enhance the appearance of their skin. But used incorrectly or too much, it can have the opposite effect and look clumpy or dry and unnatural.

Choosing a darker shade than your skin tone will add to the ageing effect and will highlight lines that you are trying to cover up, so its best to stick to your own skin tone and use it lightly. By using a primer before you apply makeup to your face, you can create an even skin tone and not have to use as much makeup as you would usually, and this will in fact reduce the appearance of your fine lines.

Powder is also something that shouldn’t be over-used, as this can create a dusty looking effect on your face which can actually make it look dry. IT can be so tempting to cover your face with powder, especially if you are prone to oily skin, but the best thing to do about this is to find a balanced foundation that is good for oily skin and go light on the powder. Your skin will be able to breath and you won’t run the risk of those clogged pores we talked about before.

Powders can also flatten the complexion by creating one colour and one shade across the face. Aside from looking quite unnatural, the flatness can be a sign you are adding years on by trying to do the exact opposite. So try going a little lighter on your foundations and powders and if possible, avoid completely from time to time to allow your skin that all important time to rest and breathe. The years will start falling off!

Yes, your diet can affect your skin and yes, you should think more about what you put into your body if you want to get the best from it. It is not just about looking good but feeling good too. Your skin needs nutrients to stay hydrated and to keep looking fresh and foods high in salt content or caffeine will be one of the causes of dry skin as it basically sucks the moisture from below the skin.

Energy drinks and other beverages high in all the things that are bad for you can give your skin the same reaction, dehydrated skin is how wrinkles start to form and this can add to the aged effect you want to avoid. Alcohol is the main dehydrant in beverages, and I’m sure we have all woken up with that feeling of needed water after a heavy night, well imagine how your skin feels! Drinking too much can deprive the skin of nutrients and vital vitamins so over time the effects of ageing speed up and skin can start to lack the lustre it once had. So cut out a few of the bad things and incorporate at least 2 litres of water into your daily intake to feel the full benefit of hydrated and youthful skin.

Ok, so this one might sound gross, but it is something we have all been tempted to do at times. In adulthood experiencing breakouts can be uncomfortable both physically and mentally so it’s a natural instinct to want to get rid of them immediately.

As well as increasing the risk of leaving scars behind on your face, you could actually be pushing more debris from the spot deep under your skin when you try to squeeze a pimple, this can in turn cause more pimples and breakouts that you are then stuck in a cycle.

The skin on your face is especially delicate and when you see a spot, you need to try and remember that there is much more going on in the layers underneath it that you can’t see. The redness on the top layer of skin is already inflamed and sore so picking at it won’t stop that from easing off so trying to pick at it could cause longer term damage and speed up the appearance of aged skin.

This one might confuse you; how can it cause you to look older? Well there are two answers to this really, first, by picking a style and shape of eyebrow that doesn’t flatter your face and second, by damaging the skin above your eyelids with improper care when plucking or aftercare.

Eyebrows have been styled and played with and tinted and even shaved since before we even knew what to do with them. So its no wonder there are so many guides and advice pages on how to rectify the mistakes of our past. The thing with fashion is it changes almost faster than you can say “fashion statement”! This means that something that was all the rage back then, may tell a few truths about your age. Take the nineties and the naughties for example, barely there eyebrows were such a thing that you could be sure beauty counters were rushing to restock tweezers more often than ever. Fashion then too a drastic turn, wanting us to grow out our pencil thin lines into bushy and more natural looking brows. But for a lot of people, this was hard to do, impatience got the better of them and they went back to plucking. I’m not saying there is a definite rule when it comes to eyebrows but you can almost guarantee that if you see a thin looking brow today, they are more than likely another patron of the nearly eyebrowless era.

Face shape comes into this bracket too. Again not to use this as a rule, but more of a guideline, if you have more angular features then you may want to try softer curves when it comes to shaping your eyebrows and for longer faces, it is good to try out longer and straighter eyebrows that balance out the features. It may not technically stop the ageing process but it can flatter you to match your eyebrow shape to your face shape and in turn make you look younger.

When removing any kind of hair from the body, you are putting intense strain on the skin and hair follicles which can cause lasting damage that you won’t see at first. As the skin around the eyes is thinner than anywhere else, it is extremely delicate so plucking, waxing and threading only put more pressure on the eyebrows and can cause redness and irritation.

The skin should be ready for any treatment like these and usually after a hot shower, the pores open up and it makes the hair removal process a lot easier and pain free. After care involves leaving the skin to breathe for a while before caking it with moisturiser, but a good idea is to use aloe vera for its soothing properties and to reduce redness and swelling.

Treat your skin well and it will pay you pack with youthful appearing skin, if you don’t you could end up with damaged and broken skin around the eyes that can only add to the ageing effect.

Who doesn’t love the sun? There’s nothing better than getting a bit of sun on those cheeks after a long winter of clouds and rain. But the sun can be one of the top reasons for premature ageing skin so it should be respected in the sense that you look after your body when going for a little sunbathe.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to not apply sun creams or sunscreens properly. It is tempting to go for a low factor to try and boost your tan to the next level, but your skin is so susceptible to sun damage that even 30 minutes of exposure on a hot day can cause really bad sun burn which is not only painful but can lead to all sorts of problems later on. Go for a higher factor SPF and stay safe in the sun.

Once you have decided on the right SPF for you, you have to remember to apply it correctly for it to work. Applying a small amount to the parts you think are most likely to burn is just not enough, your ears, your lips and your neck are highly sensitive and tend to be forgotten. Sun burnt lips are not fun, believe me! So, apply your sun cream at least 30 minutes before you venture to the outdoors o give it time to soak into the skin and always reapply after swimming. Even if it says it’s waterproof on the bottle, this will not keep it evenly distributes across your body so its important to keep it topped up and get that body covered head to toe.

For lips, try to invest in a good sun protection balm that won’t feel oily on your mouth and stay protected all day. For afterward, have a look into an intensive care lip balm that not only fixes damage but prevents it too. If you can maintain silky soft lips throughout the summer, and your skin is looking sun-kissed but healthy, you can avoid those pesky wrinkles and patches of dryness that add to the effects of ageing.

Mascara is great for making our eyes pop and it definitely should be a staple in every woman’s makeup bag, however not renewing or replenishing your mascara could be one of those things that causes you to look a little older than you are or even feel.

Eyelashes don’t just come in one length, colour or shape so it’s a good thing that mascara doesn’t either! The trick with mascara is to avoid caking it on and causing clumps to build up in your eyelashes, and to wear a colour or shade that compliments your eye colour.

Fairer haired people should stick to brown shades so it doesn’t overpower the face and can bring out the colour of your eyes without smothering your look and appearing really unnatural. If you have brown or dark hair, black mascara works best to really distinguish your eyes so they won’t just fade into he background.

Another way to beat the ageing effect is to keep mascara to the top line of lashes and not the bottom set or use a small amount if you need a little extra emphasis. Mascara on the bottom line can create shadows which will highlight any dark circles or lines that you have, so it doesn’t miraculously make these go away, they will just look a lot let obvious to anyone else.

Aside from how your eyes look with eyelashes adorned with mascara, the effects of wearing mascara constantly can wear down each individual lash and if not cleansed properly each day can speed up the loss of lashes early on in the eyelash growth cycle. Sparse looking eyelashes can be tackled with an eyelash growth serum that can be used daily to combat the loss of eyelashes and encourage growth in each individual lash follicle. Naturally thicker and longer lashes are things dreams are made of, and with an eyelash growth serum you can escape the feeling of having older looking eyes by rejuvenating them in a matter of weeks.

You may have your favourite set of brushes to apply foundation, powders, bronzers and eyeshadows which isn’t a crime. But not cleaning them or buying new ones when the time has come is definitely a crime against beauty.

As with most things that sit around our houses, makeup brushes can harbour bacteria that has come from the environment or even our faces themselves. Oils that collect on our brushes can sit there building bacteria that is waiting for us to glide them over our faces and cause irritation or even infection. If you already suffer from skin conditions, then the harmful bacteria can cause it to worsen or even start a breakout. Even if you wash your face every day and follow a proper cleansing routine, you won’t be doing any good when you reach for that brush again later on. Any old make up that sits on your brush or sponge transfers onto your face and back onto your brush which can eventually begin to clog your pores which may bring on a few spots when you least expect it.

By cleaning your brushes regularly, you can avoid these problems and also keep the bristles nice and soft so you always get the best out of your make up with each application. Sometimes you do need to just bite the bullet and invest in some new brushes and sponges. It may feel like parting with a best friend, but it is for the best, especially if you don’t want to experience dry and damaged skin that can add to the ageing process.

So, there are quite a few things I think we can all say we have been guilty of from time to time, that are negatively affecting our skin and causing the effects of ageing to speed up without us even knowing. We can’t fix everything overnight and there is no miracle cure to the ageing process but if we can stop it in its tracks for a little while then we should be doing what we can to feel the full benefits of youthful skin.

When it comes to makeup, I like the follow the ‘less is more’ rule. Of course, rules are made to be broken, right? So there are always exceptions, especially when going for a big night out, or that party you have been waiting all year for, but remember to keep your mascara applications thin, your lips smooth and hydrated and your make up brushes clean and you can start to experiment with colours and styles that really compliment your existing features. Just remember to stop making those naughty little beauty mistakes that could be adding years onto you without you knowing!