6 Super Simple Beauty Habits to Improve Your Skin in 2022
The first week of January is always a blur. Social media becomes a fifty-fifty split of people sharing their highlight reels from the previous year and declaring their resolutions for the incoming calendar, and although I’m all for using the new year as a personal reset button, the immediate need to completely overhaul your life can be a little exhausting. I do love a recharge though, which is why once I’ve settled into January (around the time that all the holiday chocolate has finally been eaten) I like to have a re-assess and make a few notes of goals and ideas for the year. Because with a new year, comes the possibility that you can start fresh with every aspect of your life, beauty habits included!
So I’ve put together a list of a few beauty tips and hacks that I truly swear by, some I always do, some I do when I remember, but I thought I’d share them with you in case they spark some ideas or make something you already do that bit easier.
Morning Skincare Routine: Keep all your morning routine products sitting out visible and in order. Whether it’s three products or ten, most of us are half asleep in the morning and it’s just one less thing you need to spend time and brainpower on. ‘Doing’ my face (cleansing and morning skincare) is the first thing I do each day, it wakes me up and makes me feel human, but having everything lined up so that when I’m on autopilot I can just apply all the products left to right and be done is a game-changer. This is both a beauty habit hack, but a morning time saver too.
Pillowcases: Recently I read some very *interesting* stats on how often people wash their bed linen… and by ‘interesting’ I mean gross. I’m a weekly kind of person myself, but if that sounds like too much work for you, just peeling off your pillowcases once or twice a week and throwing them in with a load of smalls is going to do your face a world of good. Pick a day of the week that works for you, and make it your weekly pillowcase day. Sidenote: a few years ago I bought a pair of the Go-To Skincare Silk Pillowcases and I can confirm they are worth every penny. I’ve washed them 100+ times and they still look as good as new.
Product Expiry: It’s great that sunscreens have an actual date on them of when they should get binned but most products have a PAO (period-after-opening) symbol that shows ‘once opened this is good for x months’ – it’s the little tub image with the lid up. Unless you’ve got a super memory you probably won’t remember when exactly you opened that tub of moisturiser or just how long ago you first opened that body lotion that sits in the cupboard, so try keeping a permanent marker in your bathroom drawer and write the date that you open new products on the base. This is one of my favourite beauty habits, it helps remind you when something needs binning but also helps you keep track of how long a bottle of something lasts you for. That serum that always seems to be running out might actually not be lasting you long enough to justify the price, or that eye cream that you forked out big money for might actually be lasting you so long that the cost per use is really low. Super handy to know the date!
Wash Your Face: If you’re reading a skincare blog this is probably a moot tip because you’re almost certainly already doing it, but sleeping in your makeup/SPF/grime of the day is a massive no-no. Not only are you missing the opportunity to get great ingredients on your skin overnight to work their reparative magic while you sleep. But you’re also giving all the crap of the day an extra 8 hours of skin time to give you spots, damage your skin barrier and just generally irritate your skin. We all know washing our face (preferably double-cleansing) at the end of the day is ideal, so implement strategies to make sure you do it. Like…
Evening Routine: This is one of my all-time favourite beauty habits! Get into the routine of doing your evening skincare as soon as you get home for the day. Whether that’s 5pm or 8pm, doing it straightway has two main benefits. First off, you’re not running the risk of your energy nosediving later or forgetting, and ending up sleeping in your makeup/SPF. But secondly, you’re getting all the grime of the day off your face that little bit earlier and putting all those great products and ingredients on and giving them more time to do their job. Simple change, big difference. Plus you can always apply a quick mist before bed or a thin layer of a moisturiser if you feel like you need something extra before bed, I do this all the time in Winter!
Makeup Brushes: This might not apply to everyone because a lot of people don’t wear makeup regularly, but whether it’s an everyday occurrence or a special occasion treat is kinda indifferent here. You need to be washing your brushes and sponges regularly. For cream products (foundation, concealer, etc) I recommend doing a spot clean daily (using a specific brush cleaning fluid that dries quickly) and a deep clean once per week. For powder products (eyeshadow brushes and highlight/bronzer, etc) you can get away with just the weekly deep clean. If you fall into the category of only using makeup brushes occasionally, wash them every time you use them. Brushes pick up bacteria and germs from your face and combine that with old makeup sitting on your brush they can wreak havoc on your skin. Katie Jane Hughes has a great, super speedy video here showing how best to clean your makeup brushes. She uses a specific brush cleaner, personally, I swear by a block of SARD washing-up detergent, but the method is the same.
What are your top beauty habits and organisational hacks?
