10 Beauty Hacks for Better Skin

I was just about to type that your skin is the base of your face but then I realized that made no sense but then I typed it anyway and WELL. How’s that for an intro? Crappy? I know. Skincare is really important because while makeup can cover, the makeup comes off eventually and it’s always nice to have gorgeous natural skin underneath. This introduction is pretty rough, but you know what won’t be rough after these tips? Your SKIN! Aha. High fives.

Anyway, skincare is incredibly important and you don’t always need fancy creams and serums to achieve a nice complexion. I mean, I’m not the poster child for perfect skin but I’ve done a lot of reading and research so you don’t have to.These tips for better skin will help you on your journey to amazing, radiant skin.

1. Mix your foundation with moisturizer.

Since you should be moisturizing on a daily basis anyway, why not just mix it in with your makeup? This will give you a smoother application and moisturize your skin as you apply. Just make sure your foundation mixes with your moisturizer brand and doesn’t separate–do a test run before wearing it out and about to somewhere important.

2. Change your pillowcase more often.

While you sleep all of the oil and stuff from your hair gets on your pillowcase. I don’t remember the exact science, but basically sleeping on a clean pillow case is good for your skin. I recommend flipping your pillow halfway through the week and changing the pillowcase at the end of the week because we don’t always have a ton of time to do laundry.

3. Clean your phone.

Your phone is pressed up against your face after being touched and thrown around all day, be sure to clean the screen. Thin about it: where has your phone been before it was on your face? The bottom of your purse, the floor, the bathroom counter, your desk at school…if you start to think too much it’ll probably freak you out. Use a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball to disinfect your screen every now and then.

4. Actually, try to avoid using the phone.

I don’t mean don’t call anyone, but I do mean try to FaceTime or Skype instead. If you must talk on the phone, bust out those handy earbuds with the little microphones. I know talking into your earbuds might seem a little bit ass hole-y but it’s really not. It’s for the good of your skin and it’s a lot easier to speak without pressing a phone against your cheek. If you don’t want to use the earbuds and you’re in a private space, you can also use your phone on speaker phone so it’s not pressed against your face. Please don’t do this in public though, that’s really rude.

5. Make sure all of your makeup is really off.

Personally, makeup removers aren’t enough for me. I need to also wash my face very well to get off any makeup that the wipes couldn’t take off. Makeup removers also don’t substitute for washing your face. They hardly even remove all of the makeup let alone really clean your skin. I usually wash my face in the morning and then remove my makeup and wash my face again at night. This isn’t even including toners, moisturizers and night creams, though.

6. Toss old makeup products.

If it’s expired, smells weird or makes you break out, put it in the trash. Also, look into these Things To Stop Doing To Your Makeup  because a lot of these could be contributing to bad skin, too.

7. Stop touching your face.

When you’re bored in class and lean on your hand, don’t. Make a conscious effort to avoid touching your face in class. Your hands have so many oils and germs on them, do you really want that on your face? Probably not.

8. Actually wash your makeup brushes.

Washing makeup brushes is literally the worst and considering I use less than a dozen makeup brushes on a daily basis this should, in theory, washing brushes shouldn’t be that hard. It isn’t that hard and it doesn’t take that long but it’s almost impossible to bring myself to wash these brushes I use on a daily basis. It’s gross and I know it’s horrible for my skin but I’m going to make a valiant attempt to wash my brushes more often and you definitely should, too.

Oh, also wash your Beauty Blender. Or, in my case, knock-off beauty blender. Those get freaking disgusting and soaking it in dish soap and warm water and then squeezing it out is oddly satisfying and gross.

9. Wear sunscreen.

Since I am and have always been the same skin tone as Snow White, I’ve grown up religiously apply sunscreen whenever I would be in the sun for more than five seconds. Just because you get tan or don’t burn doesn’t mean you should ignore this tip, sir. Use sunscreen even when it’s not that sunny! If this doesn’t appeal to you, at least use a moisturizer with some SPF.  The sun ages you so much and sunscreen is a real MVP when it comes to safety.

Also, check to see if your sunscreen is expired. It does expire, did you know that? I didn’t until recently. Unlike the expiration dates on chips and candy that you kind of ignore most of the time, expiration dates on sunscreen are legit.

10. Drink water.

I know every article regarding any form of beauty or health in the entire universe includes a tip about drinking water. I didn’t want to include this because it’s so over-mentioned but I ran out of ideas, okay? Drinking your daily intake of water is good for you and while I cannot personally say that it’s crazily improved my skin by drinking my daily suggested amount of water for the past two weeks, I’m sure it’s doing good things internally so that’s pretty good, right?

 What are some of your favorite tips for better skin?