Beauty No-no’s That Add 10 Years

Words by Katherine C. Eustaquio

You cleanse, tone, moisturize, smear, dab, and brush all in the name of beauty. Despite your OC ways, how sure are you that you’re doing it right? Here are the most common beauty mistakes committed even by the most fastidious beauty icons and personalities.

Wrong foundation. Too much concealer. Your base makeup can go wrong in so many ways it’s scary. It can cake, blotch, and (heavens forbid) turn orange. Bases have the tendency to oxidize and get darker after a few minutes, making your face look three shades darker than the rest of your body. Very light coverage, on the other hand, can highlight fine lines. Choose the right foundation and apply just enough. You don’t want to look like you got a crème-colored fondant on your face with your caked-on base. Also, go easy on the concealer. Don’t give yourself the reverse raccoon look.

Screaming shade of blush. Adding color to your cheeks not only highlights the contours of your face but it also helps you to avoid looking too pale. However, the wrong shade of blush (and too much of it) can turn the “glamor” to “humor” and even to “horror”.

Dark lip liner that makes your lips pop the wrong way. If you want to look like a living, breathing character straight from your baby niece’s coloring book, go ahead and abuse your innocent lip liner. The point of using one is to accentuate the contour of your lips and keep the lipstick in place. Don’t use it to draw the entire lip area.

Loading up on anti-ageing creams prematurely. There’s a reason why they call it “anti-aging” creams. They are designed to be used during the time when your skin can no longer repair themselves efficiently on their own. If your young and vibrant skin is not in dire need of a “miracle” just yet, keep it glowing the natural way—by eating the right kind of food.

Applying two coats of mascara on the lower lashes. Whoever started this fad should pluck their eyebrows naked. This beauty practice has the tendency to smudge, cake, and melt, adding to the illusion of having dark circles under your eyes. Just go for the darkest mascara you can find and curl your lashes silly.

Forgetting to exfoliate. The best makeup base is still a clear and radiant complexion. So invest on skin care rather than buying an entire array of designer makeup. Apart from the following the Skin Trinity (cleanse, tone, moisturize) religiously, don’t forget to exfoliate at least once a week to unclog your pores and remove dead skin cells.

“Where have all my eyebrows gone?!” Eight out of ten women are guilty of over-plucking their eyebrows. The worst thing you can do is use a shade of eyebrow pencil that’s too red /brown/black on your skin. Penciled-in brows that are too thin add 10 years to your age as well. So next time you trim your brows, try not to over do it.