Most Important!

My Top 6 Beauty/ Health Tips

Now I always like to write a bit about beauty, health and fitness- all those things that we need to keep an active life but I thought I'd sum up a few things that I consider being the most important, so if you don't do anything at all for your skin and for your body this should be the bare minimum. 

It all sounds very straightforward and its things that we have all heard before, simple things but its still amazing how many people I have come across in my work in the beauty industry and just in general who either don't know or they ignore these facts! 

So here's a quick summary in no particular order, it's all so easy- I like good choices to be easy and quick, not so they become a chore!

1. Drink Water! I thought I'd start with my most obvious one, just to get it out of the way. We all know how important this is for our skin and our body, we are made up of 70% water ourselves so it makes sense that we need it to stay healthy! This can be easier said than done I think so a good idea is to buy yourself a nice water bottle from a sports store or something so that you can reuse it and can keep it with you all the time. If it's next to you then you will drink it, it will become a habit to reach for your water bottle.  

2. Take your Makeup Off Properly! This one doesn't apply to men (well some men maybe) but it's so important for us women. Its very easy after a big night to just collapse into bed and think that it's ok to leave the face on for one night- but thats another 8+ hours that your skin can't breath properly. It's keeping all the dirt and oils trapped and not allowing the natural oils to escape. The eye area is very important, because the skin is so much more delicate there if you have black eyeliner and mascara seeping into that skin it can stain and damage that thin skin around your eyes. The easiest way to take makeup off is with a proper remover and cotton balls but the makeup wipes are so handy when you are tired. I wouldn't use them every day but for travelling or night when you are exhausted (or wasted) they are fantastic! It takes two seconds, wipe your face and put on some night cream to help repair your skin as a bare minimum on those nights. I'm lucky to already be in a routine so no matter how exhausted I am my face gets the full treatment, cleanse, wash, clarify, lotion, eye cream and night cream- but thats me and I'm a bit crazy with skin care! Haha. 

3. SUNSCREEN! Again, this one is super obvious and I feel a bit like a broken record but it's one that even I am guilty of not doing up until recently. I was already using so many products on my skin, I never had the sunscreen handy enough to put on as well and I always secretly worried that it wasn't good for my skin. However during some training recently I learned some amazing facts that has really ingrained it in how important it is. I also saw for myself how the sunscreen sits on your skin and doesn't absorb into it so it won't undo all of the good things your skincare does. One fact that really stuck with me was the fact that 80% of skin ageing before the age of 60 is caused by the sun. So think about someone you know who is around 60, and imagine that 80% of the lines, age spots, loss of elasticity etc wasn't there. How amazing would they look? So if we use sunscreen everyday then we can prevent a lot of those things. So now my sunscreen sits in my bathroom, right next to my makeup and I put it on underneath my foundation. It actually works as a great makeup primer too! 

4. Exercise (at least a little bit)- Now I know that a lot of people reading this will already have a great exercise routine and know the value of it but I'm writing this as if to myself a few years ago. These days I love to keep fit and try to make it a part of my everyday lifestyle but up until a few years ago even a short walk around the block was too much effort! I don't know what clicked in my brain but I just started small. I would walk my dog around the block most days and feel really great because I was getting my butt off the couch. Then I started to jog a bit as well, maybe halfway, then the jogs started getting longer and when I had time I'd go for a bush walk up steep hills to really start to try something challenging. All of those little things led to me being able to complete the half marathon this year (22kms). If somebody had of told me that 2 years ago I would have laughed in their face. Even if you hate exercise, it doesn't have to be hard. Just keep it simple and try for a start of an hour a week, you can break that up into two 30min sessions or 6 ten minute mini workouts. You will start to feel stronger and more positive each week until you're doing 30mins most days without realising its an effort because you are loving the results so much!

5. Don't Smoke- Now I only feel I can write this because I have been a smoker myself and so it's not me being judgemental at all. I used to absolutely hate people who would get on their high horse and do the smoking lecture thing. I wasn't even sure if I was going to put this part in, just because I know how annoying and frustrating it can be. It's only been about 6 months since I quit properly so I can only speak from my own experiences of trying to quit and then finally succeeding. I've written about this a little bit before and explained that I just started by cutting back, then if I wanted one I didn't beat myself up over it because having just one was better than the four or five I would usually have had. Everyone knows why we shouldn't smoke, my main concerns were for vanity reasons to be honest, for my skin and also because of the smell. I never used to be able to smell it on me or on other people but now that I can it's been a bit of an eye opener. I honestly do feel stronger and better since quitting but at the time its so hard, I used to be terrified that I was never going to be able to quit. It's the same as starting to exercise.. small steps.

6. SMILE! The happier we are, the longer we live. By smiling we also make the people around us happy. Of all the beauty tips in the world the thing that is going to make you the most beautiful is what's inside you, if you show the kindness in your heart to the world then you are making it a more beautiful place as well :) A positive outlook attracts positive people!

I hope that readers get at least something out of this post, it's all really super obvious stuff and I didn't even go over diet or anything. Even though we all know it, sometimes we just need that reminder to actually put this stuff into practise. 

We only get one body, and we put so much effort into other things in life like jobs, maintaining cars, saving for holidays and doing things with friends but those things at the end of the day you aren't stuck with. 

Our body is the only certain thing that will be there no matter what, we have to rely on it for our whole lives, every single day. So it makes sense that we put a bit of effort into keeping it healthy and strong!