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Spring Break Beauty Tips

Spring Break is coming up, and college students across the country are looking forward to a week relaxing at the beach or beside a pool. If you are planning to get away this Spring Break, here are some beauty hacks to keep in mind while packing for your trip.

Makeup worn on the beach is often ruined by sweat, water, and sunscreen. If you would rather not forgo your usual makeup, there are ways to look good on the beach or at the pool. Many brands offer waterproof versions of mascaras and eyeliners, and you can wear a foundation with SPF. This will keep your face covered and give you protection from the sun without the need to apply regular sunscreen, which could cause your makeup to run.

You should always wear sunscreen at the pool or the beach and reapply it often, but you might still find yourself with a sunburn. Aloe vera is the most common treatment for a sunburn, but there is another way to relieve the pain. You can soak a washcloth in a pot of room temperature tea and rub it on your skin. Since many hotels provide complimentary tea bags, this can be an easy and free way to get the relief you need.

If you spend the day at the beach, you will likely be covered in sand. There is an easy way to get the sand off and avoid tracking it into your hotel room. Rub baby powder on the sandy parts of your body. The baby powder will absorb the moisture in your skin, and you will be able to simply brush off the sand with a towel.

During Spring Break, you can forget about your normal beauty routine and go for a more relaxed look. You can leave your curling iron at home and opt for a more natural hairstyle with beachy waves that you can get simply by going in the water and allowing your hair to air-dry.

Wedding Day Makeup Tips

If you are getting married this spring, you want your makeup to be flawless so that you will glow in your cherished wedding photos. Here are some tips to help you get the best look on your wedding day while staying true to your own style and feeling comfortable.

Before the big day, have a makeup trial run to decide on the look you want. Have someone take a picture to refresh the makeup artist’s memory on your wedding day.

One common mistake that brides make is stepping too far outside their comfort zones. Choose a makeup look that feels comfortable to you. Your makeup artist can do a beautiful job, but if you don’t feel comfortable, it will show in your wedding photos.

You want to have glowing skin when you have your wedding pictures taken. Apply an illuminating primer before your face makeup to give your skin a healthy flush.

Choose the right lip color. Rose is a great choice for a wedding. Red is another good option if that is the color you normally wear. If you never wear red lipstick, your wedding day is not the time to start.

If you decide to contour your makeup on your wedding day, use matte products. Makeup with shimmer doesn’t work with contouring techniques.

Avoid glitter on your wedding day. If you want to brighten your eyes and make them sparkle, use a soft shimmer eye shadow. The light will catch the shimmer and make your eyes sparkle.

Use a setting spray to set your makeup and make it last longer.

After you have your makeup done, you won’t be set for the rest of the evening. You will need to take a few products along with you for touchups. Pack a translucent powder to minimize shine, concealer, blush, and lipstick. You can fit all of these in a clutch.

Relax and enjoy yourself. If you follow these tips, you will shine in your wedding photos.

How to Choose the Right Foundation

Foundation forms a base that affects the way the rest of your makeup looks. Choosing the right foundation is therefore key to getting the look you want. Here are some tips to help you.

If possible, it is best to try foundation before you buy it to get the right shade. When testing foundations at the drug store, you should go in with a clean face to get an accurate idea of how it will look. Apply foundation to your cheek or jawline and then stand in natural light and look in a mirror.

If you are shopping at a drug store where it is not possible to test foundations before you buy, take a few bottles to an area near a window and hold them near your neck to find ones that are the best match for you. Buy a few bottles and return the ones that are not the right shade for you.

Yellow-based foundations work well with most skin tones, but pink shades are better for very fair skin. You can also choose the right color simply by looking at the bottles and trying on foundations. If you are trying to match a particular shade, go by the colors on the bottles, not swatches on display.

Choose the right foundation for your skin type. If you have oily skin, look for an oil-free, oil-control, or mattifying formula. If your skin is dry, look for a hydrating or moisture-rich foundation. Cream-to-powder bases work well on combination skin. If you have aging skin, choose a foundation for that skin type.

Next, choose the coverage you want. If you have good skin but want to even out some red areas, use a light foundation. If you have uneven skin or blemishes, choose a medium or heavy foundation.

The right foundation should disappear into your skin. It should not settle into wrinkles or highlight large pores and should cover up any redness or unevenness in your skin tone.

Many foundations have an SPF of about 15. This is not enough to protect you from the sun. You should wear sunscreen with a higher SPF every day.

Beauty Tricks Using Baby Powder

We are always on the lookout for beauty products with multiple uses to save money. Baby powder is a staple that can help you look and feel good in many ways.

• Baby powder can increase the volume of your eyelashes. Apply a light coating to your lashes between coats of mascara. It will add length, thickness, and volume; prevent your mascara from smudging; and keep it in place.

• If you don’t have time to wash your hair and you’re out of dry shampoo, turn to baby powder. Shake a little onto the roots of your hair, rub thoroughly, and blend with a hairbrush. It will absorb oil in your scalp and increase volume.

• Baby powder can absorb perspiration on your face and reduce shine. This works especially well with darker skin tones. If your setting powder is too dark, you can lighten it with a little baby powder.

• You can help your lipstick last longer with baby powder. Apply a coat of lipstick, place a tissue over your lips, use a powder brush to dust baby powder around your lips, and then apply another coat of lipstick.

• Use baby powder to clot small nicks and cuts after shaving. You can also use it between your legs to prevent sweating and chafing.

• If you wax at home, oily or recently moisturized skin can hold wax and cause pain. Sprinkle some baby powder before you wax to make it hold your hair and not your skin.

• If you go to the beach over the summer and get sand stuck to you, apply some baby powder. That will make it easy to brush off the sand.

• On a hot summer night, dust baby powder between your sheets to absorb sweat and keep you cool while you sleep.

•When you have sweaty feet and don’t have time to shower, sprinkle some baby powder inside your shoes to absorb sweat and odors.

How to Even out Your Skin Tone

Winter is the best time to treat an uneven skin tone. The sun’s UV rays are one of the main causes of sun spots and melasma, and people tend to spend much less time in the sun during the winter than they do at other times of the year. Here are some tips on how to treat sun spots and brighten your skin this winter.

Sun spots are common in people with all skin tones. They can take the form of freckles or larger brown patches. The best way to avoid these spots is to wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day, year-round. Choose a sunscreen with physical sunblockers, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide.

You need sunscreen even if it is not a sunny day. As much as 80 percent of the sun’s UV rays can pass through clouds. During the winter, reflective surfaces such as snow and ice can cause the sun’s rays to bounce back and hit your skin twice.

If you have acne, don’t pick at your pimples because that can cause scarring. Sun can also cause acne to darken and leave brown spots. This is another reason why you should wear sunscreen.

In order to target trouble spots, use a product with skin-lightening ingredients, such as vitamin C and niacin. This will reduce pigmentation and lighten dark spots.

Using a 10 percent glycoloic acid peel once or twice a week can help skin-lightening products penetrate your skin better because the acid will unclog your pores. Apply a thin layer of the peel to clean skin, leave it on for 10 minutes, splash your face with warm water, and pat your skin dry.

If you have more diffused pigmentation or melasma, you may need a prescription treatment. Your dermatologist may prescribe 4 percent hydroquinone, which can even out pigmentation better than over-the-counter products.

You can hide your dark spots as you work on lightening them. Use a luminous foundation with light-reflecting particles to detract from your uneven skin tone.

If none of these treatments works and your pigmentation bothers you, consult a dermatologist. He or she may recommend a trichloroacetic acid peel or laser treatment.