Top five beauty lessons from an industry insider

February 10, 2016

Photo: Piotr Mamnaimie https://www.flickr.com/photos/mamnaimie

I’ve spent the last 10 years in the beauty industry.

I’ve worked closely with women preparing for big nights out and date nights, guiding them through the confusion of colour matching foundations and picking the right skin care products.

I’ve explained ingredients and decoded what breakouts are trying to tell them about their lifestyle and skincare choices.

I constantly get asked the same questions. Is professional skincare worth the money? How often is too often to exfoliate? What else can I do to improve my skin?

So here are the top 5 beauty lessons I have learnt from my time in the industry:

Sunscreen:

The sun is the number one cause of ageing in Australia. Studies show that it causes as much as 80 percent of ageing! You don’t have to be a beach babe to see the effects, the morning commute to work or even hanging out the washing is enough to cause lasting damage.

Sunscreen not only protects us from UVA and UVB damage that causes dehydration, wrinkles and pigmentation but also skin cancer. Lots of sunscreen, a big floppy hat and sunglasses really are the key to youthful skin.

Homecare:

A whopping 75 percent of what happens with your skin is your homecare. A good homecare routine can keep your stay skin soft supple and radiant. All you need is a good quality cleanser to remove makeup, pollutants and any excess oil, an exfoliant that is right for your skin to remove surface dead skin and a moisturiser for your skin type.

Don’t forget, an oily skin needs moisture too! And of course, my number one rule… did I mention sunscreen?

Sleep:

I recently had an older client come into the salon for a facial. As she started to tell me about her family and her great grandkids I couldn’t help but ask her the one question you aren’t meant to ask another woman… ‘how old are you?’

I was shocked at her answer, as she easily looked 20 years younger then she was telling me but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to pick her brains about what she considers to be the fountain of youth. Her answer was simple, sleep.

And it makes sense, our skin, like the rest of our body, takes time to heal and repair and this is done while we are resting. So maybe skip a few of those boozy nights and slap on some of that night cream to keep your skin looking young.

Professional versus supermarket:

I’m not opposed to supermarket products, but the old saying is true, “you get what you pay for”. And a lot of the time cheap products are packed with chemicals, detergents and fillers.
So keep a close eye on what you are putting on your skin and trust your instincts. If a product makes your skin flush, if it makes it feel tight and in desperate need of moisturiser or if you see a sudden negative change in your skin with a new product then it might be time to move on. It’s always best to get a professionals opinion if you’re not sure what you need.

Exfoliating:

Last but not least my favorite product is a good exfoliant. It has the ability to hide a multitude of sins.

When our skin is dull an exfoliant will buff away all those surface dead skin cells and bring all the fresh healthy skin through. Dry body buffing can help to stimulate the lymphatic system, flushing toxins out of the body and reducing the appearance of cellulite. Now who doesn’t love that?

Got a question? Ask me at shebrisbane [@] bigpond.com

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