What’s a great way to be more beautiful? Be creative! Look at the objects in your home as potential tools for your beauty kit. Once you begin looking around with an eye toward functionality, you will see all kinds of possibilities.
1. Refrigerate your eye cream
Your refrigerator, in addition to keeping your food cold, can be used to store your morning eye cream. What could be more refreshing than cooling cream under your eye first thing in the morning? Grab a few squirts of the cream and press it under your eyes, concentrating on the areas where you tend to get puffiness. This is a nice pick-me-up as you wait for your coffee to brew. Don’t apply too much, or it may interfere with your concealer throughout the day. If you have time, you could even press some damp green tea bags underneath the eye prior to using the eye cream.
2. Use a spoon or postcard for shadow placement
Place the postcard so that it lines up the outer corner of your eye and the tip of your outer brow. Use this as a guide to keep your eye shadow from creeping too far outward. Once you have applied it, you can use a soft brush to soften the line of demarcation that was created. You could also use a spoon in the same manner, making a curved edge.
3. Try some body wraps
This is a good way to smooth and tighten, for instance, your abdominal area. Results are temporary, but this is good to do the night before an event where you’d like to look your best. Start with a lotion. You’ll get the best results if the lotion contains ingredients like clay or seaweed. Experiment with different body wraps techniques to see which works best. Apply the lotion generously to your abdomen, such that it doesn’t all absorb. Then wrap it with plastic. The plastic wrap from your kitchen will work just fine. Top it off by wrapping it with long bandage material. Leave on overnight, and wake up to a tightened tummy.
4. Mix custom lipstick on waxed paper
Maybe you’d like to try a darker lipstick. They’re very in for fall. Let’s say you don’t want to go as dark as what is available in stores. Mix your own shade by using a brush to grab some color from multiple lip shades, and then blend them together on a sheet of waxed paper. Tape the paper to your vanity table or bathroom counter, so it stays in place and works nicely as a palette. You can use this palette to mix other things, like custom shades of foundation or concealer.
5. Use scissors to trim false lashes
False lashes bring the drama. Maybe the kind you have on hand, however, bring too much drama for the look you want. You can trim them to customize them. Take your strip of lashes and cut them in half, using the shortened strip at the outer edge of your eye. Perhaps the lashes themselves are longer than you like. Use scissors to trim them down. Be sure to cut at an angle, so the tips of the lashes aren’t blunt. This will make them look more natural.
6. Use pins and tape for manicures
You don’t have to go to a salon for nail art. Get inspired, and try fun looks at home. If you’d like to have stripes on your nails, just use tape to mask off the area. Paint where you want your color, allow to dry completely, and then remove the tape. Your imagination is the limit. Make stripes in holiday colors, or do a single metallic stripe for a flash of glam. For polka-dot nails, raid your sewing kit. Use the tip of a pin to create the dots. As mentioned above, waxed paper makes a nice working area on which to make a pool of nail polish for dipping.
7. Use a garbage bag as a cape when dying hair
Simply cut the garbage bag along the seams. Then drape it around your shoulders, and use hair clips to secure it. People often use towels for this, but a garbage bag is a quick throwaway option. You can then concentrate on washing your hair and not a towel, as well.
8. Take lots of selfies
It can be hard to see if everything looks good together and is blended nicely. Take a selfie of your outfit, and give it a once-over. Maybe your shirt would look better, proportionally, if you tucked it in. Perhaps your lipstick and blush colors are clashing. It is amazing what you see when you view yourself from a different vantage point.
9. Use a toothbrush for combing through brows or eyelashes
Usually a spoolie is used for this, but a spare toothbrush works too. You’ll probably find that the softness level of the toothbrush affects your results. You may end up liking this technique, and never go back! Use the toothbrush to put your brow hairs in place before plucking stray hairs. This can help ensure you don’t remove too many hairs. If using a toothbrush on your eyelashes, be sure to use a clean one. Brush through the lashes before curling them. This will make them look more separated after mascara is applied.
Keep looking around your house for other ways to help your beauty routine. You just may find things that render your usual beauty tools obsolete. Have fun with it!