Hey girls! I’m dying to know – did the cuties in your classes make a move on you with those makeup tricks I gave you last time? Did you strut your stuff? At least tell me you tried a dark lipstick!
If you didn’t, ugh, how could you it’s totally fine. If anything, I hope you aren’t letting your skincare and haircare routines take hits because you “just need your sleep”. You can absolutely sleep in as much as you want and walk out the door looking fabulous. I still have faith in you.
I’m pretty lazy when it comes to my skincare and haircare routines myself, so my trick is to find a few products that are versatile and can be used for several different beauty purposes. This way I don’t have to buy tons of expensive products for every little thing, and spend thirty minutes in the morning just layering my skincare!
Bear in mind, all these tips work for my oily skin. If you have dry skin, you can simply repeat some of these!
Coconut Oil
It’s magic. It must be. If I soak my hair in coconut oil thirty minutes before my nightly shower, I won’t even need conditioner. In fact, if I do use an effective conditioner in the shower after I shampoo, my hair feels greasy too soon and I hate washing it too often! (Did you know washing your hair every day actually strips it of essential oils?) Since I have an oily scalp, and my hair is recently very short, I saturate my hair with it and study for a bit (or you know, watch some Netflix for half an hour), hop into the shower and wash it twice with a very moisturizing shampoo. I love the Coconut Milk Shampoo by Organix. If you have long hair, be sure to use a good conditioner on the hair below your neck!
Not only is this oil great for hair, it does wonders for my skin. I know what you’re thinking, I already have oily skin, why am I using more oil on it? It takes off makeup like a charm, darling. I tried the critically-acclaimed Bioderma for makeup removal but it’s way too expensive. I’m only a student! Plus its doesn’t even take off waterproof mascara that well. For the price, you think it could at least get the job done. Toronto gets windy in the Fall and Winter, I need my eye makeup waterproof when my eyes water!
After I saturate my hair, I put a bit more oil in the palm of my hand and rub my palms together to warm it up. I gently massage my face to remove every single bit of makeup. You’ll even see it on your hands, because you’re almost giving yourself a face massage. I make sure to be very gentle around the eyes to remove everything; you’ll definitely end up looking like a panda bear. (Panda’s are super cute though.)
Wash your hands with some soap and then exfoliate your face. If you’ve never used St. Ives Apricot Scrub, your face has never been truly clean. Just get it. Personally, I don’t think there is anything worse than not exfoliating because it cleans the gunk out of your pores, and you must allow dead skin cells to wash away. If take one thing away from this article, it’s this. Exfoliate. Please. Thanks.
After your face is nice and clean, pat it dry and apply a face mask. That can be anything from a thin layer of lemon juice for extremely oily skin, or even a thin layer of coconut oil for extremely dry skin. One thing is for sure, The Body Shop knows what it’s doing when it comes to face masks. The Nutriganics Smoothing Mask is a holy grail product for me. I put on quite a thick layer, and keep it on until I shower, just as I do with the hair mask. Why not multi-task, right? I think it’s safe to use every other day, and I love how it dries but doesn’t hurt when I move my face. So if your roomate trips over her chair, you can laugh without feeling like your face is stretching. It’s great.
Lounge around in your pajamas for a bit because you deserve the pampering after a day of back-to-back lectures. When you get around to showering, wash off the face mask and coconut oil. I love my bamboo shower brush because I don’t need a body scrub, my body wash just turns into a body scrub as it cleans.
You’ll come out of the shower feeling like a goddess. Your hair will smell incredible, just let it air dry. The coconut oil will have removed any frizz, and you’ll notice that it’s the shiniest and softest it’s ever been. Your face will look even and smooth, soft as a baby’s bum. And your body will glow after the gentle exfoliation from your bamboo bristle brush.
*sigh*
The shower.
It’s sacred.
Now you can pop on some vaseline on your lips; there’s nothing better than vaseline, don’t fall for the $40 “high-tech moisturizing plumpers” or “rejuvinating lip boosting technology.” Trust me, I’ve tried it all. Go to sleep feeling nice and relaxed, and wake up looking like an absolute babe. Beautiful hair, beautiful skin. Go on, skip the makeup and show how everyone how gorgeous you look at your 9am lecture (well, you can’t win ’em all).
You go to U of T, you have the beauty and the brains. Just make sure while you rake in your 90s, you take good care of yourself, too!
Lots of love,
Nipa