One piece of makeup/beauty advice I continually choose to “selectively forget,” otherwise known as “blatantly ignore,” is to “never curl your lashes after you apply mascara.” 🙂
I know, I know… You run the risk of your lashes sticking to the lash curler and getting accidentally pulled out, but I’m very careful when I do it (she said the day before disaster struck), and I never squeeze too hard.
But it’s just that my lashes aren’t naturally very curly, and whenever I wear a mascara that straightens the curl from my lash curler at all, the extra squeeze just kind of holds them in place.
Uh…I probably also keep makeup longer than I should.
I’ve got some pretty old pieces from MAC (like from the decade before the 2000s) that I should probably toss, but I keep them for nostalgia-sake and their vintage packaging.
How about you? Is there any sort of commonplace or well-known beauty advice that you wantonly ignore? (It’s OK. I do it, too. :))
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S.
I also curl my lashes after mascara sometimes. I usually do one light coat of mascara, a light curl, then more mascara. Helps my lashes stay curled better!
Hi Deanna,
Glad to know I’m not the only one who does this.
Happy Friday, btw! Any exciting plans for the weekend?
Holding stuff for a long time, which I kind of ignore for the same reasons as your mentioned, nostalgia and special edition packaging!
Hi Eesha,
Yes! Ahh, that LE packaging. Gets me every time. 🙂
Happy Friday!
I never wear primer under my foundation. I just very seriously cannot be arsed. My Nars Sheer Glow with Laura Mercier Translucent Powder doesn’t budge anyway.
Hi Bella,
I just re-discovered my bottle of NARS Sheer Glow and have started using it again. Question for you! What brush do you usually use to apply it? I’m currently searching for one…
I usually use my beauty blender with my NARS Sheer Glow 🙂
This one: Don’t wear darker lip liner than your lipstick.
It works so well when doing a nude lip. I do a darker lip pencil around the perimeter of my lips (MAC Oak), then a lighter warm nude lipstick (MAC Freckletone). A bit of lipgloss down the middle and bam! Angelina Jolie lips.
Sometimes I go to bed with makeup on…there, I said it. :/
I also tend to keep makeup for a long time. Mascara is supposed to be thrown after 3 months but I keep it for longer than that. Whoops!
Rules that I habitually break –
1. Don’t match your eye shadow to your eye color
2. Don’t match your eye shadow to your outfit.
3. Throw out mascara after 3 months (don’t judge me!)
4. Use less bronzer in the winter.
And despite all of that, I still manage to be happy and have a good life!
In college, I had a “friend” who wouldn’t stop pestering me to pluck my eyebrows. This was in 2007, not the ’90s sperm-brows era, but she still seemed offended that I’d never done anything to my eyebrows. Keep in mind, I didn’t have a unibrow or look like Groucho Marx; I just had thick, dark eyebrows that I didn’t feel the need to pluck. She once actually held me down and plucked my eyebrows herself! I’m proud to say that her nagging had no effect on me; even at 19 or 20, with zero knowledge of makeup, I had enough sense to realize that beauty trends were, well, trends. And now big eyebrows are back in style and I feel TOTALLY VINDICATED. Ha.
Oh, whoops–I just realized you were asking about the BEST beauty advice you’d chosen to ignore, not the beauty advice you were happiest you’d ignored. Sorry!
I’ve never curled my lashes but I bet that would be one I’d ignore too. I also keep make-up too long.
My worst one is that I never use base coat on my nails. Oops!
Awww! Love this Tabs photo- could be your holiday card. best beauty advice I ignore is to use basecoat, cap the tips and 3 strokes to paint. Sometimes I can’t be bothered with all that! Nude lips with smokey eyes and to fill my brows is the other advice I never follow. My brows are plenty full on their own. I need to tame, not fill!
I definitely keep makeup longer than they say. I tend to ignore expiration suggestions and use them until they get weird.
Also, I pull my eyes from the side to apply eyeliner. And I never dab on makeup or skincare. I rub it on.
I’m a rebel! 😉
1.- Never use bright eyeshadow to work: I’m the youngest in my office, and also ‘the artist’; and, let me (not) be modest: I do my job DAMN well. So my coworkers and my boss let me wear whatever makeup I want as long as I keep up being as efficient as always 🙂
Rules, schmules.
I wear blue eyeshadow with my blue eyes and it looks awesome. I keep my makeup way longer than I probably should. I put mascara on the bottom lashes daily and sometimes I rock a bold lip with a smoky eye.
Yeah, I’m a rebel.
Never wear blusher. I was told I was too fair/cool to wear blusher and that I should just wear highlighter. It’s true that if I wear coral or very bright blushes, I look clownish, but pale blushes look good on my skin. I’m wearing NARS New Order today and it just gives me a hint of color, just enough.
Who told you that?? As a fellow cool-toned, fair person, I would look dead without blush!
I wear red and bold lip colors during the day. At work. (And even running errands on the weekends.)
Definitely: not removing my makeup before I go to bed. I removed my eye makeup last night for the first time in probably over a year. I am RIDICULOUS, I know. but… I don’t tend to break out from it, so it’s hard to motivate myself to get off my toosh and wash my face! I even have super-convenient facewipes. still. nope.
I think my biggest one is “don’t pick”. I can’t help it. If I have a whitehead or a blackhead, the urge to squeeze is irresistible. 🙁
I also slightly round the corners of my toenails occasionally. I know. I feel shame. 🙂
PS Happy Friday!!
I think the “pick one feature” rule is totally no fun! I will wear the SH*T out of a smokey eye AND a bright red lip, thank you very much! I don’t think it necessarily looks trashy or overdone, either!
-throwing stuff that have been expired – if they aren’t looking or smelling bad, I’ll use them
-sometimes, if I wear lighter make-up (like concealer, mascara and gloss), and I’m really tired, I just can’t get myself to remove it before going to bed
-the whole color wheel bullsh.t for my eyes… okay, mines are brown, so they are not going to really pop, but still… I just don’t get why everyone tells everyone how your eye color should pop. I really like looking at blue-eyes girls with blue eyeshadow, it just looks harmonious (okay, sometimes piercing blue or green eyes look stunning, but that doesn’t mean that if your eye color doesn’t pop out, you look bad…)
-plucking my eyebrows at home – for beginners, it’s a piece of good advice, but by now, I have learnt enough not to butcher the arch of my brows too badly…
I also hold on to things a lot longer than I should…LOL! Mascara’s. Eye/Liners don’t last as long because I use them so frequently, But for things like blsuhes, pigments, and shadows is it really bad to have had them 5+ years? Lol My lids/cheeks havent fallen off yet. I assume its okay… =) Btw, Have been following your blog for a few years now. LOVE IT SO MUCH! As a beauty industry professional you are my go to source for reviews/recommendations & all things beauty!
Sending all my best from NYC,
Gloria
I also keep makeup for WAY longer than I should. Part of it is because I have a hard time throwing things away, but another reason is that if a product doesn’t smell, look, or apply badly, then I think that it’s still fine. I did pitch my old mascaras, though. It’s mostly because I never wear mascara anymore (bad ocular allergies), but I also don’t want pink eye, either! Ew!
washing makeup brushes! I am just so lazy.. i just keep re using them and dont wash as often as it should be done!
I have to admit: I am none too gentle when removing eye make up…I guess I will pay for that in a few years.
Re. curling lashes: Do try Maybelline Great Lash waterproof. Nothing else holds the curl for me.
I was told not to pull my eye while applying liquid or gel eyeliner. I realize it looks better when you don’t, but I can’t seem to do it.
Oh yeah: I always wear waterproof mascara. I know I shouldn’t but I use only jojoba oil to remove it and I like to think this helps to keep my lashes from breaking off or falling out…
I never apply highlighter to the inner corners of my eyes. I have prominent eyes and I just don’t need it. I rarely use a light eyeshadow on my browbone. I rarely use lip liner. I keep makeup for longer than recommended. I don’t always fill in my brows.
SHIZ! There are rules?
I pick at my skin really badly – I’m diagnosed with OCD, and that’s one of the symptoms that stays, even with medication. I’m a lot better than I used to be, but it’s still not great. I used to pull out my eyebrows and eyelashes from stress too.
I keep some makeup too long, but I’m much better about purging stuff than a lot of people. It probably helps that I didn’t get into makeup until 7 or 8 years ago. I have some lippies (that I really never wear tbh) that I should really get rid of. I have some old Lancome eyeshadows from when I worked for them that probably need to go too, but I tend to be more lenient about keeping powders…
Let’s see:
1) Throwing out mascara every 3 months. If I’m spending big bucks on it, now way I’m throwing it out unless it dries up or gets weird. It’s too expensive to do that.
2) Stop wearing black mascara after a certain age and go to brown. HELL NO, my eyelashes are blonde/dark blonde and wearing brown mascara makes them invisible. I wear glasses and need to wear black mascara just to make my lashes visible.
3)Wearing a bold lip with a bold eye look. I absolutely DETEST nude lippies (make me look washed out), so I go for an all over bold look and I get many compliments on it.
Rules were made to be broken.
1. I keep makeup much longer than I should. It just doesn’t seem to expire that quickly lol
2. I wear bold lips and bold eyes if I want. If it looks good, it looks good.
3. I don’t clean my brushes once a week. It’s gross I know lol. I just grab a new round and then end up washing a million brushes which is even more silly lmao
1. Don’t tug, pull taught, or rub your eyes. Ugh I just can’t help it! How can a person draw a straight line for eyeliner on loose skin?!?
2. Don’t be matchy matchy. I am not as bad as I use to be but if I wear a plum shirt I want to wear plum hued makeup too!
3. Don’t wash/shower with hot water. Yes I have super dry skin and lots of natural redness, but who wants to take a cool shower unless it’s 100 degrees outside!?!?
I agree with you on those lol
I used to pull at my eyebrows in high school, because I hated how thick and full they were compared to my friends’ dainty little brows! My mom would always tell me to cut it out, and I eventually did… and thank goodness, because now brows are all the rage! Mine remain nice and full to this day. Currently, I’m not much of a beauty rebel- most of the advice I’ve been given has been really good! I guess I’ve ignored my mom’s insistence of “concealer first, foundation second”- I go the other way around, otherwise my concealer would get blended into oblivion and I’d need to re-apply anyway!
I was told that my face has pink undertones and I should be using rosy foundations. I choose to ignore that because the rest of my body is fairly yellow! I always go for neutral to yellow foundations.
Also, good to read many of you keep the make up longer than you should. Those expiration times look like they are made up to make you buy more often. But you can judge a product yourself!
That is an adorable TGIF pic!
And for the question…Oh, boy.
I have to agree with some of the other ladies and say that the good beauty advice that I’ve ignored (to my great shame)is shared between leaving pimples alone and keeping makeup for a long time. I am much better at the former (finally) and for the latter, well, sometimes makeup is just too expensive! I keep eyeshadow, lipstick and sometimes blush (but not face powder) for a long time.
That will be washing my brushes often enough!
Oh, and getting enough sleep! I’m a trouble-sleeper…
I never touch my eyebrows in any way. No plucking, filling in, etc. I am a very fair haired and skinned person. My eyebrows are so blond that they are barely visible upon my fair skin. I once had them darkened by an esthetician a couple of years ago and I ended up looking that a mean, grouchy witch. It was really weird on me. So I haven’t touched them ever again.
I don’t use lip liner ever. What a pain in the ass. I never mastered the ability to draw a nice line around the lips. I end up looking like Bozo the clown so I don’t bother buying it at all.
I totally match my eyeshadow to my outfits even though this is a big no-no in some circles.
I also hate neutral palettes for the most part. They just don’t look good on me. I am too fair that I need color and I like color! I am eccentric! I love bright looks as long as they are balanced and not garish or ridiculous. I will also do a bold eye with a bold lip as long as its not over the top.
I do not tap in eye cream – I rub it in. Oh no! I am going to beauty prison! I just can’t stand how it feels to tap the cream in – it takes forever and feels sticky.
I also don’t moisturize. I have oily skin that moisturizing only makes it oilier. I don’t ever have dry skin anywhere on my body so I don’t see a point. I think I am one of the rare few that really does not need it. (Except my hands in winter but that’s because I wash my hands extremely frequently due to my occupation.)
I break at least a dozen more rules and I think we all do but who cares, its our prerogative!
I also refuse to use an eyelash curler. Those things scare the crap outta me!!!
I never wear false lashes but I should because of my really small eyes. I think maybe it would be a resolution for the new year 🙂
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who keeps makeup for a long time. I can’t bear to throw it out. I have a ridiculous number of lipsticks.