BEAUTY TIPS | How to show your lockdown face some love

Looking for ways to show your skin some love in the midst of a global pandemic, after sitting months indoors in lockdown?

Read on for our top tips to give some TLC to your attention-and-routine-starved skin.

Stay hydrated

It’s a no brainer really. If you get dehydrated, your body pulls water from your tissues and skin to maintain the concentration in your blood.

This causes skin cells to sink and sag, causing minor wrinkles to appear more prominent than they are and your skin to have a less than fresh tinge. Your eyes look sunken, your skin feels dryer, and it’s not going to be as elastic, so you will look a lot older. Nice.

So, how to get more in? I know, drinking water can be more than a little boring!

Keep a glass on your desk or a non-BPA bottle by your side wherever you go to ensure you get your fill throughout the day. Sip on herbal teas and warm water with lemon throughout the day (make sure its all caffeine free though, or you’ll be doing it all in vain!) Also, take a glass to bed with you and gulp that sucker down before you shut your peepers, or first thing upon raising your beautiful dream-filled head from your pillow.

Commit to more zzzz’s

Equally as important as staying fuelled on the H2O is getting adequate sleep. If you're anything like me you'll know that' s laughable with a small child, however more sleep is always at the top of the wish list. Sigh, one day.

You've no doubt experienced the ill effects of burning that candle at both of its ends. Nasty candle. In addition to extreme fatigue, brain fog and lack of coordination, lack of sleep makes for heinous bags under your peepers and all sorts of other chain-reactiony things like breakouts and weight gain due to disturbed sleep cycles and angry, out of whack hormones.

Sleepless nights are no doubt sometimes inevitable, and if you have small babes it will be IMPOSSIBLE to stay on top of your sleep game in that first year or so. Just try and get in micro naps when you can throughout the day (I know- easier said than done, but fuck the housework, make it a priority). Even a half hour catnap in the afternoon while your babe sleeps goes a little way to counter the asshole effects of all that shitty broken sleep and mumsomnia (totally a thing). It really is an evil fucker. Who knows maybe one day we'll all be able to get a few solid hours in overnight and will wake up with teenage skin again. If you pray really hard to the sleep gods and cross all your digits and do a little magic dance, maybe our wishes will come true.

Wash everything off at the end of the day

Hand in hand with number two, the proverbial late nighter generally coincides with forgetting to take one’s beauty junk off their visage before hitting that pillow hard.

We’ve all been there, waking up hours later with smeared gunk half way down our face, a rogue false eyelash creeping its way to who knows where and an eyelid stuck persistently shut. Pretty huh? I know in moments of extreme exhaustion the need to sleep definitely overrides the wish to go and get gunk all in my eyes and water all over myself when I try and wash it all off in some kind of stupor.

Not washing your face can speed up the aging process because of free radical damage. It's important to wash away pollutants that stick to makeup and contaminate our skin, attacking healthy skin that can result in a decrease in the production of collagen, which means premature wrinkles. To aid a too-tired-to-clean situation, keep some gentle cleansing facial wipes by your bedside or even under your pillow (try to find a natural brand without all the fragrances, preservatives n' shit).

I've even resorted to using baby wipes to get it all off when I was in mombie mode and absolutely couldn't bring myself to walk all the way to the bathroom. Not my finest moment, and I wouldn't recommend this for a myriad of reasons, but I was fucking beyond tired and when you're a new mum baby wipes RULE YOUR WORLD.

You could even keep some jojoba or almond oil and some cotton pads near your bedside to at least feign an attempt to dissolve as much as you can with a quick wipe. Try to take that all important two minutes before you collapse to get as much off as you can. You need to let your skin breathe, not suffocate. Remember that and it will love you a whole lot more.

Get into the good oils

Whenever I can remember, I like to slather my skin in organic pure coconut, jojoba, rosehip, macadamia, avocado oil - whatever oil I can get my mitts on really. You can use oils to cleanse or moisturise- did you know coconut oil is great at dissolving mascara? It’s the easiest way to slam some nourishment into your face fast!

Contrary to popular belief, using oils on your skin does not equate to oilier skin. Good quality oils like those mentioned above are emollient to the skin and help to nourish moisture and protect the skin cells.

This is opposed to the cheap mineral oils found in cheaper cosmetic products which clog the skin and cause blocked pores and hence trigger increased oil production as your skin tries to clear itself.

So buy some beautiful pure organic cold-pressed oils and get slathering. Your skin will drink that shit up! Make it a ritual and get addicted.

Massage it all away

Once you’ve cleaned all the grit and grime from the day from your pretty lil’ face, why not treat yourself with a facial massage with your favourite oils. Mix a few together, or try adding a drop or two of an essential oil like lemon, lavender or rosemary (go easy, tiger, they’re strong) to your base oil before giving your face and neck a good, loving going over.

Facial massage is so amazing for boosting circulation! The more blood flow through your cells the better nourished they are with oxygen and nutrients. It’s said that certain techniques can tighten and tone the skin and help to prevent sagging. Sign me up. Check out YouTube for facial massage techniques (look up Ayurvedic facial massage) and commit to doing it whenever you can. You’re welcome.

Love to you and your lovely face.

Got any tricky makeup issues or questions that you just can't get to the bottom of? Feel free to get in touch with me, your local makeup maven, cosmetic junkie and beauty agony aunt!

If you’re stuck in a makeup rut, or have a burning question about hair or skincare, hit me up and I’d be happy to help.

And if it's all a little overwhelming? Don't stress. We've put together some killer workshops to help teach people the foundations of putting on makeup and demystifying products, brands, brushes and techniques. There's so much that's confusing and overwhelming about the beauty world, and it doesn't have to be.

OR Book in for a 1:1 virtual makeup lesson where I'll walk you through a complete look with full guidance- based on what you've already got and what would suit you! Investing in yourself is the BEST investment!

I LOVE helping and supporting others to up their beauty game and empower themselves with knowledge and skills.

Beauty is for all to enjoy- no barriers, no boundaries. Make it your own and back yourself, babe!

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Hey, I'm Danee!

I’m a makeup & hair artist and all-round creative with a serious cheese fetish and a hankering for tequila. A badass beauty disruptor and educator with nearly a decade of clocked miles in the beauty industry. I’m a playlist ADDICT who also stans for writing, drawing, inhaling 70s design and 90s pop culture; and have a mad love affair for thrift shopping, sleeping, and going on roadtrips!