Grandmothers and beauty bloggers alike are always sharing their secret tricks and tips for beauty, but which ones actually work? These beauty hacks have proven to work as well in practice as they sound in theory.
Gel or glitter polish removal is made easy with acetone nail polish remover, cotton balls and aluminum foil. Pull apart a few cotton balls into smaller pieces and dip them into acetone.
Place the cotton on the nail and wrap it in a small piece of aluminum foil. The foil prevents the acetone from evaporating, so polish is removed much easier. Leave the foil on for 10-15 minutes, then remove with some pressure.
The polish will come right off with little to no residue. If needed, a cuticle stick can be used to scrape off stubborn bits of polish that stick to the nail.
For an easy guideline to create a winged eyeliner look, simply place a piece of tape from the lower lash line to the end of the brow toward the temple. This creates a guide to paint liquid or gel eyeliner so that when the tape is removed, all that’s left is a nice, clean wing.
Ladies who wear brightly colored lipstick, worry no more. Here’s a trick that will keep the lipstick on your lips and off your teeth.
Pop a clean finger in your mouth and close your lips. Pull the finger out with lips tightly closed and all the lipstick that would have transferred to teeth is now conveniently on the finger.
A trick for making lipstick last longer is to cover the mouth with a tissue and apply some loose translucent powder or baby powder over the tissue. The powder leeches the moisture from the lipstick to prevent it from sliding off the lips and feathering.
Speaking of lips, there is no need to spend extra cash on exfoliating treatments for those dry winter lips. Use some regular old sugar and a toothbrush to get rid of chapped lips before applying lipstick for a smooth smile or before lip balm to help moisture absorption.
There are two pimple fixes that pop up time and time again on beauty blogs and magazines. The first is to cure a pimple with the liquid from a capsule of Advil. Poke a hole in a capsule and apply the liquid to the zit – it magically helps to diminish the offending zit within a few hours. Makeup artists use this trick at fashion shows all the time.
If there is no Advil in the bathroom cabinet, try eye drops meant for alleviating redness for tone down an aggravated pimple. The drops will calm the redness that draws the eye to the pimple.
Eyedrops are a humectant, meaning they lock in moisture, so they can be added to powder eyeshadows to create a water-resistant liquid eyeliner that will last longer than regular pencil.
Last, but not least, baby powder is a very useful, multipurpose tool. It can be sprinkled onto the roots of greasy hair then brushed through to absorb excess oils and refresh day-old hair.
It can also be used on a cotton swab applied to lashes before mascara. The powder will adhere to lashes and give the appearance of a thicker, fuller lashline.
Seeing beauty tips on Pinterest and actually finding ones that work are two different things. Each of these tips has worked wonderfully for me, as I hope they will do for anyone else who tries them.