New Year Beauty Resolutions!

New Year Resolutions. We all make them, we all break them. But to end this year’s blogging on 5pm Health and Beauty, I decided to share some New Year BEAUTY Resolutions which I will be trying to keep – and I hope you will too!

1. DON’T GO TO BED WITH YOUR MAKEUP ON!

We’ll probably all break this one, but do try and take your make up off before you go to bed. It helps if you have a cleansing routine you love and a good night cream. I’ll be using mainly Emma Hardie’s Moringa Balm Cleanser this year, and my new bedtime potion of choice is the brand new Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask, which is online now and in stores in January.

2. CHECK YOUR SELL-BY DATES

How many of you are using products that are out of date? Once past their sell-by date, your favourite products are pretty ineffective, and things like mascara etc, will have dried up, and aren’t overly hygienic to keep using . It’s easy to know when they run out – some have use by dates on them, others have the little open-jar symbol, which I have highlighted in this picture below – my favourite Clarins HydraQuench Rich Cream Moisturiser is fine for 12 months after opening…I’m pretty sure I’ll get through it in around six. To help you remember when the time is up, when you open a new product, write on it with a CD marker pen, or mark a calendar.

3. CLEAN OUT YOUR MAKEUP BAG

In fact, go one step further, and invest in a new one for a new year, if you haven’t got one as a Christmas gift. Then, when you decant old into new, throw out those bits of eyeliner pencil, completely finished lipsticks and smashed eyeshadows. Yuk! How can you make yourself look gorgeous out of a mess of a bag like that? Be brutal and bin all the makeup you don’t use. Clean out your makeup drawers, check those dates again, and stop holding on to that lipstick that’s done, and the bits of eyeshadow you have stored in a tiny plastic tub because you love the colour so much, but never actually use it. (Who would do such a thing…?!)

4. CLEAN YOUR BRUSHES

Bacteria with your blusher? That’s a good look. Er, well, no, it’s not. But it is what happens when you don’t clean your makeup brushes. This is the number one naughty ladies, so sort it out! I have never seen such disgusting things as some of my friends’ bronzer brushes, or eyebrow brushes.  Disgusting doesn’t describe it. You should clean your makeup brushes every two to four weeks, depending on usage, and you should clean them in a product made for that job – try Clinique’s Makeup Brush Cleanser for cleaner, healthier application!

5. DON’T SCRIMP ON SUNSCREEN AND STOP USING SUNBEDS

Yes, yes, yes, I know, we haven’t seen the sun for weeks now it seems, and S.A.D is kicking in. But, in Scotland we have a complex relationship with the sun. We are lacking in the natural goodies from sunlight, Vitamin D, but that doesn’t mean we can just wander about in it when the big yellow thing finally burns bright and hot. We are, as a nation, generally fair-skinned. We don’t produce a lot of melanin, which makes our skin darker, and when the sun shines we burn, and we have ridiculously high figures of skin cancer in this country.  Government figures in Scotland showed a 62.8 per cent increase in malignant melanoma between 2000 and 2010. That’s shocking. So, PLEASE, don’t use sunbeds, and use a good sunscreen when exposed to the UVB and UVA rays – the latter are the ones that age us, and that’s no fun either.  Boots do a brilliant range of suncreams, and surely St Tropez or Fake Bake are better than sunburn and cancer? Or why not just try embracing the skin you’re in? Works for me.

6. CHANGE YOUR MAKEUP ROUTINE!

This one is definitely one that I will really struggle to keep. As a constant red-lipstick wearer, I have decided this year to have one day a week when I wear a different lip colour. I’m not going to suddenly start embracing nude, but I’m thinking a pink or an orange is a good place to start! Most of us are stuck completely in a rut when it comes to our makeup./ If you have no clue where to start with a new routine, why not head to a counter, and ask them to give you some advice. Illamasqua is one of the boldest makeup ranges on the market, and a makeover there will give you a whole new perspective! Or, if you want to change, but still play it a little bit safe, Bobbi Brown counters do excellent consultations. Go on, you might even like it!

So, that’s  my New Year Beauty Resolution list, hope you join me in trying to keep them – or even just one of them! Happy New Year when it comes – see you in 2013!