Time is running out
Don’t forget to apply sunblock or you’ll get wrinkles! Don’t rub your eyes or your eyelids will become droopy! Drink more water! These are just a few of the many pieces of anti-aging advice our mothers, grandmothers – and possibly every one of our older female relatives – have given us.
As grating as they are on the ears, these words of caution can’t ring any truer. According to dermatologists, pre-aging begins the minute you enter your late 20s to mid-30s, and your skincare regime during this period is crucial to how gracefully you’ll age in the future.
At this stage, looking into a mirror might already have you noticing the formation of ‘crow’s feet’ around your eyes, pigmentation from sun damage, or worse – varicose veins. The horror! It’s high time those of us hitting the precarious age of 25 and above start taking better care of ourselves.
As always, all these things are easier said than done. I too understand the pains of sticking to a 20 minute beauty regimen when you’re surviving on just 6 hours of sleep. Concocting a homemade DIY scrub or face mask from scratch? That is much too tiring a task to complete, and ain’t nobody got time for that.
But who says maintaining beautiful skin has to be painfully time consuming? Here are 10 effortless beauty hacks that will take less than a minute of your time, but leave you looking like you live off facials!
1. Use Coconut Oil For EVERYTHING
Coconut oil will be your one-stop solution for anything and everything. You can use it as a replacement for shaving cream, a makeup remover, or to thoroughly moisturise any part of your body! Hands, lips, hair, cuticles – just name it, and somehow coconut oil will fit right into the equation. It promises to do the job and do it well.
Coconut oil has antifungal properties and is bursting with antioxidants, which is derived from its saturated fats. And we all know how anything with antioxidants is good for your skin and hair. It’s also naturally antibacterial, and did I mention moisturising?
Simply put a dollop of coconut oil under your eyes at night before bed and watch the magic happen. You’ll wake up hydrated skin and with marginally less lines around those eyes.
Make sure you buy virgin coconut oil – this means that it has not been refined and is thus absent of all those nasty chemicals. It can be easily purchased from organic stores, online, or even Mustafa at only $8 for a 500ml bottle!
2. Coat your cracked heel with Vaseline and put a sock on it
Cracked heels with peeling, flaky skin is neither an appealing sight, nor is it comfortable. Even if you’re constantly slapping on layer upon layer of moisturiser, our feet are commonly neglected plainly because they’re the most inconvenient to moisturise.
Nobody wants to have to walk all over the place with freshly moisturised feet, leaving a ‘gucky’ trail of footsteps wherever you go. Not until it’s too late. The skin on these trotters is usually drier than other parts of the body because they don’t have any oil glands. As we age, this problem worsens with the reduction in elasticity and moisture content in our skin.
I’ve experimented with a whole range of body lotions but none have conquered the parched desert that is my heels – until this.
Since nature isn’t doing its job, all you need to resolve this headache, is a little Vaseline. Petroleum jelly is recommended for extremely dry skin because it softens and smoothes skin, and helps it lock in moisture and replace oils. Before snoozing, smear Vaseline all over your cracked feet and pull up them socks. You’ll wake up with smooth, baby soft feet!
3. Repurpose for face masks for your very own neck treatments
Fan Bing Bing uses at least two face mask packs a day to maintain her porcelain complexion. While you may think that’s overdoing it a little, more of antioxidants and all that other goodness won’t hurt.
When it comes to face masks, most people just slap the mask on their face and call it a day, but there’s no rule that says that your neck has to go dry and neglected. Although the shape may not fit perfectly, fold it in half and plop it on your neck. Inexpensive, readily available, and easy – you won’t have to blow hundred of dollars on facials that hardly give your neck and decolletage any attention.
Slather the leftover nutrient-enriched liquid all over your neck to keep saggy skin at bay – you don’t want folds of loose skin hanging from your neck like a turkey.
4. Give your skin care products the cold treatment
Think of it as a simple science. Heat expands, and cold contracts. Once you’ve got this down, you’ll understand why beauty experts always recommend storing your skincare essentials like your toner, moisturiser and eye creams in the fridge.
Doing so transform your everyday beauty products into a cold compress that’ll work to tighten your pores and calm, and soothe your tired skin. This is especially effective in Singapore’s sweltering heat. The coolness will instantly de-puff your eyes!
5. Pimp your normal drinking water with a few slices of this power fruit
Of all the superfoods out there, Lemon has to be one of the most underrated of the lot. For something you can just pick up for less than a dollar at your neighbourhood supermarket, you’ll be surprised at just how many benefits infusing just a few slices of lemon in your drinking water will bring you.
This citrus fruit helps with detoxing, strengthening your immune system, preventing premature aging… the list goes on. If you were to catalogue the pros of drinking lemon water, it’d probably span more than two A4 pages.
Most importantly, all the vitamin C within lemons help to assist in the production of collagen, so drinking lemon water all day every day will prevent those dreaded wrinkles from etching themselves into your face.
But do make sure that the water is room temperature. Cold water will negate the whole list of health benefits that drinking lemon water has, and all your hard work will be for naught!
6. Drink, tone, and shampoo with Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar is another one of those annoying all-rounded achievers. There isn’t much this acidic substance can’t do – it can be used for hair, skin care, weight loss and has a bevy of other health benefits such as aiding in digestion.
Once or twice a week, douse your mane with a cup of apple cider vinegar after you shampoo it. This will help to balance your hair and scalp pH, treat dry itchy scalps, detangle those stubborn intertwined locks, and encourage hair growth. Oh, and it’ll also seal the hair cuticles, making your hair smoother and shinier.
You can even opt to replace your current under-performing toner with this bad boy, which will help to keep those wrinkles at bay. Soak a cotton pad in diluted apple cider vinegar (2 parts distilled water to 1 part apple cider vinegar) and dab on your skin after washing your face.
Or if you’re not keen on either of the two, why not consume it instead? Simply dilute one tablespoon of apple cider in a glass of water and chug it down 15 minutes before each meal. This is said to improve your digestion, boost your metabolism, and will curb your hunger pangs as well – and all these usually equates to weight loss. Woohoo!
When shopping for your apple cider vinegar, shun refined ones and only opt for brands that state their vinegar is “From the Mother”. Mother refers to a combination of proteins, enzymes, and bacteria that’ll ensure you reap all the touted benefits apple cider vinegar have to offer.
7. Use cold spoons to de-puff your eyes
So many of us blow a sizeable fraction of our paychecks every month on fancy eye masks that often don’t do anything for them severe panda eyes. Two cold spoons can sometimes do the job so much better.
For a clean, and not to mention FREE alternative, all you need to do is put 2 metal spoons into the fridge overnight and place their backs on the area under your eyes the next day before you apply your makeup for a speedy session of skin tightening. They’re the perfect size and shape too – almost like they were made for this all along instead of aiding food consumption.
Massaging the area with these icy spoons constricts the blood vessels and reduces swelling, instantly de-puffing your eye bags.
8. Stay hydrated with an hourly spritz of mineral mist all over your face
Feel like your skin is getting tight and dry from the constant blast of cold air from the A/C in your Antarctica of an office?
Mineral mists are a great pick-me-up in the midst of a hectic work day. They moisturise and refresh tired dull skin, which is essential because collagen breaks down when the moisture in your skin is depleted. And when collagen breaks down, things ain’t gonna be pretty (i.e. wrinkles).
If there’s one thing every girl – or guy – should make an effort to carry in their bag, it’s mineral mists. A light spritz on your face every now and then will leave you with a dewy complexion all day long!
9. Create your own homemade humidifier with just a wet towel
Why buy a snazzy, expensive humidifier when a piece of cloth can essentially do the same thing? A humidifier increases the humidity in a certain area by pumping water vapor into the air. If you think about it, a damp towel will do just the trick.
Wring out a wet towel till water droplets no longer freely fall from every one of its four corners, and hang it on the doorknob, a clothes hanger, or anything you can find. Leave it out overnight, and the evaporation of the water will add moisture to the air, keeping your skin from drying itself out – especially when you’ve got the A/C turned up on full blast the whole night long.
10. Get your collagen fix in the form of a drink
Saggy and wrinkled skin has got to be on the top of every woman’s list of fears surrounding aging. In order to combat the evil forces of time that insist we transform into shriveled-up raisins, collagen is needed for the renewal of skin cells and firm, supple skin.
However, the amount of collagen in the body decreases drastically after the age of 25 and this loss is responsible for your dull and lackluster complexion. You can schedule facials every other week, but there’s only so much one can do to stem signs of ageing on the outside. Something has to be done from within.
With just a pop of this Laneige Collagen Drink, you’ll be able to get the necessary daily dose of collagen to upkeep your soft and supple skin, but with minimal effort. Each bottle contains collagen sourced from a whole tilapia fish – that’s the amount of collagen that is metabolised by the body in a day, and therefore how much that needs to be replenished.
The result? Healthy and well-hydrated skin, which gives you a luminous glow and easily makes you the most radiant one in the room.
Simple and convenient, this beauty hack will take less than a minute. Drink a bottle a day, to keep the wrinkles away.
Start now and look fabulous even when you’re 50
When we still have full heads of hair and taut dewy skin, it’s easy to disregard taking proper care of our bodies. I myself am guilty of forgoing that sticky substance called sunblock one too many a time.
However, when all your friends are slowly but surely metamorphosing into wrinkly old prunes, and you’re the only one still looking fresh and sprightly, you’ll be thankful that 30 years back, you read this article.
Change doesn’t have to be drastic or dramatic. Small tweaks to your daily routine can make a big difference in your skin and life. Likewise, beauty doesn’t necessarily have to go hand in hand with age. If you make a conscious effort to take good care of your skin, you can be 50 and still gorgeous.
Priced at $52 for 10 bottles, LANEIGE Collagen Drink will be available from 31 March 2015, exclusively at all LANEIGE boutiques.
This post was brought to you by LANEIGE
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