In 2017, 41 percent of thirty to fifty-nine-year-old Americans couldn’t do without makeup, meaning they wore it every day. During that year, $183 was spent on cosmetics, perfume, and other related products per average American consumer.
For the previous years, women in America have proven to be heavy users of makeup. Many also go after iconic celebrities’ skincare line products in search of achieving that celebrity-like look.
How the Pandemic Changed Women’s Mindset on Beauty
Perhaps you’re one of the many women who never goes out without makeup in the past years. How about now? If there’s one good thing that the pandemic did, it relieved people of societal pressures, especially of appearance.
Many shifted to working from home, going out and interacting less, and the whole time, subconsciously relieved of their need to fit in from society’s beauty standards, although this doesn’t mean they spend less on beauty products.
During the pandemic, women became more comfortable with their bodies and how they presented themselves to others. Makeup products will remain to be a multi-billion dollar industry. So nevertheless, for added confidence, women will still be wearing makeup.
Makeup Should Enhance, Not Damage
There’s nothing wrong with wearing makeup, only when you have bad habits around wearing it. The most common mistakes women make are sleeping with their makeup on, removing makeup the wrong way, among others.
Like everyone, you’ll want healthier-looking, glowing skin. This may be achieved through eating healthily, following the proper skincare routine, and pampering your skin now and then with facial treatments. Also, avoid these makeup habits that do more damage to your skin than good:
1. Going to bed without removing your makeup
On a lazy night, it can really be tempting to skimp on washing your face every night, with makeup on and all. But this may be the biggest culprit to premature aging, clogged pores, acne breakout, dull complexion, and dry or oily skin, so spending a short fifteen minutes of cleansing your face wouldn’t hurt.
Along with makeup, your face accumulates dirt, sebum, and bacteria, which can clog your pores, leading to acne breakout. All these can dry your skin, too, resulting in fine lines and wrinkles. The longer the makeup stays on your face, the more it can damage your skin.
2. Removing makeup the wrong way
When you’re done for the day, it’s not enough to just remove the makeup; you need to do it the right way. And there are so many ways you can make mistakes when removing your makeup.
As much as possible, don’t just rely on cleansing wipes; they only smear the makeup residues, dirt, and bacteria all around the face and tug the skin. Cleansing wipes only remove makeup products that can be removed by water, not those that are only removable with oil.
Using eye makeup removers isn’t a good thing either. They’re made with heavy-duty ingredients like oils and other types of emollients, which are good to apply on your stubborn mascara but not on your entire face.
You don’t rub so harshly too, so how do you remove the makeup overall? Start with the eyes and lips, using a few drops of eye makeup remover for the eyes. Put mild pressure on the eye, not rub, enough to dissolve the makeup, then gently remove the pad.
Next, apply makeup removing solution on a cotton pad, then wipe your face with it in a circular motion. Cleanse twice using a water-based cleanser first, then oil-based. Make sure that every bit of your makeup is removed before you apply your usual nighttime routine.
3. Mixing sunscreen and makeup
Anytime you mix sunscreen and makeup, you change its formula, making it lose its efficacy or even damaging sensitive skin. It’s much better that you use a lightweight foundation to apply over your sunscreen every day.
4. Not washing makeup brushes
At least once every month, or once every week if possible, wash your makeup brushes to remove the accumulated bacteria, oil, and dirt and not have to reapply them to your skin over.
5. Sharing your makeup
When it comes to lipstick, don’t even think of borrowing from your friend. It’s the easiest way to spread bacteria.
6. Not letting the blemishes heal
Your makeup can aggravate any imperfections, so before you put any, be sure to apply your blemish-healing product first.
Final Thoughts
The goal of using makeup is to enhance your beauty and confidence at the moment but not damage your skin over time. Get the best benefit of your makeup by following the proper habits.
