Jul 9, 2020
5 Beauty & Self-care Tips for Beginners
What to do as a beginner getting into beauty and self-care
Background Story
Are you seeing these glowy skinned females with the most perfect eyebrows, lips and nose and wonder how you can look like that? They look so perfect. They have the celebrity “pop” effect. They must be born that way, right? It’s all-natural. No, it’s good self-care and makeup enhancing one’s natural features.
I grew up extremely insecure about my physical appearance. In high school, all the boys used to talk to me and wanted to be my friend in order to get to the prettiest girl in our group.
I used to wonder what life would be like to be her. What was it like to get all the boys crushing on you? What was it like to have everyone including the adults like our teachers be super nice to you because they thought you were attractive?
Fast forward years later I experience just that. Of course, puberty hit me too but I’d say it wasn’t puberty entirely that now has me experiencing what she experienced then because of how attractive others think I am. It’s because I learned to take better care of myself and actually started using makeup.
Having experienced both sides of the spectrum I realize sadly appearance does reflect on how people treat you. Now compliments and people’s reaction on my outer appearance gets to the point where it’s greatly appreciated but unhealthy for my ego. I do ego-checks to humble myself.
When I reflect back on those middle school/high school days, I realize the prettiest girl in the group was also the one who wore makeup, wore the best clothes and had the nicest hair. She had older sisters to learn beauty and self-care tips from whereas the rest of us in the group was the eldest sibling.
Nowadays the pressure on young impressionable girls to look perfect is much worse than what I experienced in high school more than 10 years ago. It’s all thanks to social media.
My heart breaks a little when I see man or woman with not the “cleanest” look going for themselves feeling insecure when they compare themselves to another more “cleaned up” person.
When you look good you feel good. Do it for yourself.
5 Beauty Tips for Beginners
[1] Do your hair
Make sure your hair looks good. I hate doing my hair, I have weeks where it’s just a mess but every time I do it, I feel really good. Get a hairstyle that best suits your face.
Experiment with different hairstyles. If you can’t afford it then youtube a bunch of hair cut videos and do it yourself (carefully taking your time). To be honest I haven’t gone to the hair salon in years.
I do my own hair from hair colouring to cutting my own bangs. If you just want to keep your hair as is you can still have nice hair by shampooing and conditioning it regularly and combing it daily.
[2] Proper skin care is crucial
Great skin is the key to looking good without makeup. That and nicely shaped eyebrows. I like to use a lot of natural face oils, serums, eat healthy food and drink 4 L of water to achieve great skin.
The key to looking good without makeup is water in my opinion and lots of it. Clear glowy skin can be achieved through natural means as such. A good moisturizer and/or sunscreen is essential also because the sun’s UV rays are quite harmful to the skin. I use sunscreen daily even during the winter.
To read more on great skin care feel free to read my other related articles:
[3] Wear clothes that suit your body type
Know your body and wear clothes that suit you. You don’t need to buy designer clothes but make sure you wear clean, comfortable clothes. I have no sense of fashion so I myself am learning this.
After moving to Tokyo I realize fashion plays a huge role in our appearance. I have a Pinterest account I occasionally go to look for fashion ideas. I don’t think one needs to do too much. A simple t-shirt, jeans and sneakers as your daily attire when not working are good enough.
If you have no sense of fashion like me find friends or family can help. My sister is really good when it comes to fashion so I go to her. Store associates are also good for fashion advice.
[4] Exercise and eat well
Exercise is really important to not just look good but also feel good. When I was younger I used to be very overweight. I’d hear comments like “you’d look better if you lost weight,” and what do you know they were right.
After I lost weight I saw a huge difference in my appearance and skin. I also felt really good mentally. I was able to move around easily. I still have about 5 to 10 pounds to lose but compared to what I looked like before I’ve made tremendous progress.
You can start exercising by going for short walks daily, dancing in your room or following fitness influencers on social media. Lifting weights and dance are my go-to exercises.
[5] Invest in makeup
Yes, cosmetics really help if you want that “pop” effect. Please ladies if you are reading this don’t fall for a girl’s “no makeup LOOK” and think it’s “no makeup.”
There are a lot of great beauty gurus on Youtube that show you how you can achieve a simple makeup look. I don’t like to buy expensive makeup because I can’t afford it. Instead, I buy affordable drugstore brands after doing my research.
You don’t need a lot of products as you would find in some of these beauty YouTubers’ videos. I really love makeup so I don’t mind collecting a lot of beauty products. However, to start I’d say the essentials are mascara, eyebrow pencil, eyeliner, blush, foundation and lipstick.
Light coverage foundation, BB cream or tinted moisturizer makes a big difference even if you have great skin. Tinted lip balm is also great if you don’t want to use lipstick.
