Beauty Quips: The Blog

Your Signature Look Doesn't Need a Seasonal Makeover Three simple ways to refresh your makeup for fall without giving up what already works. Every fall, we're told it's time to change our makeup. New colors. New trends. New products. New everything. But what if you already love the way you do your makeup? Do you really need to start over just because the leaves are changing? I've been a beauty advisor since 2009, and I've watched plenty of trends come and go. Some I've enjoyed experimenting with. Others I've been perfectly happy to admire from a distance. And somewhere along the way, I've learned something important. Having a signature beauty look doesn't mean you're stuck in a rut. It means you've figured out what works for you. There's a difference. My Berry Eyeshadow Doesn't Know It's October And frankly, I see no reason to tell it. If you've been following Beauty Quips for a while, you probably know that I love eye makeup....

THE BEAUTY INVESTMENT: WHY COST PER USE MATTERS MORE THAN THE PRICE TAG I used to think a beauty “investment” meant one thing: expensive. You know the kind of product. Beautiful packaging. Fancy name. A price tag that makes you hesitate before clicking Add to Cart. But the longer I’ve been around beauty, the less I believe price tells us much about value. Recently, I bought a Madamua Detox Oxygen Cream on Amazon for less than $4. I wasn’t expecting much at that price, but it surprised me. My skin felt hydrated and soft, I liked the texture, and my skin still felt good the next morning. And the packaging? It looks nicer than products I’ve seen costing five times as much. Then I picked up a package of Intense Repair Nail + Cuticle Masks at Dollar General for around $2. I’ve only used them once, so I’m certainly not ready to call them a miracle treatment. But after that one use, my cuticles looked noticeably less ragged. Two dollars well spent. At the other end of my bathroom are my Eart...

How to Make Your Beauty Routine Easier Without Cutting Corners There is a difference between simplifying your beauty routine and simply doing less. I think that's an important distinction. Because most of us don't wake up in the morning thinking, I wish I had more steps to get ready today. We want to look put together. We want to feel good. We want our routine to work. We just don't necessarily want it to take forever. And that's where a good beauty shortcut comes in. The Best Beauty Shortcut Is the One That Actually Works for You I've become a big believer in having a few beauty routines that I don't have to think too hard about. My favorite is my five-minute face. It's not meant to be a complete makeup routine. It's the handful of things that make me feel like I've done enough to look like myself when I don't have a lot of time. And I think that's the secret. Your five-minute face doesn't have to look like mine. Maybe yours is mascara, ...

There comes a point when your beauty routine needs a little editing. Not necessarily because something is wrong with it. Maybe you simply have too much. Too many products you bought because everyone was talking about them. Too many things you meant to try. Too many half-used bottles and tubes taking up space because you keep thinking, “I should really use that.” And then there are the products you reach for without thinking. The ones you replace when they run out. The ones you would notice if they disappeared tomorrow. Those are the keepers. After spending some time figuring out what actually works for you, the next question is a pretty natural one: What is actually worth keeping? And I'm not just talking about decluttering your bathroom cabinet. I'm talking about building a beauty routine that earns its place in your real life. Start With What You Actually Use Here's an easy place to begin. Forget what you own for a minute. What did you actually use this week? Look at your...

The Beauty Routine That Fits Your Life There was a time when I thought a good beauty routine meant doing everything. Cleanser. Toner. Serum. Eye cream. Moisturizer. SPF. Then makeup. Primer. Foundation. Concealer. Powder. Bronzer. Blush. Highlighter. Brows. Eyeshadow. Eyeliner. Mascara. Lips. And somehow, we were supposed to do all of this before breakfast. Somewhere along the way, beauty became less about taking care of ourselves and more about keeping up. New products. New trends. New routines. New “must-haves.” Another expert telling us what we absolutely need to be doing. But here's the thing I've come to believe: A beauty routine isn't successful because it is complicated. It's successful because it works for you.   Your routine should fit your life Maybe you have twenty minutes in the morning. Maybe you have five. Maybe your mornings are peaceful and predictable. Or maybe someone is asking where their shoes are while you're trying to remember whether you'v...

Who Made the Beauty Rules? And what happens when we stop following them? There are a lot of rules in beauty. Some are written on product labels. Some are whispered between friends. Some are handed down from one generation to the next. And some of them? We have absolutely no idea who made them. At some point, many of us learned that certain colors were “too much,” certain hairstyles were “too young,” certain makeup belonged to certain ages, and taking time for ourselves was somehow a luxury we needed to earn. We learned that beautiful meant polished—but not too polished. Natural—but not too natural. Youthful—but apparently not so youthful that anyone thought we were trying too hard. It's exhausting. And maybe it's time we questioned a few of those rules. Who decided shimmer has an expiration date? I'll go first. Why exactly does getting older mean we have to stop having fun with makeup? Sure, our skin changes. Our preferences change. The products that worked beautifully at 2...