Beauty Secrets I Learnt From My Mum

My Mum will be the first to admit that she's not that hot when it comes to makeup. She's one of those annoying people with pretty much perfect skin, even brows, and big bright eyes, who doesn't need makeup to look good (curse you all!). However, a lot of the beauty products I use and routines I follow all came from her, and they're generally the ones that work!

1. Oil is your friend. I can remember being quite young and before a special occasion, or if our hair was looking a bit run down, my mum, sister and I would get a packet of V05 Hot Oil Treatments, and give our hair a good oiling. Then we'd head out with glossy, swishy hair, ready to take on the night. Now, I tend to reach for Moroccan and Coconut oils, but occasionally I'll pick up  a V05 treatment to reminisce. Now I get to teach her on the oil front, this week I helped her pick out a new facial oil. The student becomes the teacher...


2. Frizz-Ease is a must. As a brood of curly haired girls, I battled the poodle look throughout my childhood and teenage years (thank god for GHD's girls). My mum was the one who got me using the Frizz Ease Serum and Secret Agent Styling creme, taming my wild locks into manageable curls. She maintains that my hair looks better curly, but we may have to agree to disagree on that one...


3. Heat Defence is your friend. My mum is no stranger to the GHD's herself, I still remember the night we excitedly ordered our first pair to share, but she would never let me use them unless I used heat defence first. We ordered the GHD heat protect spray to start with, and then she started replacing my Frizz Ease serum with the version with added heat defence. Now I steer clear of serums, since I find that with daily oil treatments it's too much, but I have bought the Frizz-Ease Heat Protect detangling spray.


4. Witch Hazel kills all spots. I struggled with really bad skin in my early teens, and it totally knocked my confidence for a long time. I tried a lot of things to improve my skin, but always went back to the one that worked best for me, and yup, it was mother-approved. 


5. The more water you drink, the less spotty you are. This is one I do struggle with, mostly because if I drink enough water to keep my skin in check, I spend most of the day peeing, but she was right, my skin is always clearer when I've been drinking enough water!


6. There's nothing wrong with a homeopathic remedy. From the fizzy can of Arnica we had for mosquito bites, to the Rescue Remedy we downed before getting on a plane, I don't think I'd have tried any of that 'mumbo-jumbo' if it wasn't for my mum insisting it worked!


7. SPF always. I used to get so annoyed when my mum would smear SPF on my face as a child, but now I have to thank her! My milk bottle complexion means I tend not to tan, just burn like nobody's business, and now my morning moisturiser always has to have an SPF of at least 20 in it!