You may opt for the natural, no makeup look, but that doesn’t mean that you are off the hook as far as beauty and grooming routines are concerned. Even if your makeup kit includes no makeup at all, there are essential tools that should be included.
Whether you wear no makeup or never leave the house without applying your full “face,” hair care, nail care, facial care are essential elements of a polished put-together appearance. Here are 10 beauty tools that every woman should have.
1. Natural bristle hair brush
Your grandmother’s advice to brush your hair one hundred strokes every night may not actually apply, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need a good hairbrush. The extra dollars that you spend on a top quality hairbrush constitute a good investment.
Natural bristles are gentler on your hair than artificial bristles. Brushing with a natural bristle brush means that your hair is less prone to breakage and split ends.
2. Round hair brush
Round hair brushes are a hair styling staple. Nearly every professional stylist uses round brushes while they shape and style your hair.
You can use a round brush to create a flip or a wave for straight hair. On the other hand, round hair brushes can also gently straighten curly or wavy hair, especially when paired with a blow dryer.
Since I have a long hair, I need different kinds of hair brushes to care for my hair and create different styles. A round hair brush is my favorite one since it always helps me create an elegant hairstyle in a jiff.
3. Blow dryer or hair dryer
If you have the patience, sitting under an old-school hair dryer is one of the best ways to set long-lasting curls. If patience isn’t your long suit, an ionic or tourmaline blow dryer produces less heat damage while producing smoother, shinier hair. A round hair brush and a blow dryer can produce sleek, polished hair styles for almost any hair texture.
4. Makeup brushes
Proper makeup application is nearly as important as choosing the right makeup in the first place. It is worth the investment to purchase a high-quality set of makeup brushes.
A basic makeup brush kit includes a narrow brush for eyeliner, broad brushes for eye shadow and blush and a brush with an angled tip for your lips. Proper maintenance through thorough washing is essential to ensure the best possible cover and prevent potential infection from bacteria that lurk in dirty brushes.
5. Tweezers
Even if you opt to wax excess hair from your brows and bikini line, tweezers are ideal to pluck strays that happen to emerge. It is not advisable to attempt to dislodge an ingrown hair trapped beneath the skin surface. However, using tweezers to remove partially exposed ingrown hairs, especially around the brow line is totally fine if done carefully.
6. Emery board, cuticle clipper, nail file and buffer
Regardless of whether you have a full manicure and pedicure every week or prefer to go au naturel, grooming your nails and cuticles is a must to avoid painful ingrown nails, split, bleeding cuticles and other unpleasant conditions. To maintain your nails and cuticles, your grooming kit should include – at the very minimum – an emery board, nail file, buffer and cuticle clipper. Maintaining your nails will give your hands a cultured appearance, with or without nail color.
7. Curling iron or flat iron
Even if your hair has a very tight curl pattern, a curling iron or flat iron can help smooth the hair along your temples. For women with looser curls, a curling iron can produce regular curls with body and bounce.
If your hair is stick straight and won’t take a real curl, a curling iron can still add body and a slight wave to your hair. Many curling irons have interchangeable barrels of different sizes to suit hair of all lengths.
8. Cotton swabs and cotton balls
Completely removing your makeup before retiring for the evening is essential to prevent clogged pores and possible breakouts. The best way to remove makeup from your delicate eye area is with cotton balls soaked in makeup remover.
Cotton swabs are ideal for whisking away stray drops of nail polish or lipstick. I always have cotton swabs and cotton balls in my makeup bag and purse just in case.
9. Hair clips, headbands and barrettes
Bad hair days seem always to occur when you’re in a hurry or when you really need your hair to look good. Having an array of pretty hair clips, headbands and barrettes on hand to pull back unruly locks can mean the difference between getting out the door in a timely manner and fussing vainly in front of the mirror while precious minutes tick away. You can use these hair accessories regardless of whether your hair is long or short.
10. Loofah sponge or pumice stone
As your largest organ, your skin renews itself on a regular basis by shedding dead skin cells and replacing them with new cells. Exfoliation aids the process by accelerating the removal of dead skin cells that may otherwise bind with bacteria and clog your pores.
Scrubbing with a loofah sponge in the bath or shower is an ideal way to remove dead skin from your entire body. Gently rubbing heels with a pumice stone either before or after a shower or bath can remove dry cracked skin. Don’t forget to use your moisturizer after exfoliation.
Nowadays there are a wide variety of beauty tools, but the truth is that we don’t need them all. I think a few beauty tools will be enough to look beautiful each day. The tools mentioned above are my favorite ones that I use almost every day.
What are your favorite beauty tools? Share your thoughts in the comments section, please.
