Badchica's Beauty Trix

Your face

To exfoliate

• first wash the face with warm water and a mild soap. Rinse with with warm water.
• Combine baby oil and brown sugar to make an exfoliant. Rub the mixture into your face in circular motions until you can no longer feel the sugar. Be careful not to let any drip.
• Rinse with hot water and rub lemon juice into the face (avoid your eyes).
• Rinse with cold water to close your pores. Dont forget to mosturise, nothing harsh or expensive, any lotion should do. Voila! A soft, Radiant face!

Keep those pores tiny

We've all seen those people with skin that looks 150 years old. Thats because your skin loses elasticity. Not only due to age but UV rays, the chemicals in many cleaning and beauty products, make-ups and a number of other factors.

• To keep your pores closed and seal in your natural oils wash and rinse your face with cold water before bed every night.
• The water should be as cold as you can handle.

Face masks

We should all try to go natural as manufactered products contain chemicals we cant even pronounce! We have no idea what their long term effects would be.

• A face mask is not difficult to make. One of my favourites is the cinnamon and honey mask. The cinnamon and honey gives your skin the most beautiful tan tint.
• A grainy face mask also serves as exfoliant.
• Oily face? A bit of baby powder rubbed in soaks up unwelcome oils and doubles as "foundation" that doesnt cover up too much of your natural tint.

Eyebrows

Tweezing and shaping your eyebrows can be a harrowing experience at best. To make it a bit easier here are some tips to help you along.

• Before tweezing wash your face in warm water or, better yet, tweez in the bath (in front of a mirror of-course). The warmth opens your pores so that the hairs are released easier. do not use ice. Remember tightens pores, warm opens pores.
• Draw the shape you want with an eyebrow pencil in a colour that would be visible on your skin and under your hairs. The shape should be the same shape as your eyes or one that compliments your eyes. This way you can be sure that they will match your face. Remember your were created unique and everything Is symmetric.
• Tweez with the grain.
• When measuring, take your eyepencil or tweezer and line it up with the outer corner of your lips and the outer corner of your nose. This is how far in your eyebrow should be.* Anything inbetween the these points of each brow is the beginnings of unibrow. Tweez it!
• Taking your pencil or tweezer from the outer corner of your lips to the outer corner of your eye will indicate how far out the brow should be. *
• Dont forget to tidy up between your hairline and eyebrow. Do not tweez clumps of hair from the top of your brow. Just pluck out the unrulies.

Your hair

• Wash and condition your hair just before styling.
• Comb the conditioner through your hair with a wide-toothed comb. Dont over-do it since combing wet hair causes breakage.
• Allow the conditioner to set but don't allow it to dry in your hair.
• Rinse with cold water to promote a healthy gloss.
• Dont wash your hair too often as the hot water and chemicals strip the hair of its natural healthy oils.

Make-up

I only use eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss. Heavy make-up, no matter how stunning it makes you look, is always the enemy. It dries out your skin and sinks into your pores streching them out and leaving your skin sometimes permanently damaged. This leaves you with no other option than to buy more highly priced products. In order to keep your skin beautiful all you need to do is take care of it and know which products to use and which not to. I can help with which to use.

Mascara

• Try using the double whammy kind. These come with lengthening gel on one end and thickening black on the other. This gives the illusion that your lashes are thicker and darker than they really are. (p.s the gel, applied with the wand, also works wonders for stray pieces of hair)
• When your mascara dries out, put some boiling water into the tube and shake to dislodge and dissolve dried clumps. Just a few drops with a medicine dropper should do the trick.*

Eyeliner

• Liquid eyeliners are good if you know how to use them. Just a line on your bottom lid and top lid can make small eyes look larger.
• I prefer natural as Im sure you have come to notice. I use Kohl. Ground from natural rescources, its thick and very black. Its a natural product that ancient Nomadic woman used to protect their eyes from sand and dust. It was also said to promote eyesight throughout the ageing process. It gives a beautiful mystery to your eyes making you utterly irresistable.
• Removing eye makeup - Baby wet wipes do the trick here. I wouldnt be able to tell you how to remove foundation since I dont use it.

Lip gloss

• Lip gloss!! I love Lip gloss! A thick gloss with a bit of a tint is a great best friend. If you use a lipstick that is particularly powdery and doesnt make your lips look to friendly try dabbing some lipgloss over it. If the tint of the gloss doesnt compliment the colour of your lipstick try using vaseline.
• Instead of using difficult-to-apply-and-blend eyeshadow use a generous application of tinted and/or shimmer lip-gloss to each eye lid. Its absolutely amazing! It looks like well blended eye shadow.
• In short go out and get different shades and types of gloss to replace your lipstick and eyeshadow. It doesnt have to be expensive at all.

Your feet

Your feet should be pampered! They carry you through life and see you through much. Here are some ways to thank them.

• Soak your feet every night before bed in hot water hair shampoo. This leaves them soft and ready to exfoliate. The hot water does strip the natural oils of your feet and leave them dry and this is why you must mosturise afterward.
• To exfoliate your feet the baby oil and brown sugar exfoliator outlined above will do. Follow the same instructions as for your face.
• To leave your feet looking irresistable use the cinnamon and honey face mask.
• Soak your feet in cold water and vinegar the night before an event to which you will be wearing shoes that reveal your feet. Your feet will be soft and supple for 24 hours after that. They will not be any worse after 24 hours.
• Sleep barefoot if its warm enough. Socks promote smelly feet. Those babies need to breathe.
• What causes in-growns? Clipping your toenails (or fingernails) into a semi circle! Dont do it. Clip them straight.

Your nails

I am unfortunate enough to have to use fake nails. Ive done my own manicures since I was in High School. I know a bit about the upkeep of natural nails.

• Firstly, invest in an emery board (an emery board is a double-sided nail file and buffer); clear nail polish; translucent natural pink nail polish; pearl white nail polish (pearl because you dont wat your manny looking like you've used white-out); vitamin E enriched nail polish remover.
• Buff your nails until smooth once a week, whether you do them or not. Dont get over-zealous and buff your nails off, I gaurantee that will hurt! Always buff before a nail job. Buffing brings out the shine in your nails and keeps them healthy and clean.
• When using fake nails, I advise using a full nail instead of a tip. A full nail is easier to pass of as real.
• Do your nails yourself. Its really not that difficult and it saves tons of cash!

To do your own nails:

• Buy the training packs. These are packs made up for training manicurists. They come in packs of 100 and are not expensive. Buy the clear full nails. Some come pre-manicured. You can start with those.
• Pick out the nails that most closely fit your natural nail bed or even a little smaller. If you fit smaller nails you can file them thin at the edges to blend with your nail. Do not fit tighter nails as those will split or pop off easier.
• If the nails available are too big, file them down at the edges, evenly on both sides, to fit your nailbed.
• Before applying the nail use it to loosen and lift the cuticle.
• When the nails all fit your nailbed perfectly and your cuticles have been lifted, apply a drop of nail glue to the bottom most part of the nail. This is the part that will stick to your nail. Do not apply too much glue as it will become thick when dried and your nail will not keep for long.
• When applying the nail, before the part with the glue touches your nail, make sure that the nail is firmly under your cuticle.
• Press the naildown from the bottom up to allow all the air to escape. Hold the nail down for 30 seconds.
• Once all the nails are applied, you may start with the manicure. Before painting make sure to clip and file the nails down to the desired length.
• Paint the white nail polish (or a colour of your choice. I have found red tips to be a very bold and funky colour for a tip) onto the tip of the nail from left to right/right to left. The tip is the part from the top of the nail to the tip of your finger, no more and no less.
• If neccesary, apply a second coat to the tip once the first is dry. Once the tip has dried, paint over the nail clean strokes of clear nail polish or translucent pink for a more natural and delicate look.
• Once the clear has dried your manicure is done. Do not apply more than one layer of clear as this takes away from the natural look of the nails.
• Do not use nail polish remover one your fake nails as this will degrade the nail.

Tips for drying nail polish

• When the nail polish is soft but not wet, put them under slowly running cold water for a while. Don't let the water run directly on the nail but more down your fingers and off the nail. flick your hands dry instead of rubbing on a towel.
• If the nail polish does not set i.e remains softish, rub them on your tongue and then on the area between your chin and bottom lip. Not too hard or they may smudge.

My top two tips to finish.

MOISTURISE!!! Hands should be moisturised after every wash. Feet, face and hands should be moisturised every night before bed to promote elasticity and youthfullness. The body should be moisturised after every bath, everyday.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER! At least 2l a day. The benefits are innumerable. Weight management, skin health, detox, etc.

If anyone finds any of what I've written to be less than factual please let me know! Most of these tricks I picked up by trial and error all the way back to high school. Remember, you are beautiful even when you wake up with crazy hair and morning breath!

Thank you for indulging me and Bright Blessings.