A couple of days ago, I was talking with some of my friends and the topic of “at home beauty tips” came up in conversation.  Some of the different pointers that my girlfriends offered up I tried and have been really helpful and so I’ve decided to share them here with our Lovelyish readers!

 

1.) When my lips are slightly chapped I hate to put my lip tint on because I think it makes my cracked lips look worse!  Yet one way to fix this problem is to take a standard toothbrush and brush the dead flakes off.  You want to be gentle because if you scrub too hard it can irritate your lips, but the end result is great and my lips feel so soft.  It even gives them a very natural reddish-pinkish look so you can go without tint, gloss or lipstick after brushing!

2.) If your face is especially dry this winter, you can make an all-natural orange-yogurt face mask to moisturize and cool your skin.  The combination is very simple and includes one cup of vanilla yogurt with juice from one-fourth of an orange squeezed into the yogurt.  Mix the two well and lather it on your face leaving it for ten minutes.  Your skin will feel smooth and will have a lovely vanilla-citrus scent.

3.) I know that sometimes I don’t put body lotion on after a shower because I don’t like to put the uncomfortably cold salve on after being so warm.  Yet one of my friends told me that she likes to leave her lotion on top of a heater or radiator while in the shower so that when she gets out the moisturizer is warm and easier to spread over her dry knees and elbows.  I tried this trick and it works great but since the lotion does get warm and liquid-y, you have to be careful to not squeeze it out of the tube too hard and get it everywhere (like I did).

(St. Ives is my favorite moisturizer…very cheap, very soothing!)

4.) If you’re like me though, and no amount of emollient seems to help the super dry areas of your skin, you might want to try this trick instead of using excessive moisturizer: take a citric fruit, like a lemon, and rub it over the dry parts.  The acid breaks up the cracked, flaky bits and leaves behind soft skin.  I really like to use a lemon wedge on my hip bones which get really dry and red after my jeans rub them all day long.

5.) This final pointer might be really helpful if you’ve broken up with a boyfriend or seen a really sad movie lately.  To relieve puffy, red eyes, just dab a bit of olive oil around them.  It will help reduce the swollen look that you can tend to get after crying.

I hope some of these tips help you Lovelies out!  Any other suggestions for cheap, at home beauty remedies??