Friday 11 December 2015

Beauty Advice for my Teenage Self


While I was in work the other day a bunch of girls came into the shop and started swatching the lipsticks and the palettes and seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They all had on eyeliner flicks on fleek, perfect contours and some Kylie Jenner-esque liplining going on (MAC Diva was a definite favourite). 

When I got chatting to them I found out that they were thirteen. THIRTEEN!!! And had only just been their birthday. 

I nearly died. I suddenly felt ancient, like the fucking crypt keeper. And just a little bit ugly... I was most definitely not looking like that at 13 (or now, just saying).

Then I got thinking about how none of the girls in this generation seem to go through that ugly, awkward phase. You know, with the pictures they’ll look back on in 20 years and cringe SO MUCH. Mine are currently lost in the Bebo abyss and can bloody well stay there thank you very much.


Beauty advice is so accessible these days in a way that it wasn’t when I was a wee tween, so if I could go back and give myself a couple of snippets of beauty advice I definitely would. Here are some of the things I wish I had someone to tell me...

 

Get a damn skin care routine, girl! Simple face wipes that I often RE-USED (the thrifty little bugger that I was) followed by a slathering of moisturiser is not, I REPEAT, is not adequate skin care. I suppose I was lucky that despite this, I generally had fairly good skin. But I cringe at how long I walked down this dark path…

Step away from the eyeliner. Ok, you may not know this but I was a little on the gothic side in my teenage days. I.e. I was an “emo kid” (nonconforming as can be... fellow emos can I get a hell yea??) CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE AF. So, obviously, I couldn’t get enough of the black eyeliner. Gigantic flicks, panda eyes, eyeliner “art work”, you name it. Of course I’m still more than a little partial to a slick of eyeliner and a pretty flick, but 15 year old Teri – know your limits!

While you’re at it, put down the tweezers, too. I’ve got my dads brows. Thanks genetics. They are dark, coarse and there are a lot of them. Now I’m somewhat thankful as it allows me to pull of the strong brow look with ease, but when I was younger… Let’s just say I wasn’t a fan. All teenagers have some brow horror story (my sister shaved a large proportion of hers off and it took about 10 years for them to look okay again), mine aren’t as bad as others, but I would definitely tell me to embrace the bold brows and not worry about them as much. If only Cara had been around during these eyebrow meltdowns.

Never buy Dream Matte Mousse. It’s just not okay, it’s really not. Anyone who didn’t go through a phase of having a 3-shades-too-dark, cakey face, I truly applaud you. And slightly hate you. This period of my life didn’t last long thank god, but now I would urge young Teri to never let it happen in the first place. Period.

DON’T CUT YOUR OWN FRINGE. Do I even need to say more? Due to hair dresser trauma I never let a hair dresser near my hair for very long time, so I trimmed my own fringe and did a bloody awful job of it. Hair dressers aren’t evil, back away from the scissors.

Don’t try to trim a false lash strip while on your eye. Surely this is self-explanatory, I hear you cry. WHAT IDIOT WOULD DO THIS? *This girl* At the tender age of 15 I thought lining up the strip on my lash line and trimming was a fine idea. It’s not, FYI. And I cut my inner corner lashes in the process. Which took forever to grow back.

You look okay really. Do most girls look back at their teenage years and remember not feeling as pretty or cool as everyone else? Well wearing loads of (utterly shit) make up won’t change that, and really, you look completely fine without it because that’s yourself and I wish I’d had a bit more confidence in that.

PLEASE tell me what you would tell your teenage self. Share your horror stories...


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10 comments

  1. This is amazing! Haha. I'd have to say to myself just because all those girls wear 20 layers of makeup doesn't mean you have to - you're fine just the way you are.
    Shona x

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  2. Thank you :-) that's so true! I don't envy the girls of this generation, they're going to have it harder than us, I think.

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  3. Do NOT even get me started on that bloody Dream Matte Mousse, what a disaster haha! (I can't believe it's still being sold either)
    In a way I'm glad we had that stage of awful make up because it's bloody funny to look back on and makes for good reading, e.g. this blog post. ;) x

    Kathryn | Chapters of Kat

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  4. Skincare routine is so important. I have never tried dream matte mousse but it sounds awful! Isn't it still being sold today?!

    http://thriftyvintagefashion.blogspot.co.uk

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  5. Step away from the eye-liner is so relevant to my life! I can not believe how much I used to wear!
    Love the babytard gif :)
    www.laurcaud.co.uk

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  6. I was giggling the whole way through this post because it's just SO BLOODY ACCURATE!! Omg I had the biggest panda black eyes, cake face (thanks dream matte mousse), brows that started past the middle of my eyes and a badly cut fringe😂 I cannot believe how things have evolved for young girls now! Such a great post my love !! definitely always good to look back on and giggle!
    Saira
    www.throughtheglitterglass.wordpress.com
    xo

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  7. Can relate to nearly all of these! My skincare routine also used to consist of reusing makeup wipes and a bit of moisturiser, great post :) xx
    www.chasingbelle23.blogspot.co.uk

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  8. Dream Matte Mousse was such a bad idea - at least we've all moved on to better things, like Mac!

    Holly | www.thekittyluxe.com

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  9. Agree with you 100% here, especially on skincare. I had the worst skincare routine through my teen years which was basically a crappy wash from boots or superdrug, and make up wipes. I started working for Lush Cosmetics and actually learnt about my skin, which I keep on top of. Wish I had known all this as a teenager though!

    Great post and lovely blog layout too <3

    www.thesweetsevenfive.com

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