7 Beauty Tips & Tricks We Learned from Mom

Discover the most important beauty lessons we learned from mom from her clear skin tips to makeup tricks. Shop makeup, skincare, fragrance and more at Lancôme.

As part of our journey to take on the world mothers and the women who helped shape us passed down some great beauty tips and tricks. From makeup tips to make our foundation look fresh natural and flawless to skincare tips for clear and glowing skin. Often repeated some of these beauty tips may start to sound like a broken record but they have their merit. There’s a reason these beauty tips and tricks have been passed down from generation to generation and it’s because they work.

Skincare Tips

For Glowing Skin: Drink Water

Water has long been praised as the key to a healthy body and it’s also essential for keeping your skin looking great. Dehydration can cause skin to look lackluster (in addition to causing dryness, flakiness, and uneven texture). A skincare tip passed down from generation to generation our mothers and grandmothers often installed the philosophy of drinking 8 glasses of water a day for healthy and glowing skin. Drinking water and staying hydrated has been reported in numerous studies to have benefits such as preventing breakouts and acne, increasing hydration and leaving skin with a naturally healthy glow. ¹²

For Clear Skin: Always Cleanse & Remove Your Makeup

One of the constant beauty lessons and “rules” ingrained into us has been the importance of washing our faces daily and always removing makeup before bed. Our moms had a great point and this is certainly advice from mom that you should be abiding by. Cleansing skin is an essential step in your skincare routine (ideally morning and evening). During the morning cleansing helps to prep your skin for the day ahead and provide a perfect base for your makeup application. Cleansing in the evening removes makeup in addition to dirt and impurities which have built up throughout the day thus giving skin a healthy base to absorb serums, oils, and moisturizers which may be applied³. The ultimate clear skin tip for glowing skin: make sure to cleanse with your favorite Lancôme foaming gel or oil cleanser. The Lancôme Absolue Nuturing & Brightening Oil-In-Gel Cleanser With Grand Rose Extracts uses a combination of oil and gel technology to remove heavy makeup and waterproof mascara whilst hydrating the skin and improving both radiance and skin texture. For deep yet gentle cleansing action Lancôme Crème Radiance Clarifying Cream-to-Foam Cleanser clarifies and removes makeup without over-drying the skin. Lancôme Eau Micellaire Douceur Express Cleansing Water is the perfect quick and effective no-rinse cleanser which works best by dousing a cotton pad with the product and gently wiping over the skin to effortlessly remove all traces of makeup and impurities from the skin.

For Healthy & Glowing Skin: Always Moisturize

Moisturized skin is healthy skin and moisturizing is an essential step in every skincare routine that shouldn’t be missed. Our skincare routines may have evolved beyond the basic 2-step “cleanse your skin and moisturize” to now include skincare essences treatments serums oils and other targeted products but moisturization still remains a very important part of skin care. Our moms have often provided the beauty advice “moisturize your skin to prevent wrinkles” and whilst there may be some belief in that statement moisturizing has many other benefits for the skin. Some of the benefits of moisturizing can include: hydration refined skin texture and overall improvement in skin health⁴. The ultimate skincare tip for clear and glowing skin moisturizing with a day cream and night cream will ensure you’re adopting great advice from mom.

For Anti-Aging: Wear Sun Protection

Sun protection is one of the very best skincare tips for your skin (there’s a reason top beauty editors are constantly telling you to wear sunscreen). An essential product for protecting your skin from sunburn, skin cancer, and sun damage, sun protection is one skincare product you shouldn’t be skipping out on. From birth our mothers have slathered our precious skin with sunscreen and there is no reason you should stop with the sun protection as an adult. Wearing daily sun protection is a smart choice and it’s important you give this product selection special attention. Relying on the SPF included in your foundation is often not enough to give you adequate sun protection mainly because a sufficient amount of product is not applied to meet full sun protection. It is recommended you select a moisturizer containing SPF for use before your makeup application and for added sun protection; select a foundation containing a concentration of SPF⁵.

Makeup Tips and Tricks

For Natural Makeup: Don’t Cake on Foundation

Our mothers often stressed to us the importance of embracing our natural beauty. In our younger days we may have been likely to wear many layers of foundation (often not perfectly matching our skin tone) but our mothers had a point in advising us that a little bit goes a long way. Rather than applying a lot of product it’s best to use a light layer of foundation that matches your skin tone and use concealer where needed to cover any other imperfections or areas of concern. Whilst some of us may have received advice from mom to continue foundation down our neck this is a beauty tip that is often unnecessary. Thanks to modern technology and formulas which allow for shades which seamlessly blend into the skin you’re unlikely to end up with a dreaded line around your chin showing where your foundation ends!

For Healthy Beauty: Toss Your Mascara After Three Months

Makeup may seem like it lasts forever but the truth is it can often expire or become unsafe to use after a period of time. One product prone to expiring and needing to be replaced is mascara. For many at a young age mascara is often the gateway into makeup and this first beauty product always came with some valuable advice. Makeup safety is important and beyond teaching us makeup tips and tricks on how to apply mascara our mothers often lectured us on the importance of tossing out mascara after a set period of time. As mascara comes into daily contact with our eyes air and bacteria are often pushed into the product tube mascara can dry out and there is greater potential for eye infections to occur.⁶ It’s best to follow your individual products’ shelf-life recommendations and mascara should typically be replaced every 3-6 months.

For a Gorgeous Pout: Find Your Signature Lip Color

A signature lip color is often the key component of a makeup look and our grandmothers often wore a beautiful creamy bold red lipstick as their signature. Whether you prefer to wear corals pinks nudes or reds our moms had some great makeup tips and tricks on how to find our signature lip shade. Common advice from mom on finding your signature lip color can include: selecting a nude shade that matches your natural lip color identifying whether gold or silver jewelry looks best on you and subsequently choosing a cool or warm toned lipstick. Other makeup tips from our moms may include matching the lip shade to our accessories or other elements of our outfit, trying products at a counter to take colors for a test drive (which you can now do virtually with our Virtual Try-On tool) or choosing a brands best-selling lipstick shade. Beyond the advice from mom you can read more tips on selecting the perfect nude lipstick.

1 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29392767/

2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4529263/

3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088928/

4 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dry-skin/in-depth/moisturizers/art-20044232

5 https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-the-sunscreen-in-your-makeup-enough/

6 https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling/shelf-life-and-expiration-dating-cosmetics