From reserving sparkly eyeshadow for the party season to not washing your hair daily, the ELLE beauty team have grown up with plenty of archaic rules. But beauty is subjective; it should always be expressive, fun, and most importantly, work for you.
Ahead, the outdated beauty rules we're doing away with - once and for all.
Jennifer George: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
At risk of upsetting the hairdressers of the world, I’m sorry-not-sorry to say that I wash my hair every single day. I don’t feel properly clean and awake without a full shower submersion, and my hair is naturally greasy at the roots, so washing daily makes me feel and look better. And no, I don’t want to ‘train’ it to act otherwise, thank you. Despite the old wives’ tales that say daily washing can be damaging, I haven’t found it to be true.
According to trichologist Annabel Kingsley, it’s not a hair crime. ‘Your scalp is skin, and can benefit from similar TLC you give to your face,’ she says. ‘So washing every day can support its health, if you use the right products.’ I look for balancing shampoos that nourish my dry ends without overloading the roots, and only use heat on my hair a few times a week (also ensuring my tools are on the gentlest setting).
Philip Kingsley Moisture Balancing Shampoo
Moroccanoil Treatment
Living Proof Living Proof Curl Enhancer
Shark FlexStyle 5-in-1 Air Styler & Hair Dryer
For those weekly-washers who are wondering if I’m up at an ungodly hour each morning to get this done, rest assured that – despite having thick, long hair – I’m hitting snooze and leaving myself a mere 15 minutes on air-dry days (30 or so if not).
I’ll apply a few pumps of Moroccan Oil onto straight-from-the-shower hair to smooth and add shine (I also feel it makes it dry faster), then I’ll comb a leave-in-conditioner through with my fingers to lock in moisture, and scrunch in an air-dry cream to create texture and weigh the hair down a little, to prevent it going into a spaniel-ears shape. These three products, and limited time, mean I can reach the office air-dried, fresh-faced and fully awake.
Katy Young: A Solid Foundation
If you can't break a few beauty rules by the time you hit 40, when you’ve finally found your make-up rhythm, then when can you? So, to those that follow the age-old maxim about not wearing base beyond 40 (supposedly too heavy/too betraying of one’s vintage), I say this: unfollow – and come over to the glowy side.
It isn’t just your skin that glows on the other side of the rule-free fence (more on this later), but your personality. Surely beauty in 2023 is about using products to help us shine a light on our identity, style and creativity as well as our appearance?
Now that I’m in my forties, I find that my personality looks way better wearing foundation. If bad sleep, a diet that’s always out of balance and lots of coffee could expose someone who might not have it all sussed out, my foundation does me a solid and says that I do.
Beauty Pie Triple Hyaluronic Acid & Lipopeptide Serum
Vieve Skin Dew
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation
Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin™ Foundation
Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear Care & Glow
When I think back to when I first started wearing foundation at 13 years old (I had liberal, London-based parents), I can understand why women wouldn’t want to wear those products after reaching a certain age. They were too chalky, too heavy, with a scale of shades that was ashamedly pale. But today, if you head to perhaps a Lancôme, Armani or Makeup by Mario counter, not only will you find your shade (about time), you will find formulas that are long-wear but full of hydrating skincare, and non-transferable with just the right amount of light-reflective glow.
Today, foundation is just so good that it both fakes, and makes, great looking skin. So why wouldn’t I add one, sometimes two, layers of the wonder stuff, irrespective of my age? I’m more in the game of breaking, not making, rules, but there are a few pointers. If you want a more convincing complexion, avoid coverage on the nose. And spend time shade matching – on your jawline and never on your hand, which has a complexion of its own. And until you fancy investing in a new-age foundation, try mixing a current favourite with hyaluronic-acid serum for a similar hydrating, real-skin effect.
Beauty rules provide nothing more than a good foundation from which to find your own style.
Medina Azaldin: Perfume Patchworking
The fragrance rulebook used to be prescriptive to a fault, with scents marketed for men, women, seasons and even the time of day. Thankfully, those lines are increasingly blurred. These days, modern perfumery is doing away with ‘for him/her’ labels, and you’re as likely to find someone wearing Byredo’s blousy Gypsy Water within the confines of the office as you are at a fashionable after-party.
Fragrance layering, however, continues to be an area where most would exercise restraint. Understandably so, as perfume blending can overwhelm the senses. But scents tend to dissipate quickly on my skin, which means no matter how much Chanel I’m spritzing, you probably won’t smell it wafting off me two hours later. Enter: perfume patchworking, where instead of layering two scents together, I strategically ‘zone’ my perfumes so I’m cocooned in a scented cloud, all day long.
This involves mixing a heavily scented body oil into a rich cream (to reap both the olfactory and skin benefits), as the base layer holds better on moisturised skin. I’ll follow that with a warm sandalwood or a musky scent behind the ears and around my neck, as those notes sit closer to the skin and offer more longevity, before spritzing a current favourite – I’ve recently gone back to Chanel Allure Sensuelle – everywhere else, including on clothes.
Chanel Allure Sensuelle
Buly 1803 Huile Antique Berkane Orange Blossom
Kilian Musk Butterfly
Hair perfumes with uplifting notes of lush figs or dewy rose petals are the perfect finishing touch: they emit a scent with every swish yet don’t compete with everything else. The result? A harmonious, lingering symphony of scent that’s creamy and decadent, with a hint of brightness. This top-to-toe routine might seem overkill for some but if the compliments are any indication, it does the trick.
Dr. Ewoma Ukeleghe: Skincare Diktats
As a skin doctor, I know what is truly 'good' or 'bad' for my skin, so I don’t always stick to traditional, often outdated rules. For example, depending on the season or what I’m doing that day, washing my face three times a day isn’t unusual for me.
Before you cast skincare judgement, it’s worth noting that I have mildly oily skin with acne-prone tendencies. You’ll understand the struggle if you have the same skin type. I’ll use a gentle cleanser like Shiseido’s Creamy Cleansing Emulsion before the gym. After working out, I’ll use a clarifying salicylic acid-based cleanser, and before going to bed, I’ll use something light again.
Révive Intensité Complete Anti-Aging Eye Serum by Révive
Sarah Chapman Skinesis Overnight Facial
Shiseido Extra Rich Cleansing Milk
This keeps my skin balanced, not stripped. I will also admit that I only became diligent about applying eye cream two years ago. Before that, I would extend my facial products to under the eye or use an unglamorous petroleum-based cream. Today, if I’m in a rush, eye cream is a step I’m willing to skip. Thanks to good genes and a sneaky injectable here and there, I can verify thatI have got away with that skincare faux pas... for now.
Lastly, as controversial as this is, I truly believe that night creams are optional. In other words, you can still achieve your skincare goals without using one – I certainly do! Many night serums and treatments contain hydrating, nourishing ingredients, sousing a separate cream can be overkill. Besides, much of that product will probably end up on your pillow. I would only suggest a night cream for more mature, drier skin types. My go-to night treatments are prescriptive tretinoin or an all-in-one product, such as the Sarah Chapman Overnight Facial Serum.
Katie Withington: Clash Of The Titans
As a blue-eyed redhead, I have been susceptible to all manner of beauty rules over the years, especially when it comes to make-up. The general consensus is that purples, blues and forest tones work well for auburn hair and pale complexions. But black mascara and red lipstick? Not so much. Too stark and overpowering.
Meanwhile, the general wisdom says that blue eyes are best enhanced with sunset shades (think gilded coppers), rather than tones too similar to the colour of the iris. And if this clashing guidebook wasn’t complicated enough, my red hair colour comes courtesy of a box and not genetics, so only some of the rules really apply.
It’s easy to stumble down the rabbit hole of conflicting make-up rules, but as Dominic Skinner, director of make-up artistry at MAC Cosmetics puts it: ‘The idea of sticking to an aesthetic based on someone else’s vision is limiting. Wearing make-up to please others is like decorating your home for the next person who owns it. It’s never really yours.’
MAC Powder Kiss Lipstick in Devoted To Chili
Prada Beauty Dimensions Eyeshadow in Pure
Hermès Beauty Trait d’Hermès Mascara
Drawing on vintage make-up references has ignited my sense of personal style; that means cobalt mascara and bright red lipstick. I never get more compliments than when I swap the modern guidebook for a long-retired Twiggy blue eye shadow, sport a warm, brick Emma Stone-style lip or sack off make-up strictures altogether for a forbidden, all-shimmer lid.
The truth is that the benchmark for beauty is trend-reliant and ever-changing. The rules are flimsy. All too often, make-up regulations don’t account for varying skin tones, artificial colours or the power of personal taste. ‘There really is no better time to paint your face the way you want to be seen and how you want to feel,’says Skinner.
That’s one dictum I’m happy to follow.
