30 Simple Ways to Step Up Your Beauty Regimen for the New Year
From perfecting the cat-eye look to knowing what ingredients to avoid when you buy makeup, improving your beauty regime has never been so simple or fun. We took a moment to compile some of our favorite tips to help you start the New Year looking your best and feeling happy about the Kinder choices you’re making. Here are 30 easy ways to improve your beauty regime.
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1. Be a part of Veganuary
Helping animals and the environment are cornerstones of Kinder Beauty. That’s why our co-founders, Daniella Monet and Evanna Lynch, are proud vegans. Kinder Beauty also supports Veganuary, which is more than just a resolution—it’s a New Year’s Revolution that’s helped hundreds of thousands of people switch to a plant-based lifestyle. But saving animals and the environment doesn’t end with the foods we eat; the makeup we buy matters, too. Sign up for Veganuary and take steps to veganizing your makeup drawer (which means swapping out brushes that have animal hair for synthetic ones, and making sure you understand which ingredients are animal-derived and which are not).
2. Liquid Eyeliner is Your BFF This Winter
One swipe of liquid liner on your top lash line is all you need to look put together in two minutes flat. Create a thick, dramatic wing, or a thin line for more subtle definition. Liquid liner lets you experiment with a million different winter looks with just one product. Inika Organic’s liquid eyeliner is certified organic, alcohol-free, and will stay put all day.
3. Use a Scotch Tape Stencil for the Perfect Wing
As mentioned above, a high-quality liquid eyeliner is a great investment for 2020. If you like the winged, cat-eye look, you can make this easier by using tape as a stencil. Simply place a piece of Scotch tape at an angle at the outer corner of each eye and use the tape edges as your guide. Pro Tip: this works for eye shadow and gel liner, too.
4. Watch Out for Beeswax
Bees are animals, too, so we don’t want to exploit them—especially when it’s 2020 and there are tons of brands that don’t put beeswax in their products nowadays. Beeswax is often found in lipsticks, mascaras, and lip balms. To avoid it, simply check the ingredients on the product before buying it.
5. Match Your Lip Shade With Your Cheeks
The easiest way to achieve this monochromatic look is with a multipurpose product like Liplove Lip Gloss. Liplove products are designed to be worn on the lips, cheeks, and eyes, so they’re perfect for this. If you don’t have an all-in-one product, you can also use your fingers to lightly smudge your favorite lip crayon onto the apples of your cheeks.
6. Avoid Carmine … It’s Dead Bugs!
Yes, you read that right. Carmine (also known as “Natural Red 4” or “cochineal extract”) is the red pigment that comes from crushed cochineal insects. Kinder Beauty never includes products containing carmine in our beauty boxes, but, surprisingly, it’s found in a lot of mainstream eyeshadows and blushes. Check the ingredients before buying a product to make sure it’s bug-free.
7. Heat Up Your Eyelash Curler
To make your lashes stand out, use your blow dryer to warm up your eyelash curler for a few seconds before using it. Make sure it’s not too hot and then curl your lashes as usual. Follow with a beeswax-free mascara like one from vegan cosmetics company 100% Pure.
8. Say “Hello” to Highlighter
If you haven’t been using a highlighter, 2020 is your time to shine. You can use a highlighter to add glow to your face, and also to brighten up your eyes. Most highlighters are buildable, so you can create as much, or as little, shine as you wish. Sandstone Scandinavia offers skin-friendly, vegan highlighters that we love
9. Make a Bold Statement With Bright Lips
Bright pink or red statement lips are super popular right now. A highly pigmented lipstick will do the trick and we recommend a vegan one with real lasting power and intense coverage like Folly Fire’s Matte Manipulation lipsticks.
10. Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize
To get the most out of your makeup, you must start with moisturized skin, and this is especially important during the winter months. Dear Self, a skincare line co-founded by vegan pro surfer Tia Blanco, offers some amazing moisturizing products perfect for winter and beyond.
11. Look for the Leaping Bunny
“Cruelty-free” and “vegan” are different things, and we don’t recommend taking a company’s word for it. To check a product’s cruelty-free status, use a database such as Beauty Without Bunnies, or Leaping Bunny. You can also buy from any brand that Kinder Beauty has partnered with and know that what you’re getting is 100-percent cruelty-free and vegan—a win-win.
12. Don’t Toss Your Broken Compact or Shadow; Fix It!
Dropping an eyeshadow palette or compact that you just bought is heartbreaking. But don’t worry! Not only would throwing it out be wasteful, but it’s also unnecessary. Just add some rubbing alcohol to the broken powder and gently press it into place. Let the alcohol evaporate and your makeup will be good as new.
13. Subscribe to Kinder Beauty
Okay, this may sound like shameless self-promotion, but subscribing to Kinder Beauty is truly one of the best tips we can give you! That’s because we take the guess-work out of shopping for clean, cruelty-free, vegan makeup, and with a subscription, you’ll receive several products from compassionate brands each month. With Kinder Beauty, you can try new vegan products and learn about brands that are worth supporting throughout the new year.
14. Know Your Brushes
It’s best to use the right brush for the product you’re using. For example, a fan brush is ideal for highlighter, and for powder, you’ll get the best results with a fluffy brush. Most importantly, make sure the brushes you choose are synthetic. Inika Organic’s brushes are all vegan, and Too Faced offers some adorable ones that mimic animal hair without the harm.
15. Make Your Shadow Pop
If you’re working with an eyeshadow that’s not as pigmented as you’d like, or you just want your eyes to look extra vibrant, cover your eyelids with a cruelty-free white eyeliner and blend with your finger before applying your fave vegan shadow. This works amazingly well with colorful shades.
16. Let Your Skin Breathe
Do your skin a favor by remembering to remove your makeup each night. GLOV is a perfect product to have on hand because all you’ll need is water to take off even stubborn makeup and refresh your skin. And GLOV is more sustainable than using wipes because one GLOV lasts up to three months.
17. Defined Brows Are In
Defined yet natural brows are trending in 2020, and a gorgeous vegan pencil is all you need for this. We love Chella’s eyebrow pencil because the product is highly pigmented, yet creates super thin lines that mimic eyebrow hairs. It’s automatic so you don’t need a sharpener, and it comes with a spoolie brush on one end.
18. Don’t Forget to Refresh
Refreshing mists are all the rage now, and for good reason. Using a refresher is an easy way to amp up your makeup throughout the day. Many refreshing sprays not only give your makeup extra life but also contain scents and ingredients designed to awaken your senses, such as Little Moon Essentials’ Tired Old Ass Mist.
19. Create Freckles
There are multiple Instagram filters that’ll give your pics adorable freckles, but to create them IRL, take an eyeliner or eyebrow pencil, gently push it onto your face where you want the freckle and twist. Repeat until you have the desired amount of freckles and set with powder. There’s also a vegan product called Freck, which is designed for this purpose!
20. Follow Vegan Beauty Bloggers
A fabulous way to learn about new vegan makeup trends and products is by following some vegan makeup influencers on Instagram or YouTube. They usually get the upcoming products before anyone else and leave honest reviews about them.
21. Go at Your Own Pace
You don’t have to go vegan and cruelty-free overnight. You can embark on your new compassionate lifestyle at your own pace. Some people toss or give away all of their non-vegan makeup immediately, and others use up those products until they’re gone, focusing on buying vegan items moving forward. As long as you’re committed to moving in a more compassionate direction, there’s no right or wrong way to do it.
22. Invest in Your Skin
Your makeup won’t do you any good without a healthy canvas! We recommend investing in one or two skincare products that you love and will use daily. Plantioxidants offers top-of-the-line, sustainable, and organic skincare products that our subscribers rave about. We can’t get enough of them!
23. Get an Instant Eye Lift
Create the look of more awake eyes in two ways: First, use a de-puffing eye serum—We’ve included a few energizing eye products in our past boxes because we can’t get enough of these miracle workers. Then, apply a shimmering eyeshadow or highlighter to your brow bone and at the inner corners of your eyes.
24. Toss Your Old Makeup
A fun way to kick off the start of your cruelty-free lifestyle is by throwing away any makeup that’s too old. According to Health.com, eyeliner, foundation, and concealer can last about a year, whereas mascara goes bad after four to six months. Any longer, and germs and bacteria get out of hand. Replace your expired makeup with vegan versions!
25. Go Faux With Your Lashes
We’re all about feeling glamorous and having fun with makeup, and false eyelashes are a handy way to do that. Make sure to get synthetic lashes, and trim the strip before putting them on so they fit your eye comfortably. Kiss, Ardelle, and Eldora are all animal-friendly eyelash brands.
26. Watch Out For Collagen
This one is a bit tricky because collagen can be synthetic, but oftentimes, it’s made with animal bones and / or connective tissue. If you’re unsure if the collagen in a product is vegan, you can email the company and ask—this is also a terrific opportunity to let the company know there’s a demand for vegan products.
27. Turn Your Eye Pencil Into a Gel Liner
Turn your basic vegan eye pencil into a gel liner by holding it over a flame for a few seconds. Make sure it’s not too hot and then use a synthetic eyeliner brush to apply it to your lash line. For extra staying power, apply black shadow over the liner.
28. Get a Vegan Eyeshadow Palette
As mentioned above, carmine is a pesky animal-derived ingredient that’s sometimes found lurking in some red, brown, and purple shades of eyeshadow. Shopping for vegan makeup is generally easy, but finding eyeshadow without carmine can be a challenge depending on the shade. Lime Crime and 100% Pure offer some stunning vegan palettes.
29. Don’t Go Overboard
Shopping for vegan makeup isn’t about personal purity, it’s about doing the best we can to help animals and the Earth. While it’s important to check ingredients and buy from responsible companies, don’t stress too much about every little thing and try not to lecture others. Your efforts will go much further if you make shopping for vegan cosmetics look fun and easy (because it is!).
30. Brag About What You’ve Learned
Promote the benefits of vegan makeup by sharing pics of your awesome new makeup looks on Instagram (make sure you add #vegan, #crueltyfree) and talking about how aligned with our values it is to help animals. The next time you need to buy a birthday present, consider gifting a new vegan eyeshadow palette or cruelty-free bath bomb. Kinder Beauty Boxes are also the perfect present for any occasion.
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We hope that these tips inspire you to try something new this January! We also hope you consider subscribing to Kinder Beauty because not only can we guarantee the beauty and makeup products you receive will be clean, cruelty-free, and vegan, but having a new collection of products sent to you each month will ensure you always have new ways to look as beautiful as possible. Happy New Year!
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