Sometimes it is the weather, other times your beliefs or philosophy of life. Habits inherited from mothers to daughters, local raw materials and, of course, taste itself, mark differences between beauty routines from one country to another. Everyone has their beauty tricks – practical, aesthetic, homemade or cosmetic – to take care of their skin and hair in their own way. There is also no unanimity in the use of makeup and perfumes (a Japanese woman’s will never invade your space in the elevator) and even in the very concept of beauty. The best: some of these tips are surprising and most are ready to try. This is what they have told us.
“From my mother I learned not to rub with a towel to dry my skin, we always do it with small touches to absorb moisture without attacking it,” says Ayako Kishi, translator, interpreter and, like her mother, Eiko Kishi, teacher and cultural expert. Japanese (ikebana, calligraphy, tea ceremony…) Ayako remembers her grandmother doing facial yoga when the concept almost didn’t exist: “She greatly exaggerated the vowels with her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth to work her jaw and neck,” she explains.
Her beauty routine – mother and daughter are faithful to Shiseido – is a complete ritual internalized from a very young age that does not forget the neck or décolleté: double cleansing, moisturizing lotion or tonic, pre-serum, serum, day cream and contour of eyes, which is applied last. His tricks: “Apply the products by warming them in the palm of your hands and with light pressure so that they are better absorbed.” Bathing the eyes with cold water and applying pressure points with the outside of the palms of both hands around the eyes, eyebrows and temples are other gestures that work for you.
The moisturizing, nourishing, protective and regenerating properties of shea butter are well known, but Katia Simone, founder of the African cosmetics firm AOKlabs, proposes other uses: “Have you tried using it as a makeup base? Take a pea-sized amount, warm it in the palm of your hands and then spread it over your clean face. On top, you can apply foundation or makeup powder. The finish will be juicier and more uniform,” she says.
Another one: “100% pure shea butter not only hydrates any part of the skin on the body, but it is also infallible in combating dry hair and split ends and very beneficial for eyelashes, thanks to the fatty acids it contains and vitamins A and E that strengthen them and accelerate their growth,” says Katia. She applies it with a gupillón: “You have to do the gesture daily and wait at least a month to see the results,” she advises.
They are effortless beauty queens. A good haircut that does not require much care at home, rejuvenating bangs and red lipstick are some of its hallmarks. In makeup they are clear: “If you go for eyes, opt for discreet lips and, if lips are your thing, leave the eyes alone. Never bet on highlighting both at the same time,” says Mathilde Thomas, founder of Caudalie. Violette, creative director of makeup at Guerlain, agrees and goes one step further: “If you decide to let the eyes rule, think big, multicolored, like butterfly wings. Be curious and experiment,” she advises.
The rejuvenating and stylish bangs of the French have their trick: “It is the part of the hair that gets the most dirty because it is directly in contact with the forehead and the sweat of the day, which ends up weighing it down,” they comment from Batiste, the dry shampoo most used backstage. “Apply it from the bottom up and in a second it will look cleaner and with more movement,” they say. “Applied to the roots, it gives extra volume to Bardot-type updos,” they point out.
It’s in the curry, of course, but also in the homemade facial masks that many Indian women apply. It is a great antioxidant and is also usually found in many anti-cellulite creams. They mix a teaspoon of turmeric powder with yogurt and a little honey until creating a thick paste, leave it for 15 minutes, rinse it and have brighter skin!
Celebrity makeup artist Lisa Eldrige was born in New Zealand, grew up in Liverpool and has that British touch between rebellious and pragmatic. She is the queen of reliable tutorials and tips on Instagram and TikTok. One that we liked is very British. He recommends brewing a cup of strong green tea and pouring it into the ice cube tray in the freezer. Her trick is to massage her skin with them. “It’s like getting ice cold caffeine and a shot of antioxidants,” she says. Face awake and swelling out in minutes.
Another easy trick to copy and with immediate results to add glow to the cheekbone area is to apply liquid highlighter to the outer edge of your hands, rub them together and apply it with a butterfly technique (with the edges framing the cheekbones on both sides of the the face and rising to the temples with a wing movement). Then, a little typing with your fingers in the same area and that’s it!
A natural mask? “Mix agave nectar with cooled oats or cooked rice to create a mixture that works as a facial scrub, a hydrating mask, and even helps heal small wounds,” the waitress at my favorite Mexican explains to me.
Korean beauty became known with sheet masks that entered through the eyes, so the first advice from the MiiN experts has to do with them: “Before drying your hair with a hairdryer, apply a mask or any other moisturizing product on your face. the face to protect the skin from hot air,” they advise. More: “If your makeup base is too dark, mix it with the lotion to lighten the tone.”
And one for your boss: “A humidifier in the office is always a good idea to combat air conditioning and heating that dehydrate the skin.”
Nordic women don’t live by sauna alone (10-15 minutes is enough). And yes, they are as minimalist with the toiletry bag as they are at home. “My idea of ??beauty is not about accumulating products, but learning to mix them together to adapt them to the needs of each skin,” says Ellen Af Petersens, co-founder of the Swedish brand Colekt. To face the extreme temperatures and the few hours of daylight in winter, she suggests mixing a cleanser with witch hazel water with a facial oil, “it’s the perfect recipe for dry skin because it provides hydration,” she says.
Dermatologist Johanna Gillbro, author of The Scandinavian Skincare Bible, also points to lagöm, the famous Swedish balance, “so as not to suffocate the skin with a multitude of layers and products.” Another Nordic trick: “Light a candle at night, while you cleanse your skin, to put away the stress of the day and turn the routine into a holistic and olfactory experience,” says Petersens.
Avocado mania has not only conquered toasts and brunches. Eudy, my Colombian friend, she always used it crushed as a facial mask but the day she used it on her hair she kept them all. She made a paste with an avocado, a banana and a tablespoon of olive oil and spread it all over her long hair, rubbing it down to the roots. She walked around the apartment with that on her head for a long half hour but, when she got out of the shower, and after using the shampoo and conditioner, her shine was wow!
Jade rollers and Gua Sha have been used for a long time in China and many luxury brands have incorporated them into their routine. The last thing is to use one specific for the body, after applying an oil that makes it easier to slide. Relieves muscle tension and reduces fluid retention. Another trick that is passed down from generation to generation is to use the rice cleaning water as a facial cleanser to remove impurities, hydrate the skin and help reduce blackheads. It involves washing the rice well in a bowl with cold water, scrubbing it very well and saving the water, which is applied with a cotton pad.
Those slices of cucumber fresh from the refrigerator on your eyes, that chamomile infusion to give golden reflections to your hair or to lighten dark circles – for everything, actually, at home we used a lot of chamomile –, the glass of warm water with a a splash of lemon in the morning… Some things worked better than others, like raw potatoes for that day at the beach when you insisted on turning tan without protection and you came home like a good shrimp, all red (those were other times and adolescence is very her), but who am I to question her at this point?
From her I also learned to walk barefoot along the seashore, to dip my feet where the waves break and to enter the sea flat to avoid sea urchins and rocks on the Costa Brava. Oh, and we always exfoliated our bodies with wet sand, which was pretty coarse, come to think of it. But, curiously, the word exfoliation was never part of our vocabulary.
These are tricks shared throughout the Mediterranean, but I learned them in Santorini many years ago from the lady who rented me a room in the summer (then it was rented on site, as there was no internet yet). When she saw my hair damaged by the sun and the sea, she made me a hair mask with a cup of yogurt with a teaspoon of olive oil. After 10 minutes, I washed my hair and rinsed it with cold rosemary water, which the hostess had also prepared for me by boiling the branches.
