LEIGH CAMPBELL: These are the beauty ‘rules’ I always break.

Each week on You Beauty, Kelly and I tell you how to do things. How to shrink a pimple. How to tone brassy blonde. How to avoid a dodgy fake tan job. 

The Youbies send us questions because they might not know how to use something, or how an ingredient works, or what the best practice is. And it got me thinking. All these ‘rules’ can make beauty feel scary, or restrictive, or confusing. And it shouldn’t be! Beauty should be fun.

So, I thought in the spirit of showing that I am definitely not a perfect beauty student either, I'd share the ‘beauty rules’ that I bend and break all the time.

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I don't get regular trims.

We all know that relatively frequent trims are the way to keep your hair looking healthy. I get it. 

And yet, even when I can see the split ends, I don't always go for a cut. Why? Because I hate sitting in the hairdresser chair - it’s time that could be better used elsewhere. And also, my hair is dead, so what does a little damage matter anyway?  

I rarely use a ‘proper’ cleanser.

I've said it on the podcast time and time again that for the most part I use micellar water as my one and only cleaning step. 

A makeup artist friend of mine first got me onto Bioderma micellar water about a decade ago and I haven't ever looked back. 

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I use it as my complete cleansing step and my skin loves it. Of course I test cleansers as part of my job and will recommend the good ones, but beyond that I always go back to the good old Bioderma micellar. 

The best bit? It suits my lazy, tired mum lifestyle. 

Sometimes I don't wear skincare to bed.

Okay, hear me out. I usually do the aforementioned micellar cleansing step while I’m supervising my toddler in the bath. Then I’ll leave my face fresh and bare so I can use my LED mask after he’s gone to bed. 

But then sometimes he doesn't go to sleep for two hours and I’m tired and frustrated and all my best laid beauty plans go out the window. So you know what? I go to bed with bare skin. And it’s actually not the worst thing. 

I’d never sleep in makeup, but I feel skipping my nighttime skincare every now and then is a welcome little break for my face and pillowslip. 

I pluck my brows between appointments.

In an ideal world I’d totally leave my eyebrows alone between each appointment because one wrong pluck can totally change the symmetry. I know this because I’ve personally had to face my own mistakes in this department many times. 

Does that stop me? No. 

Does my brow lady know when I've gone rogue and DIY? Absolutely.

I hardly ever use hand cream.

Pre-COVID (read: the era before excessive hand washing and sanitiser) I think I'd used hand cream about a dozen times, total. 

I hate that enveloped, suffocated feeling. 

I use it a bit more these days when my hands are suffering the effects of drying alcohol, but even then I do it begrudgingly. 

Don't even get me started on how I feel when the manicure technician massages my hands with lotion. 

Eeeeew. 

What beauty rules do you break? Let us know in the comments below!

Feature Image: Instagram / @leighacampbell

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